From f5b04fe69d52b255a17ff957e184f42aed3e2e02 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Nick Goodall <nbgoodall@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2026 11:13:11 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] dev command

---
 main.go | 92 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 91 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 534a017..6c82bdb 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -9,8 +9,10 @@ import (
 	"math/rand"
 	"net/http"
 	"os"
+	"os/exec"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"runtime"
+	"sort"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
@@ -27,6 +29,11 @@ func main() {
 				Usage:  "start a new PocketBase project",
 				Action: initAction(),
 			},
+			{
+				Name:   "dev",
+				Usage:  "run the PocketBase binary locally",
+				Action: devAction(),
+			},
 			{
 				Name:   "deploy",
 				Usage:  "deploy the PocketBase project",
@@ -57,6 +64,35 @@ func placeholderAction(name string) func(*cli.Context) error {
 	}
 }
 
+func devAction() func(*cli.Context) error {
+	return func(c *cli.Context) error {
+		cwd, err := os.Getwd()
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		binaryPath := filepath.Join(cwd, "bin", pocketbaseBinaryName(runtime.GOOS))
+		if _, err := os.Stat(binaryPath); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("cannot find PocketBase binary at %s: %w", binaryPath, err)
+		}
+
+		overrides, err := loadEnv(filepath.Join(cwd, ".env"))
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		cmd := exec.Command(binaryPath, "serve")
+		cmd.Dir = cwd
+		cmd.Env = mergeEnv(overrides)
+		cmd.Stdout = os.Stdout
+		cmd.Stderr = os.Stderr
+		cmd.Stdin = os.Stdin
+
+		fmt.Println("starting PocketBase development server")
+		return cmd.Run()
+	}
+}
+
 func initAction() func(*cli.Context) error {
 	return func(c *cli.Context) error {
 		cwd, err := os.Getwd()
@@ -87,7 +123,7 @@ func initAction() func(*cli.Context) error {
 			return err
 		}
 
-		if err := ensureGitignoreEntries(filepath.Join(cwd, ".gitignore"), []string{"bin/pocketbase", "pb.toml"}); err != nil {
+		if err := ensureGitignoreEntries(filepath.Join(cwd, ".gitignore"), []string{"bin/", "pb.toml"}); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
 
@@ -267,3 +303,57 @@ func ensureGitignoreEntries(path string, entries []string) error {
 
 	return os.WriteFile(path, []byte(builder.String()), 0o644)
 }
+
+func loadEnv(path string) (map[string]string, error) {
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		if errors.Is(err, os.ErrNotExist) {
+			return nil, nil
+		}
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	env := make(map[string]string)
+	for _, line := range strings.Split(string(data), "\n") {
+		line = strings.TrimSpace(line)
+		if line == "" || strings.HasPrefix(line, "#") {
+			continue
+		}
+		idx := strings.Index(line, "=")
+		if idx == -1 {
+			continue
+		}
+		key := strings.TrimSpace(line[:idx])
+		value := strings.TrimSpace(line[idx+1:])
+		env[key] = value
+	}
+	return env, nil
+}
+
+func mergeEnv(overrides map[string]string) []string {
+	envMap := make(map[string]string)
+	for _, kv := range os.Environ() {
+		parts := strings.SplitN(kv, "=", 2)
+		key := parts[0]
+		value := ""
+		if len(parts) > 1 {
+			value = parts[1]
+		}
+		envMap[key] = value
+	}
+	for key, value := range overrides {
+		envMap[key] = value
+	}
+
+	keys := make([]string, 0, len(envMap))
+	for key := range envMap {
+		keys = append(keys, key)
+	}
+	sort.Strings(keys)
+
+	env := make([]string, 0, len(keys))
+	for _, key := range keys {
+		env = append(env, fmt.Sprintf("%s=%s", key, envMap[key]))
+	}
+	return env
+}