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Installation

DocStack ships as two packages on npm: the engine and the React bindings. Both are pre-1.0 and moving, and both are in production use.

The engine​

npm install @docstack/client pouchdb-browser pouchdb-find

pouchdb-browser and pouchdb-find are peer dependencies at ^9. DocStack does not bundle the storage layer, so you control its version and it is never duplicated in your bundle.

Current version: 0.2.0, published 2026-09-04. The release notes list what changed; the changelog goes back to 0.1.6.

The React bindings​

npm install @docstack/react @docstack/client pouchdb-browser pouchdb-find

React 19 is a peer dependency. @docstack/react wraps the client in a provider and a set of hooks that are live by default; see React bindings.

Current version: 0.1.1, published 2026-09-01.

What the runtime needs​

  • IndexedDB. The default storage adapter is pouchdb-browser's IndexedDB adapter. Any other PouchDB adapter passes through: everything in the options object that is not DocStack's own reaches the PouchDB constructor, so adapter: 'memory' with plugins: [MemoryAdapter] gives you an in-memory stack for tests.
  • Web Crypto. Field-level encryption uses crypto.subtle for AES-GCM and PBKDF2. Every evergreen browser has it; so does Node 20 and later.
  • WebAssembly, only if you use cryptographic access scopes. The CP-ABE primitive ships as @docstack/abe, a client dependency inlined into the bundle. Its ~180 KB (gzipped) WebAssembly module is embedded but instantiated lazily — a stack that never touches scopes compiles no WebAssembly and pays only the embedded bytes.
  • ES modules. The package is "type": "module". A UMD build is also shipped at lib/index.umd.js for script-tag use.
  • TypeScript types resolve @docstack/shared at ^0.1.0. The runtime bundle inlines it (and @docstack/abe); only the published .d.ts files import them.

Bundler note​

PouchDB's browser build touches Node built-ins. Vite projects need a polyfill plugin; the example app in the repository uses vite-plugin-node-polyfills:

vite.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from 'vite';
import react from '@vitejs/plugin-react';
import { nodePolyfills } from 'vite-plugin-node-polyfills';

export default defineConfig({
    plugins: [
        react(),
        nodePolyfills({ include: ['fs', 'path', 'util', 'stream', 'buffer', 'process'] }),
    ],
});

Webpack 5 projects need the equivalent resolve.fallback entries for buffer, stream, util and process.

Syncing to Google Drive​

The Drive transport is a separate package, maintained in its own repository:

npm install @docstack/pouchdb-adapter-googledrive

Use 0.1.6 or later; earlier versions lose change-log references under concurrent writers. The Google Drive guide covers registration, scopes and restore.

The server​

@docstack/server is a preview of the same engine deployed on a host. It is not published and there is nothing to install; the server reference describes what it is for and what its source exposes today.

Next​

The Quickstart opens a database, defines a class, writes a document and queries it back, first from plain TypeScript and then from React.