Can I use Couchdb as a webserver and the only backend?

Question

I'm studying Couchdb right now. It looks like I could use Couchdb as a backend and web server without needing anything else. Am I correct? Do people use Couchdb as a only backend? Are there any disadvantages doing so?

Answer 1

The core team seems to have pulled back from this in recent versions, but a few years ago there was a lot more of a push to run standalone apps straight out of the CouchDB, these standalone apps are called "Couch Apps".

I don't know it was ever really more than a proof-of-concept (ie. I don't know that any significant web app is actually running on this platform), but if you're interested, apparently the tools do all still work, and there's still the http://couchapp.org/ site with a lot of good information.

Update

I want to add that if the problem you're trying to solve is the problem of javascript origin security, then you should know that recent CouchDB supports CORS