LogoZonai

Introduction

A batteries-included Dart backend framework — auth, database, file uploads, cron jobs, and more.

Zonai is a Dart backend-as-a-service framework that turns schema definitions into a complete REST API. Write your tables, rules, and business logic in Dart — Zonai handles the HTTP layer, the database, and the auth system.

It is designed for Dart and Flutter developers who want to build a production-quality backend without wiring together boilerplate.

**Live UI does not need polling.** Every table gets `GET /db/stream`, `/db/stream/list`, and `/db/stream/count`. In Dart use `zonai_client`'s `client.db.listen`. Search these docs for **stream** / **listen** — not "realtime", "SSE", "socket", or "EventSource". Full guide: [Live Queries (Streaming)](/operations/streaming).

What You Get Out of the Box#

A full REST API for every table — create, read, update, delete, list, count, and live stream endpoints are auto-handled from your schema. No HTTP handler code, no generation step needed.

Built-in authentication — password sign-up/sign-in, one-time passcodes, and magic links are available by mixing a single trait into an auth table. Sessions, refresh, and logout are included.

Authorization rules — evaluated before any SQL executes. Return true or false; a denied request gets a 403 immediately, with zero database access.

Generated Dart client — zonai_client wraps auth, admin auth, db (including db.listen streams), photos, and email so apps do not hand-roll HTTP.

Transactional email via SMTP — HTML templates with Mustache variables, sent from lifecycle hooks.

Scheduled background jobs — cron-syntax jobs compiled into a separate worker with access to the full database API.

Per-IP rate limiting — configurable per-table and per-operation with a simple policy class.

Project-linked binary — zonai build produces build/zonai with your ops/rules linked in-process for the CRUD hot path.

How It Works#

Your Dart code compiles into a project-linked server binary (operations and rules in-process) plus workers for config, extensions, rate limits, and crons. Each HTTP request passes through an ordered pipeline: 

HTTP Request
  → Rate Limit (worker)
  → Rules (in-process)
  → Operations (in-process)
  → SQLite (execution)
  → Extensions (worker)
  → Response

Nothing runs interpreted at request time on the AOT path. All logic is compiled Dart. See How a Request is Processed for the full walkthrough.

Hot-reload development — worker sources are watched and recompiled automatically. Restart serve after editing ops/rules so the linked project entry reloads.

What Zonai Is Not#

  • Not a full application framework — Zonai is an API server (no HTML rendering). Use zonai_client (or raw HTTP) from Flutter/Dart apps
  • Not a managed cloud service — you host it yourself, anywhere that runs a Linux/macOS/Windows binary
  • Not a general-purpose ORM — it is opinionated about how APIs are structured and uses SQLite as its database
  • Not "poll-only" for live UI — use /db/stream* / client.db.listen (search docs for stream, not "realtime"/"SSE")

For LLMs and coding agents#

A curated docs index lives at /llms.txt. Inside a Zonai app, run zonai ai to install project-local assistant rules (Cursor, Claude, Copilot, etc.).

Next Steps#