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Caprover Deployment

Use cases:​

  • Setup a selfhosted server to comply with regulation.
  • Reduce vendor lockin for a specific cloud provider.
  • Quickly add, update & remove containers while prototyping.

Prerequisites​

  • VPS with 2 Gb RAM, Ubuntu
  • PostgreSQL database credentials
  • DNS wildcard to the VPS (e.g. *.caprover.example.org)
  • DNS record for the api (e.g. api.example.org)
  • DNS record for the admins/caregivers (e.g. example.org)
  • Public IP address of the VPS

Summary​

First we setup Caprover, then we add the platform and admin containers. After this we can setup custom integrations.

Replace every instance of example.org with your donain!

Start Caprover server​

For the latest instructions, visit the Caprover docs. Below is the short version for Ubuntu.

Sign in on the VPS and run these commands:

# Install Docker
sudo apt-get install -y ca-certificates curl gnupg lsb-release
sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg
echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-compose-plugin
sudo service docker start

# Run Caprover
sudo docker run -p 80:80 -p 443:443 -p 3000:3000 -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock -v /captain:/captain caprover/caprover

# Optional commands
sudo usermod -a -G docker ubuntu
sudo ufw allow 22,80,443,4433,3000,996,7946,4789,2377/tcp
sudo ufw allow 7946,4789,2377/udp
sudo ufw enable
sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt autoremove -y

# When everything is finished
exit

At this point, we won't have to ssh into server anymore.

Set caprover server password​

Open a terminal on your local machine and run npx caprover serversetup

devmachine » npx caprover serversetup
Setup CapRover machine on your server...
? have you already started CapRover container on your server? Yes
? IP address of your server: ***.***.***.***
? CapRover server root domain: caprover.example.org
? new CapRover password (min 8 characters): [hidden]
? enter new CapRover password again: [hidden]
? "valid" email address to get certificate and enable HTTPS: dev@example.org
⠸ Enabling SSL... Takes a few seconds...
? CapRover machine name, with whom the login credentials are stored locally: example

Add caprover apps​

  1. Visit https://captain.caprover.example.org/
  2. Login using the password chosen above
  3. Add two apps: healthblocks-platform, healthblocks-api

Healthblocks platform​

  1. Visit https://captain.caprover.example.org/#/apps

  2. Go to "Apps" > "healthblocks-platform" > "HTTP Settings" > "Connect New Domain"

    Domain: api.example.org
    Enable HTTPS

  3. Go to "Apps" > "healthblocks-platform" > "App Configs" > "Environmental Variables" and fill in this:

    PORT=80
    INITIAL_SETUP=1
    ORIGIN=https://api.example.org
    ADMIN_URL=https://example.org
    ALLOWED_ORIGINS=https://api.example.org,https://example.org
    APP_SECRET=1234567890abcdef-make-it-random
    DATABASE_URL=postgres://insert-db-credentials
    DEPLOYMENT_ENV=example-prd
    NODE_ENV=production
    SENTRY_DSN=false

  4. Go to "Apps" > "healthblocks-platform" > "Deployment" > "Method 6: Deploy via ImageName"

    image: healthblocks/platform

  5. Click "Deploy now"

Healthblocks admin​

  1. Visit https://captain.caprover.example.org/#/apps

  2. Go to "Apps" > "healthblocks-admin" > "HTTP Settings" > "Connect New Domain"

    Domain: example.org
    Enable HTTPS

  3. Go to "Apps" > "healthblocks-admin" > "App Configs" > "Environmental Variables" and fill in this:

    PORT=80
    HEALTHBLOCKS_API=https://api.example.org
    NEXTAUTH_URL=https://example.org
    NEXTAUTH_URL_INTERNAL=http://127.0.0.1
    NEXTAUTH_SECRET=1234567890abcdef-make-it-random
    DATABASE_URL=postgres://insert-db-credentials
    DEPLOYMENT_ENV=example-prd
    SENTRY_DSN=false

  4. Go to "Apps" > "healthblocks-admin" > "Deployment" > "Method 6: Deploy via ImageName"

    image: healthblocks/admin

  5. Click "Deploy now"

Choose authenticator​

Visit example.org and configure the first authenticator. If not sure, choose credentials.

Now visit example.org/register and register the first user.

Disable the initial setup phase​

This environment variable is only meant to be enabled shortly during initial setup. So let's disable it now:

  1. Visit https://captain.caprover.example.org/#/apps

  2. Go to "Apps" > "healthblocks-platform" > "App Configs" > "Environmental Variables" and update:

    -INITIAL_SETUP=1
    +INITIAL_SETUP=0

Create a new project​

At this point, the deployment is ready to go and it's time to create a project!