Self-Hosting

Baby Basics is designed to be self-hosted. Your data stays on your server.

Requirements

• A Linux server (LXC container, VPS, or bare metal)
• Docker and Docker Compose
• A domain name with DNS pointing to your server
• A reverse proxy with SSL (Nginx Proxy Manager recommended)

Server Setup

1. Prepare the Server

Install Docker and create the application directories:

# Install Docker (Debian/Ubuntu)
apt update && apt install -y docker.io docker-compose-plugin git curl postgresql-client

# Create app and backup directories
mkdir -p /opt/baby-basics /opt/backups

# Create a deploy user
adduser --disabled-password deploy
usermod -aG docker deploy

2. Clone the Repository

cd /opt/baby-basics
git clone https://github.com/FindingJohnny/baby-basics.git .

3. Configure Environment

cp apps/api/.env.example .env

Edit .env with your values:

Variable	Description	Example
DATABASE_URL	PostgreSQL connection string	postgresql://baby:STRONG_PASSWORD@db:5432/baby_basics
JWT_SECRET	Random 64-character string for token signing	openssl rand -hex 32
BASE_URL	Public URL of your instance	https://baby.yourfamily.com
PORT	API port (default 3000)	3000
NODE_ENV	Set to production	production

4. Deploy

./infra/deploy.sh prod

The deploy script handles: database migrations, Docker image builds, container restarts, and health verification. If the health check fails, it automatically rolls back.

Reverse Proxy

Point your domain at the server and configure your reverse proxy to forward traffic to port 3000. With Nginx Proxy Manager (GUI-based):

1. Add a proxy host for your domain
2. Set the upstream to <server-ip>:3000
3. Enable SSL with Let's Encrypt
4. Enable "Force SSL"

Backups

Daily automated backups via cron:

# Add to crontab (runs at 3 AM daily, keeps 30 days)
crontab -e
0 3 * * * /opt/baby-basics/infra/backup.sh >> /opt/backups/backup.log 2>&1

Manual backup:

./infra/backup.sh

Rollback

If something goes wrong after a deploy:

./infra/rollback.sh

This restores the pre-deploy database snapshot and reverts to the previous code version.

Updating

Automated Deployments

If you're using the official repository with GitHub Actions:

• Dev environment: Push to develop branch triggers automatic deployment
• Prod environment: Push to main branch triggers automatic deployment

The CI pipeline runs tests first, then SSH-deploys to the target environment.

Manual Deployments

For self-hosted forks or manual updates:

cd /opt/baby-basics
git pull origin main  # or develop for dev environment
./infra/deploy.sh prod  # or dev for dev environment

The deploy script takes a backup before applying changes, so rollback is always available.

GitHub Actions Setup

To enable automated deployments, configure these repository secrets:

Secret	Description
DEV_SSH_KEY	Private SSH key for dev server
DEV_HOST	Dev server IP or hostname
PROD_SSH_KEY	Private SSH key for prod server
PROD_HOST	Prod server IP or hostname
DEPLOY_USER	SSH user on both servers (usually deploy)

The workflows are at .github/workflows/deploy-dev.yml and .github/workflows/deploy-prod.yml.

Monitoring

We recommend Uptime Kuma (self-hosted) to monitor the health endpoint:

• URL: https://your-domain.com/api/v1/health
• Interval: 30 seconds
• Expected status: 200