diff --git a/eventstore/cmd/eventstore/helpers.go b/eventstore/cmd/eventstore/helpers.go
index 2a58b1e..f21da49 100644
--- a/eventstore/cmd/eventstore/helpers.go
+++ b/eventstore/cmd/eventstore/helpers.go
@@ -28,7 +28,8 @@ func detect(dir string) (string, error) {
 		return "", err
 	}
 	if !f.IsDir() {
-		return "", fmt.Errorf("unknown db format")
+		// only boltdb is a file for now
+		return "boltdb", nil
 	}
 
 	entries, err := os.ReadDir(dir)
@@ -49,14 +50,6 @@ func detect(dir string) (string, error) {
 			}
 		}
 	}
-	// for _, entry := range entries {
-	// 	if strings.HasSuffix(entry.Name(), ".mdb") {
-	// 		return "lmdb", nil
-	// 	}
-	// 	if strings.HasSuffix(entry.Name(), ".vlog") {
-	// 		return "badger", nil
-	// 	}
-	// }
 
 	return "", fmt.Errorf("undetected")
 }
diff --git a/eventstore/cmd/eventstore/main.go b/eventstore/cmd/eventstore/main.go
index 835e61d..a05daae 100644
--- a/eventstore/cmd/eventstore/main.go
+++ b/eventstore/cmd/eventstore/main.go
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 
 	"fiatjaf.com/nostr"
 	"fiatjaf.com/nostr/eventstore"
+	"fiatjaf.com/nostr/eventstore/boltdb"
 	"fiatjaf.com/nostr/eventstore/lmdb"
 	"fiatjaf.com/nostr/eventstore/slicestore"
 	"github.com/urfave/cli/v3"
@@ -32,11 +33,11 @@ var app = &cli.Command{
 		&cli.StringFlag{
 			Name:    "type",
 			Aliases: []string{"t"},
-			Usage:   "store type ('lmdb', 'mmm')",
+			Usage:   "store type ('lmdb', 'boltdb', 'mmm')",
 		},
 	},
 	Before: func(ctx context.Context, c *cli.Command) (context.Context, error) {
-		path := strings.Trim(c.String("store"), "/")
+		path := strings.TrimSuffix(c.String("store"), "/")
 		typ := c.String("type")
 		if typ != "" {
 			// bypass automatic detection
@@ -70,6 +71,8 @@ var app = &cli.Command{
 		switch typ {
 		case "lmdb":
 			db = &lmdb.LMDBBackend{Path: path}
+		case "boltdb":
+			db = &boltdb.BoltBackend{Path: path}
 		case "mmm":
 			var err error
 			if db, err = doMmmInit(path); err != nil {