Files
narl-workspace/docs/wiki/Deploying.md
T
nvrl 4eb663e2d7 docs: a guide, a wiki and screenshots
The README grew a section per feature and is a good reference, but nothing
said where to begin. docs/wiki now has a getting-started page, a guide that
walks through one day with the workspace and explains each part where it comes
up, and a page per part of the app, each with screenshots of what it
describes.

Three pages are read out of the code rather than written, so they cannot drift
from it: the keys and commands from Help.svelte and commands.ts, the same lists
`:help` draws; the settings from .env.example, which gains a heading for the
vault, trash and history settings so they no longer sit under mail; and the
API from the README's table. `make wiki` writes them, and `--check` fails when
one is stale or a link between pages leads nowhere. `--publish` lays the pages
out for a GitHub wiki: links without `.md`, images beside them, `[[` escaped so
the wiki does not take a command's help text for a link to a page.

The screenshots are taken by `make screenshots`: the debug binary on a
temporary data directory, with a password made up for the run, filled with an
example workspace over the API, and a headless Chromium driven over the
DevTools protocol through the views the docs show. Nothing outside the
temporary directory is touched but docs/images, and the pictures are cut to
256 colours, a third of their size, which a dark UI does not show.

The README opens with the banner, a CI badge, the guide, the features grouped
by what they are for, and six of the screenshots.
2026-10-21 12:07:32 +02:00

2.4 KiB

Deploying

The workspace is one binary with the frontend inside, and one data directory. It needs no database server and no runtime on the host.

On a server

  1. Build it: make build makes target/release/narl-workspace.
  2. Copy the binary and a .env to the server. Set WORKSPACE_USER, WORKSPACE_PASSWORD and WORKSPACE_SECRET; the server will not start with the examples from .env.example.
  3. Put a reverse proxy that terminates TLS in front of WORKSPACE_BIND, and set WORKSPACE_SECURE_COOKIE=1.
  4. Keep WORKSPACE_DATA_DIR safe. It is the whole state: the database and the uploads.

The proxy must:

  • pass the Host header through unchanged, because a write that a browser says came from another origin is refused;
  • allow request bodies as large as WORKSPACE_MAX_UPLOAD_MB;
  • not weaken the security headers the app sends (Content-Security-Policy, Referrer-Policy: no-referrer and the rest).

GET /api/health answers without a login, for a supervisor. SIGTERM gives requests in flight eight seconds to finish.

Docker

cp .env.example .env   # set WORKSPACE_USER, WORKSPACE_PASSWORD, WORKSPACE_SECRET
docker compose up -d --build

The image builds the frontend with bun and the binary with cargo, then ships only the binary on debian:trixie-slim, running as an unprivileged user. The database and uploads live in the diary-data volume. Keep COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=narl-diary if you rename the directory, or compose looks for the volume under a new name and finds an empty one.

The port is published on 127.0.0.1:4242 only. To serve it through traefik, copy compose.override.yml.example to compose.override.yml and set the host. It joins the external narl network, drops the published port, and sets WORKSPACE_SECURE_COOKIE=1.

Sessions and security

  • Every signed-in browser is a row on the server. :sessions lists them, :sessions rm <n> signs one out and locks the vault, and :logout! signs out every one.
  • Changing WORKSPACE_SECRET or WORKSPACE_PASSWORD also signs everyone out.
  • Wrong passwords are answered more slowly each time, up to 30 seconds. A browser that has logged in before is slowed only by its own mistakes.
  • With WORKSPACE_SECURE_COOKIE=1 the cookie is Secure and __Host- prefixed, and every answer carries HSTS for a year.
  • Uploads are only served as types that cannot run in the browser.

See Configuration for every setting.