When I wanted to self-host a pastebin, every option I found was too much. Git-based version control, OAuth, elaborate admin panels. I just wanted something I could deploy in under a minute with a CLI that actually works.
So I built pbnj (yes, like the sandwich).
What it is:
- A minimal, beautiful pastebin with syntax highlighting for 100+ languages
- One-click deploy to Cloudflare (free tier gives you ~100,000 pastes)
- CLI-first: pbnj file.py → get a URL, copied to clipboard
- Memorable URLs: crunchy-peanut-butter-sandwich instead of x7f9a2
- Private pastes with optional secret keys
- Web UI for when you're not in a terminal
What it isn't:
- No accounts, no OAuth, no git integration
- No multi-user support (fork it and run your own)
- No expiring pastes, no folders, no comments
- Not trying to replace Gist or be a "platform"
Why not just use Gist? Maybe you want to own your data. Maybe you enjoy self-hosting things. Or maybe you're a little autistic like me and just like having your own stuff.
Live demo: https://pbnj.sh GitHub: https://github.com/bhavnicksm/pbnj CLI: npm install -g @pbnjs/cli
If this scratches an itch for you, I'd appreciate a star on GitHub. Happy to answer any questions!
indigodaddy•2mo ago
This is super neat though, and could almost be used as a blog replacement (if of course I could prevent others from using it/posting to it :) )
0_____0•2mo ago
thunderbong•2mo ago
Also, when I tried to add something on the demo site, it asked me for an auth key.
Looking at the code, the package.json file has an entry for AUTH_KEY (in the Cloudflare config) to prevent random people from pasting stuff.
indigodaddy•2mo ago
_jzlw•2mo ago
If possible though it's best to use a VPN so that nothing needs to be accessible from the internet at all (not to mention then you can access your NAS shares w/o needing a web UI). That's why I actually prefer when self-hosted apps don't have their own auth system, or at least let me disable it. If everything's internal only, I don't need it anyway.