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Deploy AppFlowy Cloud
Deployment
AppFlowy-Cloud is designed to be easily self deployed for self managed cloud storage
The following document will walk you through the steps to deploy your own AppFlowy-Cloud
Hardware Requirements
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Minimum 2GB Ram (4GB Recommended)
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Ports 80/443 available
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Because AppFlowy-Cloud will have to be running persistently (or at least whenever users need access),
it's probably a good idea to run it on a non-end user device. It is best if you already have a home server (check software requirements),
but if you don't, you can also deploy it on a cloud compute service as host server such as Amazon EC2 or Azure Virtual Machines
Software Requirements
Ensure you have Docker Compose(v2) installed on your host server. Follow the official guidelines for a reliable setup:
Docker Compose is included with Docker Engine:
Docker Engine: We suggest adhering to the instructions provided by Docker
for installing Docker Engine.
For older versions of Docker Engine that do not include Docker Compose:
Docker Compose: Install it as per the official documentation.
Once you have it installed, you can check by running the command:
docker compose version
# Docker Compose version 2.23.3
Note: docker-compose (with the hyphen) may not be supported. You are advised to use docker compose (without hyphen) instead.
Steps
🚀🚀🚀 Quick Try: Step-by-Step GuideFor an in-depth, step-by-step guide on self-hosting AppFlowy Cloud on AWS EC2, particularly for demonstration
purposes, please consult our detailed documentation:
Self-Hosting AppFlowy Cloud on AWS EC2 - Step by Step GuideNote: This guide is tailored for demonstration purposes using the AWS EC2 free tier. For more customized
deployment options, please follow the subsequent steps outlined below.
1. Getting source files
Clone this repository into your host server and cd into it
git clone https://github.com/AppFlowy-IO/AppFlowy-Cloud
cd AppFlowy-Cloud
2. Preparing the configuration
This is perhaps the most important part of the deployment process, please read carefully.
It is required that there is a .env file in the root directory of the repository.
To get started, copy the template deploy.env as .env using the following shell commands:
cp deploy.env .env
Kindly read through the comments for each option
Modify the values in .env according to your needs
For authentication details, refer to the Authentication documentation. You will need to update
the redirect URI to match your host server's public IP or hostname, such
as http://<your-host-server-public-ip-or-hostname>/gotrue/callback.
If using localhost, then just keep the default value.
GOTRUE_EXTERNAL_GOOGLE_ENABLED=true
GOTRUE_EXTERNAL_GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=
GOTRUE_EXTERNAL_GOOGLE_SECRET=
GOTRUE_EXTERNAL_GOOGLE_REDIRECT_URI=http://your-host/gotrue/callback
# GitHub OAuth2
GOTRUE_EXTERNAL_GITHUB_ENABLED=true
GOTRUE_EXTERNAL_GITHUB_CLIENT_ID=your-github-client-id
GOTRUE_EXTERNAL_GITHUB_SECRET=your-github-secret
GOTRUE_EXTERNAL_GITHUB_REDIRECT_URI=http://your-host/gotrue/callback
# Discord OAuth2
GOTRUE_EXTERNAL_DISCORD_ENABLED=true
GOTRUE_EXTERNAL_DISCORD_CLIENT_ID=your-discord-client-id
GOTRUE_EXTERNAL_DISCORD_SECRET=your-discord-secret
GOTRUE_EXTERNAL_DISCORD_REDIRECT_URI=http://your-host/gotrue/callback
3. Running the services
Start and run AppFlowy-Cloud
The following command will build and start AppFlowy-Cloud.
docker compose up -d
Please check that all the services are running
docker ps -a
4. Optional Services
We have provided optional services in the file docker-compose-extra.yml.
You do not need them for a fully functional installation of AppFlowy Cloud, but they could be helpful for various admin/debug tasks.
pgadmin (Web UI to visualize the provided postgres database)
portainer/portainer_init (Web UI to provide some monitoring and ease of container management)
tunnel (Cloudflare tunnel to provide a secure way to connect AppFlowy to Cloudflare without a publicly routable IP address)
admin_frontend (admin portal to manage accounts and add authentication methods. We recommend to keep this)
If you wish to deploy those, edit the file accordingly and do:
docker compose --file docker-compose-extras.yml up -d
You may ignore the orphan containers warning message that docker will output.
When using the docker compose up -d command without specifying a tag, Docker Compose will pull the latest tag for the appflowy_cloud and admin_frontend images from Docker Hub by default.
If you've set the APPFLOWY_CLOUD_VERSION or the APPFLOWY_ADMIN_FRONTEND_VERSION environment variable, it will pull the specified version instead.
Check that services are running correctly docker ps -a
If you find a particular service not working properly, you can inspect the logs:
# Getting logs for a particular docker compose service
# You can obtain its name by running `docker ps -a`
docker logs <NAME>
# e.g. docker logs appflowy-cloud-admin_frontend-1
5. Reconfiguring and redeployment
It is very common to reconfigure and restart. To do so, simply edit the .env and run docker compose up -d again
6. Upgrading the services
To upgrade to the latest version, use docker compose pull and git pull to fetch the latest changes for images, docker compose files, and the configuration files.
Then, run docker compose up -d to start the services.
Alternatively, you can use a specific image tag instead of latest, and checkout the corresponding tag for the repository.
7. AppFlowy Web
AppFlowy Web is a Single Page Application (SPA) that calls the endpoints in appflowy_cloud, and is assumed to be served on a different origin that the one used for AppFlowy Cloud (eg. if you are hosting appflowy cloud on appflowy.home.com, appflowy_web may be hosted on web.appflowy.home.com). The source code and deployment guide can be found in this repository.
To prevent CORS issues, you will need to change set $appflowy_web "http://localhost:3000"; in nginx/nginx.conf to the origin where you are hosting appflowy_web.
Ports
After Deployment, you should see that AppFlowy-Cloud is serving 2 ports
443 (https)
80 (http)
Your host server need to expose either of these ports.
SSL Certificate
To use your own SSL certificates for https, replace certificate.crt and private_key.key with your own in nginx/ssl/ directory. Please note that the certificates in the repository are for demonstration purpose only and will need to be replaced by a certificate that is trusted by your devices.
For example, you can use Let's Encrypt, or CloudFlare Origin CA, if the AppFlowy Cloud endpoint is placed behind a cloudflare proxy.
Usage of AppFlowy Application with AppFlowy Cloud AppFlowy with AppFlowyCloud
FAQ
How do I use a different postgres?
The default url is using the postgres in docker compose, in service appflowy_cloud and gotrue respectively. However it is possible to use an external postgres, as long as it is accessible by the services. You need to change the following settings:
POSTGRES_HOST=postgres
POSTGRES_USER=postgres
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=password
POSTGRES_PORT=5432
POSTGRES_DB=postgres
You would need to run the supabase_auth.sh from migrations/before in your hosted postgres. Make sure that the environmental variables referenced by the script (eg. $SUPABASE_PASSWORD) have been exported before running the script.
How do I disable signups?
If your deployed AppFlowy-Cloud is publicly available and you do not want any other users to access it, you can disable sign up by setting the GOTRUE_DISABLE_SIGNUP environment variable to true.
What port should I use for SMTP?
The default configuration assumes that TLS is used for SMTP, typically on port 465. If you are using STARTTLS, such as when using port 587, please change APPFLOWY_MAILER_SMTP_TLS_KIND to opportunistic.
Can I sign in using only using email and password?
The AppFlowy clients currently do not support email and password sign in. However, you can login to the admin portal using the admin
email and password. In the admin section, you can then add users and set their passwords. Subseqently, users can login to the portal
using their email and password, and launch the AppFlowy client via the portal.
What functionality will I lose if the SMTP server is not set up?
Sign in via magic link will not be possible. Inviting users to workspace and accepting invitation will have to be
performed via the admin portal as opposed to links provided in emails.
I already have an Nginx server running on my host server. How do I configure it to work with AppFlowy-Cloud?
First, remove the nginx service from the docker-compose.yml file.
Update the docker compose file such that the ports for appflowy_cloud, gotrue, and admin_frontend are mapped
to different ports on the host server. If possible, use firewall to make sure that these ports are not accessible
from the internet.
Update proxy_pass in nginx/nginx.conf to point to the above ports.
