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Custom Builds

PouchDB supports custom builds, meaning you can pick and choose the features of PouchDB that you want to use, potentially resulting in smaller bundle sizes and faster build times.

PouchDB exposes its custom builds via separate packages available on npm. All of these packages follow the format pouchdb-<name> and can be installed using npm install.

Some packages are included by default in the main pouchdb package, whereas others (including third-party packages) must be installed separately.

Custom builds require an npm-based build system, using a bundler like Browserify, Webpack, SystemJS, Rollup, or JSPM. Tools like Bower, as well as direct download of prebuilt JavaScript files, are not supported.

PouchDB packages come in three flavors: presets, plugins, and utilities.

Presets are a collection of plugins, which expose a PouchDB object that is ready to be used.

Plugins are features that can be added to a PouchDB instance using the PouchDB.plugin() API.

Utilities are grab-bags of helper functions, and are only recommended for advanced use cases.

Quick links

Presets export a PouchDB object and contain a built-in set of PouchDB plugins. You are free to create your own presets, but PouchDB provides a few first-party presets to address common use cases.

pouchdb-browser

The pouchdb-browser preset contains the version of PouchDB that is designed for the browser. In particular, it ships with the IndexedDB adapter as its default adapter. It also contains the replication, HTTP, and map/reduce plugins.

Use this preset if you only want to use PouchDB in the browser, and don't want to use it in Node.js. (E.g. to avoid installing LevelDB.)

Example Usage

npm install pouchdb-browser
const PouchDB = require('pouchdb-browser');
const db = new PouchDB('mydb');

Source code (simplified)

const PouchDB = require('pouchdb-core')
  .plugin(require('pouchdb-adapter-idb'))
  .plugin(require('pouchdb-adapter-http'))
  .plugin(require('pouchdb-mapreduce'))
  .plugin(require('pouchdb-replication'));

pouchdb-node

The pouchdb-node preset contains the version of PouchDB that is designed for Node.js. In particular, it uses the LevelDB adapter and doesn't ship with the IndexedDB or WebSQL adapters. It also contains the replication, HTTP, and map/reduce plugins.

Use this preset if you are only using PouchDB in Node, and not in the browser.

Example Usage

npm install pouchdb-node
const PouchDB = require('pouchdb-node');
const db = new PouchDB('mydb');

Source code (simplified)

const PouchDB = require('pouchdb-core')
  .plugin(require('pouchdb-adapter-leveldb'))
  .plugin(require('pouchdb-adapter-http'))
  .plugin(require('pouchdb-mapreduce'))
  .plugin(require('pouchdb-replication'));

pouchdb-core

The pouchdb-core package is a special preset in that it exposes the minimum number of APIs. It contains zero plugins and is designed to be used in addition with other plugins. By itself, it probably isn't very useful.

Example Usage

npm install pouchdb-core
const PouchDB = require('pouchdb-core');
PouchDB.plugin(/* attach plugins to make me more interesting! */);

Plugins contain functionality that can be added to a PouchDB instance using PouchDB.plugin(). There are many third-party plugins, but the ones described below are first-party plugins, which are given the same level of support as PouchDB itself. Some first-party plugins are included in the default pouchdb build, whereas others aren't.

There is also a special type of plugin called an adapter plugin. Adapter plugins (such as IndexedDB, WebSQL, LevelDB, and HTTP) determine the storage format that PouchDB uses. For the non-HTTP adapters, the plugin order matters, i.e. if you want IndexedDB to be preferred to WebSQL, then you should load it first.

pouchdb-adapter-idb

The primary adapter used by PouchDB in the browser, using IndexedDB. The adapter name is 'idb'.

Example usage

npm install pouchdb-adapter-idb
PouchDB.plugin(require('pouchdb-adapter-idb'));
const db = new PouchDB('mydb', {adapter: 'idb'});
console.log(db.adapter); // 'idb'

pouchdb-adapter-websql

An adapter used by PouchDB in the browser, using WebSQL. The adapter name is 'websql'.

Before PouchDB 7.0.0, this was shipped as a default adapter. As of PouchDB 7.0.0, it must be loaded as a separate plugin.

Example usage

npm install pouchdb-adapter-websql
PouchDB.plugin(require('pouchdb-adapter-websql'));
const db = new PouchDB('mydb', {adapter: 'websql'});
console.log(db.adapter); // 'websql'

pouchdb-adapter-leveldb

The primary adapter used by PouchDB in Node.js, using LevelDB. The adapter name is 'leveldb'.

Example usage

npm install pouchdb-adapter-leveldb
PouchDB.plugin(require('pouchdb-adapter-leveldb'));
const db = new PouchDB('mydb', {adapter: 'leveldb'});
console.log(db.adapter); // 'leveldb'

pouchdb-adapter-http

The primary adapter used by PouchDB in both Node.js and the browser for communicating with external CouchDB (or CouchDB-like) servers.

This plugin can be added to PouchDB in any order, and is somewhat special in that you must pass in a name like 'http://...' in order to use it. The adapter name is either 'http' or 'https' depending on the protocol.

Example usage

npm install pouchdb-adapter-http
PouchDB.plugin(require('pouchdb-adapter-http'));
const db = new PouchDB('http://127.0.0.1:5984/mydb');
console.log(db.adapter); // 'http'

pouchdb-adapter-memory

An optional adapter that works in the browser and Node.js, fully in-memory. The adapter name is 'memory'.

Example usage

npm install pouchdb-adapter-memory
PouchDB.plugin(require('pouchdb-adapter-memory'));
const db = new PouchDB('mydb', {adapter: 'memory'});
console.log(db.adapter); // 'memory'

pouchdb-adapter-localstorage

An optional adapter that works in the browser using LocalStorage. The adapter name is 'localstorage'.

Example usage

npm install pouchdb-adapter-localstorage
PouchDB.plugin(require('pouchdb-adapter-localstorage'));
const db = new PouchDB('mydb', {adapter: 'localstorage'});
console.log(db.adapter); // 'localstorage'

pouchdb-adapter-fruitdown

An optional adapter that works in the browser using IndexedDB via fruitdown. The adapter name is 'fruitdown'.

Example usage

npm install pouchdb-adapter-fruitdown
PouchDB.plugin(require('pouchdb-adapter-fruitdown'));
const db = new PouchDB('mydb', {adapter: 'fruitdown'});
console.log(db.adapter); // 'fruitdown'

pouchdb-adapter-node-websql

An optional adapter that works in Node.js using SQLite via node-websql. The adapter name is 'websql'.

Example usage

npm install pouchdb-adapter-node-websql
PouchDB.plugin(require('pouchdb-adapter-node-websql'));
const db = new PouchDB('mydb', {adapter: 'websql'});
console.log(db.adapter); // 'websql'

pouchdb-adapter-indexeddb

Warning: experimental. You probably don’t want to use this yet. 😉

An experimental next-generation IndexedDB adapter, also known as "idb-next". Currently not shipped as part of PouchDB. The adapter name is 'indexeddb'.

Example usage

npm install pouchdb-adapter-indexeddb
PouchDB.plugin(require('pouchdb-adapter-indexeddb'));
const db = new PouchDB('mydb', {adapter: 'indexeddb'});
console.log(db.adapter); // 'indexeddb'

pouchdb-find

PouchDB's "Mango" query API, exposed via the find(), listIndexes(),createIndex(), anddeleteIndex()` methods. Not shipped by default in PouchDB.

Example usage

npm install pouchdb-find
PouchDB.plugin(require('pouchdb-find'));
const db = new PouchDB('mydb');
db.find(/* see API docs for full info */);

pouchdb-mapreduce

PouchDB's map/reduce API, exposed via the query() and viewCleanup() methods. Ships by default in PouchDB.

Example usage

npm install pouchdb-mapreduce
PouchDB.plugin(require('pouchdb-mapreduce'));
const db = new PouchDB('mydb');
db.query(/* see query API docs for full info */);

pouchdb-replication

PouchDB's replication API, exposed via the replicate() and sync() methods. Ships by default in PouchDB.

Example usage

npm install pouchdb-replication
PouchDB.plugin(require('pouchdb-replication'));
const db = new PouchDB('mydb');
db.replicate(/* see replicate/sync API docs for full info */);

These utilities are intended only for advanced users of PouchDB, such as third-party plugin authors. Formerly, many of them were exposed via the extras/ API, which is now deprecated.

Most of these are internal, and the APIs are not thoroughly documented. You will most likely need to read the source code to understand how they work.

Warning: you are entering a semver-free zone.

In contrast to the presets and plugins listed above, none of the following packages follow semver. Their versions are pinned to PouchDB’s, and may change at any time without warning. You are strongly recommended to use exact versions when installing these packages.

pouchdb-abstract-mapreduce

The underlying logic for secondary indexes, as expressed in both pouchdb-mapreduce and pouchdb-find. Both packages use this package under the hood.

Example usage

npm install --save-exact pouchdb-abstract-mapreduce

pouchdb-adapter-utils

Utilities for PouchDB adapters.

Example usage

npm install --save-exact pouchdb-adapter-utils

pouchdb-ajax

PouchDB's ajax() function.

Example usage

npm install --save-exact pouchdb-ajax

pouchdb-binary-utils

Utilities for operating on binary strings and Buffers/Blobs.

Example usage

npm install --save-exact pouchdb-binary-utils

pouchdb-checkpointer

Tool to write a checkpoint, e.g. during replication.

Example usage

npm install --save-exact pouchdb-checkpointer

pouchdb-collate

Collation functions for PouchDB map/reduce.

Example usage

npm install --save-exact pouchdb-collate

pouchdb-collections

ES6 shims for Map and Set as used in PouchDB.

Example usage

npm install --save-exact pouchdb-collections

pouchdb-errors

Errors exposed by PouchDB.

Example usage

npm install --save-exact pouchdb-errors

pouchdb-generate-replication-id

Function to generate a replication ID to mark progress during replications.

Example usage

npm install --save-exact pouchdb-generate-replication-id

pouchdb-json

Utilities for safely stringifying and parsing JSON.

Example usage

npm install --save-exact pouchdb-json

pouchdb-mapreduce-utils

Utilities used by pouchdb-mapreduce.

Example usage

npm install --save-exact pouchdb-mapreduce-utils

pouchdb-md5

Utilities for calculating MD5 checksums.

Example usage

npm install --save-exact pouchdb-md5

pouchdb-merge

PouchDB's CouchDB-style document merge algorithm.

Example usage

npm install --save-exact pouchdb-merge

pouchdb-promise

A Promise object, polyfilled using lie if Promises aren't available globally.

Example usage

npm install --save-exact pouchdb-promise

pouchdb-selector-core

The core Mango selector logic, which allows the selector to be used both by pouchdb-find and for filtering/replication.

Example usage

npm install --save-exact pouchdb-selector-core

pouchdb-utils

A potpourri of miscellaneous utilities used by PouchDB and its sub-packages.

Example usage

npm install --save-exact pouchdb-utils

sublevel-pouchdb

Fork of level-sublevel with only the subset of the API that PouchDB uses.

Example usage

npm install --save-exact sublevel-pouchdb