shiftcraft/.claude/skills/pocketbase-best-practices/rules/coll-view-collections.md

title, impact, impactDescription, tags

title	impact	impactDescription	tags
Use View Collections for Complex Read-Only Queries	HIGH	Simplifies complex queries, improves maintainability, enables aggregations	collections, views, sql, aggregation, design

Use View Collections for Complex Read-Only Queries

View collections execute custom SQL queries and expose results through the standard API. They're ideal for aggregations, joins, and computed fields without duplicating logic across your application.

Incorrect (computing aggregations client-side):

// Fetching all records to compute stats client-side
const orders = await pb.collection('orders').getFullList();
const products = await pb.collection('products').getFullList();

// Expensive client-side computation
const stats = orders.reduce((acc, order) => {
  const product = products.find(p => p.id === order.product);
  acc.totalRevenue += order.quantity * product.price;
  acc.orderCount++;
  return acc;
}, { totalRevenue: 0, orderCount: 0 });
// Fetches all data, slow, memory-intensive

Correct (using view collection):

// Create a view collection in PocketBase Admin UI or via API
// View SQL:
// SELECT
//   p.id,
//   p.name,
//   COUNT(o.id) as order_count,
//   SUM(o.quantity) as total_sold,
//   SUM(o.quantity * p.price) as revenue
// FROM products p
// LEFT JOIN orders o ON o.product = p.id
// GROUP BY p.id

// Simple, efficient query
const productStats = await pb.collection('product_stats').getList(1, 20, {
  sort: '-revenue'
});

// Each record has computed fields
productStats.items.forEach(stat => {
  console.log(`${stat.name}: ${stat.order_count} orders, $${stat.revenue}`);
});

View collection use cases:

• Aggregations (COUNT, SUM, AVG)
• Joining data from multiple collections
• Computed/derived fields
• Denormalized read models
• Dashboard statistics

Limitations:

• Read-only (no create/update/delete)
• Must return id column
• No realtime subscriptions
• API rules still apply for access control

Reference: PocketBase View Collections