Regions

When you create an app on Butterbase, you choose a region. Your database, files, and serverless functions live in that region — close to the users you’re serving. Your client code keeps using a single API URL; we handle the routing automatically.

Available regions

Region	Code
US East	us-east-1
US West	us-west-2

More regions are coming soon. If you’d like one in a specific part of the world, let us know.

Fetching the live list

The supported region list is always available from the API. Use this if you’re building a UI that lets your users choose a region, or if you want to validate a region slug before calling init_app or move_app.

MCP

list_regions()

REST

curl https://api.butterbase.ai/v1/regions
# → { "regions": ["us-east-1", "us-west-2"] }

This endpoint is public (no API key required).

Picking a region when you create an app

Region is optional. If you don’t specify one, your app is created in the default region.

MCP

init_app({ name: "my-app", region: "us-west-2" })

CLI

butterbase apps create my-app --region us-west-2

REST

curl -X POST https://api.butterbase.ai/init \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BUTTERBASE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "my-app", "region": "us-west-2"}'

What lives in a region

Each app has a home region. The following stay there:

• Your database
• Your serverless functions
• Your file storage
• Your end users’ accounts and sessions

The following are global and unaffected by region choice:

• The API URL — https://api.butterbase.ai works from anywhere
• Frontend deployments — served from a global edge network
• Your Butterbase account, billing, and the dashboard

One URL, anywhere

Your frontend and SDK code always point at https://api.butterbase.ai. You don’t pin to a regional URL, and you don’t change anything when you move an app between regions. Requests are routed to the right region for you.

Moving an app to another region

If your audience shifts — or you want to be closer to a different part of the world — you can move an app to another region.

MCP

move_app({ app_id: "app_abc123", dest_region: "us-east-1" })

CLI

butterbase apps move app_abc123 --to us-east-1

While the move is in progress, your app stays available for reads. Writes pause briefly during the cutover and resume automatically once the move completes. The whole process typically takes a few minutes, depending on how much data your app has.

Check progress at any time:

move_app_status({ app_id: "app_abc123" })

You can’t move an app while another move is already in progress for it.

Choosing a region

A few things to consider:

• Where your users are. Pick the region closest to most of them. Round-trip latency between users and the database is the single biggest factor in how fast your app feels.
• Data residency. If you need to keep data in a specific jurisdiction, pick a region in that jurisdiction. Reach out if you need a region we don’t list yet.
• You can change your mind. Apps aren’t locked to their initial region. If you outgrow your first choice, move the app.

If you’re not sure, leave the region unset and Butterbase picks a sensible default. You can always move the app later.