Zeltro › Run a Base44 app locally, or self-host it

Running and self-hosting a Base44 app

Can you export Base44 code and self-host it? Partly. What Base44's export contains, what still runs on Base44's servers, how to run the app locally, and what it takes to make it fully self-hosted.

Base44's pricing page says "Nothing is locked to the platform." That is true of the code. It is less true of the parts the code depends on, and the difference is the whole story of running a Base44 app yourself.

This page is the honest version: what exports, what keeps calling Base44, how to run it on your own machine today, and what a fully self-hosted Base44 app actually takes.

What Base44 exports#

Export needs a paid plan. Zip export and GitHub sync are available on a Builder plan or higher. In Base44's words, "GitHub 2 way sync requires the Builder plan or higher." It syncs through the main branch only.

The export still talks to Base44. The exported package.json "includes @base44/sdk," the library that connects the app to Base44's servers for data, sign-in and everything else. Base44 does let you host the front end elsewhere: "you can still use the Base44 backend services with any client type and deploy your frontend to an external hosting provider."

Step 1: get the Base44 code to GitHub#

On a Builder plan or higher, connect the app to GitHub from its dashboard. After that, changes flow both ways: what you merge into main shows up in Base44, and what Base44 builds shows up in the repository. Sync cannot be paused, but the app's owner can disconnect it.

There is also a base44 eject command in Base44's CLI. It "downloads the frontend code and backend resources from a selected app" into a new project with its own app ID. Read the warning before relying on it: "The ejected project has an empty database. Your entity schemas are copied, but not your data." Your original app stays as it was.

Step 2: run the Base44 app locally#

Base44 documents the steps: clone the repository, npm install, install the Base44 CLI, then base44 login and base44 link (the link file is not committed, so every fresh clone needs it). Then base44 dev starts a local backend and front end together, and it goes further than most builders:

• Backend functions "run locally on your machine," each as a Deno process.
• Entity data lives in "a local in-memory database," cleared when you stop.
• Email and password sign-in works locally; the verification code prints in your terminal.

What it does not do is just as important. Social sign-in, Base44's built-in email and AI, and custom integrations are forwarded to your deployed app. And base44 dev --remote, which runs only the front end against the live backend, comes with a warning: "In remote mode, writes go to your live app's production data."

So you can run a Base44 app locally today, but it is a local copy of a hosted app, not an app that stands on its own.

Step 3: what full self-hosting takes#

To self-host a Base44 app completely, the backend has to be rebuilt somewhere you control. In practice that means four jobs:

1. The database. Recreate each entity as a collection or a table, then bring the data over. Base44's entities are NoSQL, so MongoDB is the natural fit, and Postgres works if you would rather have tables.
2. The API. Replace each @base44/sdk call in the front end with a call to your own backend: list, create, update, delete, per entity.
3. The backend functions. Port them from Base44's Deno runtime to a server you run, such as Express, Hono or FastAPI.
4. Sign-in and integrations. Replace Base44's auth, email and AI calls with your own providers and keys.

None of it is exotic, and all of it is work. It is the kind of work an AI coding agent is good at, one entity and one function at a time, as long as it has a real database and a running app to test against.

Doing it with Zeltro#

Zeltro is a free local development platform that gives the agent exactly that. Every project runs in its own container, and every project on the machine shares one MongoDB, Postgres, MariaDB and Redis.

zeltro clone work-directly https://github.com/you/your-base44-app --database mongo

That clones the repository, detects the React front end, and sets the project up on Node 22 with its own database on the shared MongoDB, credentials written into .env. zeltro status your-base44-app prints the address.

Then point your agent at the job:

cd ~/zeltro-projects/your-base44-app
zeltro ai "read AGENTS.md. Replace the @base44/sdk entity calls with an Express API backed by the project's MongoDB, one entity at a time, starting with the smallest"

The agent is yours: Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, Qwen Code, Aider, OpenCode or Hermes, on a subscription you already pay for, an API key at the provider's own price, or a free local model. There are no message credits to run out of halfway through a migration. See bring your own key, or put your own numbers in the savings calculator.

Worth knowing#

Self-hosted means you host it. Zeltro is where the app is built and run during development; it does not put it on the internet. Once the backend is yours, any host works, or I will take it live for you.

Base44's terms are Base44's to change. What exports, and on which plan, is defined by Base44 and can change. Check your plan before you start. For a broader look at Base44's credits, data training and export terms, see the Base44 comparison.

Sources#

Checked on 18 October 2026: Base44's local development, eject and backend features pages, and GitHub sync pages. Checked on 29 September 2026: Base44's project structure and plans pages. Plans and terms change, so check them before you start.

Questions

Checked 2026-10-18. Other products change often — if something here is out of date, tell us and it gets fixed.