Extend with Go - Collection operations - Docs

Collections are usually managed via the Admin UI, but there are some situations where you may want to create or edit a collection programmatically (usually as part of a DB migration). PocketBase exposes several helpers to simplify the Collection model operations.

Fetch collections

Fetch collection by name or id

collection, err := app.Dao().FindCollectionByNameOrId("example")

Fetch collections by type

baseCollections, err := app.Dao().FindCollectionsByType(models.CollectionTypeBase)

authCollections, err := app.Dao().FindCollectionsByType(models.CollectionTypeAuth)

viewCollections, err := app.Dao().FindCollectionsByType(models.CollectionTypeView)

Create new collection

Create new collection WITHOUT data validations

import (
    "github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/models"
    "github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/models/schema"
    "github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/tools/types"
)

...

collection := &models.Collection{
    Name:       "example",
    Type:       models.CollectionTypeBase,
    ListRule:   nil,
    ViewRule:   types.Pointer("@request.auth.id != ''"),
    CreateRule: types.Pointer(""),
    UpdateRule: types.Pointer("@request.auth.id != ''"),
    DeleteRule: nil,
    Schema:     schema.NewSchema(
        &schema.SchemaField{
            Name:     "title",
            Type:     schema.FieldTypeText,
            Required: true,
            Options:  &schema.TextOptions{
                Max: types.Pointer(10),
            },
        },
        &schema.SchemaField{
            Name:     "user",
            Type:     schema.FieldTypeRelation,
            Required: true,
            Options:  &schema.RelationOptions{
                MaxSelect:     types.Pointer(1),
                CollectionId:  "ae40239d2bc4477",
                CascadeDelete: true,
            },
        },
    ),
    Indexes: types.JsonArray[string]{
        "CREATE UNIQUE INDEX idx_user ON example (user)",
    },
}

// the id is autogenerated, but you can set a specific one if you want to:
// collection.SetId("...")

if err := app.Dao().SaveCollection(collection); err != nil {
    return err
}

Create new collection WITH data validations

import (
    "github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/forms"
    "github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/models"
    "github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/models/schema"
    "github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/tools/types"
)

...

collection := &models.Collection{}

form := forms.NewCollectionUpsert(app, collection)
form.Name = "example"
form.Type = models.CollectionTypeBase
form.ListRule = nil
form.ViewRule = types.Pointer("@request.auth.id != ''")
form.CreateRule = types.Pointer("")
form.UpdateRule = types.Pointer("@request.auth.id != ''")
form.DeleteRule = nil
form.Schema.AddField(&schema.SchemaField{
    Name:     "title",
    Type:     schema.FieldTypeText,
    Required: true,
    Options: &schema.TextOptions{
        Max: types.Pointer(10),
    },
})
form.Schema.AddField(&schema.SchemaField{
    Name:     "user",
    Type:     schema.FieldTypeRelation,
    Required: true,
    Options: &schema.RelationOptions{
        MaxSelect:     types.Pointer(1),
        CollectionId:  "ae40239d2bc4477",
        CascadeDelete: true,
    },
})

// validate and submit (internally it calls app.Dao().SaveCollection(collection) in a transaction)
if err := form.Submit(); err != nil {
    return err
}

Update existing collection

Update collection WITHOUT data validations

import (
    "github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/models/schema"
)

...

collection, err := app.Dao().FindCollectionByNameOrId("example")
if err != nil {
    return err
}

// change the collection name
collection.Name = "example_update"

// add new field
collection.Schema.AddField(&schema.SchemaField{
    Name: "description",
    Type: schema.FieldTypeText,
})

if err := app.Dao().SaveCollection(collection); err != nil {
    return err
}

Update collection WITH data validations

import (
    "github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/forms"
    "github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/models/schema"
)

...

collection, err := app.Dao().FindCollectionByNameOrId("example")
if err != nil {
    return err
}

form := forms.NewCollectionUpsert(app, collection)

// change the collection name
form.Name = "example_update"

// add new field
form.Schema.AddField(&schema.SchemaField{
    Name: "description",
    Type: schema.FieldTypeText,
})

// validate and submit (internally it calls app.Dao().SaveCollection(collection) in a transaction)
if err := form.Submit(); err != nil {
    return err
}

Delete collection

collection, err := app.Dao().FindCollectionByNameOrId("example")
if err != nil {
    return err
}

if err := app.Dao().DeleteCollection(collection); err != nil {
    return err
}