Event hooks

Event hooks allow you to execute custom logic at specific points in PocketBase’s lifecycle. You can use them to validate data, trigger side effects, send notifications, and more.

Hook types

PocketBase provides several categories of event hooks:

Application hooks: App lifecycle events (bootstrap, serve, terminate)
Model hooks: Generic model operations (create, update, delete, validate)
Record hooks: Record-specific operations
Collection hooks: Collection management events
Auth hooks: Authentication and authorization events
Request hooks: API request/response events
Mailer hooks: Email sending events
Settings hooks: Application settings events

Hook execution flow

Each hook follows this pattern: You can:

Prevent the default behavior by returning an error
Modify the event data before it’s processed
Execute side effects (logging, notifications, etc.)
Chain multiple handlers with priorities

Application hooks

OnBootstrap

Triggered when the application initializes.

Go
JavaScript

app.OnBootstrap().BindFunc(func(e *core.BootstrapEvent) error {
    log.Println("App bootstrapping...")
    // Initialize custom services
    return e.Next()
})

onBootstrap((e) => {
    console.log("App bootstrapping...")
    // Initialize custom services
})

OnServe

Triggered when the HTTP server is about to start. Use this to register custom routes.

Go
JavaScript

app.OnServe().BindFunc(func(e *core.ServeEvent) error {
    // Add custom routes
    e.Router.GET("/api/health", func(re *core.RequestEvent) error {
        return re.JSON(200, map[string]string{"status": "ok"})
    })
    
    return e.Next()
})

// Note: Use routerAdd() instead in JavaScript
routerAdd("GET", "/api/health", (e) => {
    return e.json(200, {status: "ok"})
})

OnTerminate

Triggered when the application is shutting down.

Go
JavaScript

app.OnTerminate().BindFunc(func(e *core.TerminateEvent) error {
    log.Println("App terminating...")
    // Cleanup resources
    return e.Next()
})

onTerminate((e) => {
    console.log("App terminating...")
    // Cleanup resources
})

Model hooks

Model hooks work with any model type (records, collections, settings, etc.).

OnModelCreate

Triggered before a model is created.

Go
JavaScript

app.OnModelCreate().BindFunc(func(e *core.ModelEvent) error {
    log.Printf("Creating model: %s\n", e.Model.TableName())
    return e.Next()
})

onModelCreate((e) => {
    console.log("Creating model:", e.model.tableName())
})

OnModelUpdate

Triggered before a model is updated.

Go
JavaScript

app.OnModelUpdate().BindFunc(func(e *core.ModelEvent) error {
    log.Printf("Updating model: %s\n", e.Model.TableName())
    return e.Next()
})

onModelUpdate((e) => {
    console.log("Updating model:", e.model.tableName())
})

OnModelDelete

Triggered before a model is deleted.

Go
JavaScript

app.OnModelDelete().BindFunc(func(e *core.ModelEvent) error {
    log.Printf("Deleting model: %s\n", e.Model.TableName())
    return e.Next()
})

onModelDelete((e) => {
    console.log("Deleting model:", e.model.tableName())
})

Record hooks

Record hooks are specific to data records and support collection filtering.

OnRecordCreate

Triggered before a record is created.

Go
JavaScript

// For all collections
app.OnRecordCreate().BindFunc(func(e *core.RecordEvent) error {
    log.Printf("Creating record in %s\n", e.Record.Collection().Name)
    return e.Next()
})

// For specific collection
app.OnRecordCreate("posts").BindFunc(func(e *core.RecordEvent) error {
    // Validate post data
    title := e.Record.GetString("title")
    if len(title) < 5 {
        return errors.New("title too short")
    }
    return e.Next()
})

// For all collections
onRecordCreate((e) => {
    console.log("Creating record in", e.record.collection().name)
})

// For specific collection
onRecordCreate((e) => {
    const title = e.record.get("title")
    if (title.length < 5) {
        throw new BadRequestError("Title too short")
    }
}, "posts")

OnRecordUpdate

Triggered before a record is updated.

Go
JavaScript

app.OnRecordUpdate("posts").BindFunc(func(e *core.RecordEvent) error {
    // Track what changed
    original := e.Record.OriginalCopy()
    if original.GetString("status") != e.Record.GetString("status") {
        log.Println("Status changed")
    }
    return e.Next()
})

onRecordUpdate((e) => {
    const original = e.record.originalCopy()
    if (original.get("status") !== e.record.get("status")) {
        console.log("Status changed")
    }
}, "posts")

OnRecordDelete

Triggered before a record is deleted.

Go
JavaScript

app.OnRecordDelete("posts").BindFunc(func(e *core.RecordEvent) error {
    log.Printf("Deleting post: %s\n", e.Record.Id)
    // Clean up related data
    return e.Next()
})

onRecordDelete((e) => {
    console.log("Deleting post:", e.record.id)
    // Clean up related data
}, "posts")

After hooks

All record hooks also have “after” variants that run after the operation completes:

OnRecordAfterCreateSuccess / onRecordAfterCreateSuccess
OnRecordAfterUpdateSuccess / onRecordAfterUpdateSuccess
OnRecordAfterDeleteSuccess / onRecordAfterDeleteSuccess

Go
JavaScript

app.OnRecordAfterCreateSuccess("posts").BindFunc(func(e *core.RecordEvent) error {
    // Send notification after successful creation
    log.Printf("Post created successfully: %s\n", e.Record.Id)
    return e.Next()
})

onRecordAfterCreateSuccess((e) => {
    // Send notification after successful creation
    console.log("Post created successfully:", e.record.id)
}, "posts")

Auth hooks

Hooks for authentication and authorization events.

OnRecordAuthRequest

Triggered on any successful authentication.

Go
JavaScript

app.OnRecordAuthRequest().BindFunc(func(e *core.RecordAuthRequestEvent) error {
    log.Printf("User %s authenticated via %s\n", 
        e.Record.Id, e.AuthMethod)
    return e.Next()
})

onRecordAuthRequest((e) => {
    console.log(`User ${e.record.id} authenticated via ${e.authMethod}`)
})

OnRecordAuthWithPasswordRequest

Triggered on password authentication.

Go
JavaScript

app.OnRecordAuthWithPasswordRequest().BindFunc(
    func(e *core.RecordAuthWithPasswordRequestEvent) error {
        // Log authentication attempts
        log.Printf("Password auth attempt: %s\n", e.Identity)
        return e.Next()
    },
)

onRecordAuthWithPasswordRequest((e) => {
    console.log("Password auth attempt:", e.identity)
})

OnRecordAuthWithOAuth2Request

Triggered on OAuth2 authentication.

Go
JavaScript

app.OnRecordAuthWithOAuth2Request().BindFunc(
    func(e *core.RecordAuthWithOAuth2RequestEvent) error {
        log.Printf("OAuth2 auth: %s\n", e.ProviderName)
        
        // Customize user data on first auth
        if e.IsNewRecord {
            e.Record.Set("verified", true)
        }
        
        return e.Next()
    },
)

onRecordAuthWithOAuth2Request((e) => {
    console.log("OAuth2 auth:", e.providerName)
    
    if (e.isNewRecord) {
        e.record.set("verified", true)
    }
})

Collection hooks

Hooks for collection management.

OnCollectionCreate

Go
JavaScript

app.OnCollectionCreate().BindFunc(func(e *core.CollectionEvent) error {
    log.Printf("Collection created: %s\n", e.Collection.Name)
    return e.Next()
})

onCollectionCreate((e) => {
    console.log("Collection created:", e.collection.name)
})

OnCollectionUpdate

Go
JavaScript

app.OnCollectionUpdate().BindFunc(func(e *core.CollectionEvent) error {
    log.Printf("Collection updated: %s\n", e.Collection.Name)
    return e.Next()
})

onCollectionUpdate((e) => {
    console.log("Collection updated:", e.collection.name)
})

Request hooks

Hooks for API requests.

OnRecordsListRequest

Go
JavaScript

app.OnRecordsListRequest("posts").BindFunc(
    func(e *core.RecordsListRequestEvent) error {
        // Modify query parameters
        log.Printf("Listing posts, found %d\n", e.Result.TotalItems)
        return e.Next()
    },
)

onRecordsListRequest((e) => {
    console.log("Listing posts, found", e.result.totalItems)
}, "posts")

OnRecordViewRequest

Go
JavaScript

app.OnRecordViewRequest("posts").BindFunc(
    func(e *core.RecordRequestEvent) error {
        // Track views
        views := e.Record.GetInt("views")
        e.Record.Set("views", views+1)
        app.Save(e.Record)
        return e.Next()
    },
)

onRecordViewRequest((e) => {
    const views = e.record.get("views")
    e.record.set("views", views + 1)
    $app.save(e.record)
}, "posts")

Mailer hooks

OnMailerSend

Triggered before sending any email.

Go
JavaScript

app.OnMailerSend().BindFunc(func(e *core.MailerEvent) error {
    log.Printf("Sending email to: %v\n", e.Message.To)
    // Modify email content or prevent sending
    return e.Next()
})

onMailerSend((e) => {
    console.log("Sending email to:", e.message.to)
})

OnMailerRecordAuthAlertSend

Triggered when sending authentication alert emails.

Go
JavaScript

app.OnMailerRecordAuthAlertSend().BindFunc(
    func(e *core.MailerRecordEvent) error {
        // Customize auth alert emails
        e.Message.Subject = "Security Alert: New Login"
        return e.Next()
    },
)

onMailerRecordAuthAlertSend((e) => {
    e.message.subject = "Security Alert: New Login"
})

Settings hooks

OnSettingsListRequest

Go
JavaScript

app.OnSettingsListRequest().BindFunc(
    func(e *core.SettingsListRequestEvent) error {
        // Modify settings before returning
        return e.Next()
    },
)

onSettingsListRequest((e) => {
    // Modify settings before returning
})

OnSettingsUpdateRequest

Go
JavaScript

app.OnSettingsUpdateRequest().BindFunc(
    func(e *core.SettingsUpdateRequestEvent) error {
        // Validate settings changes
        return e.Next()
    },
)

onSettingsUpdateRequest((e) => {
    // Validate settings changes
})

Hook priorities

You can control the execution order of hooks using priorities:

Go
JavaScript

app.OnRecordCreate("posts").Bind(&hook.Handler[*core.RecordEvent]{
    Id: "validate-title",
    Priority: 100, // Higher runs first
    Func: func(e *core.RecordEvent) error {
        // Validation logic
        return e.Next()
    },
})

app.OnRecordCreate("posts").Bind(&hook.Handler[*core.RecordEvent]{
    Id: "log-creation",
    Priority: 50, // Runs after validation
    Func: func(e *core.RecordEvent) error {
        log.Println("Post validated and ready to create")
        return e.Next()
    },
})

// JavaScript hooks don't support explicit priorities
// They run in the order they're defined in your files

Stopping execution

Return an error to prevent the operation from completing:

Go
JavaScript

app.OnRecordCreate("posts").BindFunc(func(e *core.RecordEvent) error {
    if e.Record.GetString("status") == "spam" {
        return errors.New("spam content not allowed")
    }
    return e.Next()
})

onRecordCreate((e) => {
    if (e.record.get("status") === "spam") {
        throw new BadRequestError("Spam content not allowed")
    }
}, "posts")

Hook types

Hook execution flow

Application hooks

OnBootstrap

OnServe

OnTerminate

Model hooks

OnModelCreate

OnModelUpdate

OnModelDelete

Record hooks

OnRecordCreate

OnRecordUpdate

OnRecordDelete

After hooks

Auth hooks

OnRecordAuthRequest

OnRecordAuthWithPasswordRequest

OnRecordAuthWithOAuth2Request

Collection hooks

OnCollectionCreate

OnCollectionUpdate

Request hooks

OnRecordsListRequest

OnRecordViewRequest

Mailer hooks

OnMailerSend

OnMailerRecordAuthAlertSend

Settings hooks

OnSettingsListRequest

OnSettingsUpdateRequest

Hook priorities

Stopping execution

Next steps

Custom routes

JavaScript hooks

​Hook types

​Hook execution flow

​Application hooks

​OnBootstrap

​OnServe

​OnTerminate

​Model hooks

​OnModelCreate

​OnModelUpdate

​OnModelDelete

​Record hooks

​OnRecordCreate

​OnRecordUpdate

​OnRecordDelete

​After hooks

​Auth hooks

​OnRecordAuthRequest

​OnRecordAuthWithPasswordRequest

​OnRecordAuthWithOAuth2Request

​Collection hooks

​OnCollectionCreate

​OnCollectionUpdate

​Request hooks

​OnRecordsListRequest

​OnRecordViewRequest

​Mailer hooks

​OnMailerSend

​OnMailerRecordAuthAlertSend

​Settings hooks

​OnSettingsListRequest

​OnSettingsUpdateRequest

​Hook priorities

​Stopping execution

​Next steps

Custom routes

JavaScript hooks

Hook types

Hook execution flow

Application hooks

OnBootstrap

OnServe

OnTerminate

Model hooks

OnModelCreate

OnModelUpdate

OnModelDelete

Record hooks

OnRecordCreate

OnRecordUpdate

OnRecordDelete

After hooks

Auth hooks

OnRecordAuthRequest

OnRecordAuthWithPasswordRequest

OnRecordAuthWithOAuth2Request

Collection hooks

OnCollectionCreate

OnCollectionUpdate

Request hooks

OnRecordsListRequest

OnRecordViewRequest

Mailer hooks

OnMailerSend

OnMailerRecordAuthAlertSend

Settings hooks

OnSettingsListRequest

OnSettingsUpdateRequest

Hook priorities

Stopping execution

Next steps