cobalt/docs/run-an-instance.md

how to run a cobalt instance

using docker compose and package from github (recommended)

to run the cobalt docker package, you need to have docker and docker-compose installed and configured.

if you need help with installing docker, follow only the first step of these tutorials by digitalocean:

• how to install docker
• how to install docker compose

how to run a cobalt docker package:

1. create a folder for cobalt config file, something like this:

   mkdir cobalt
   

2. go to cobalt folder, and create a docker compose config file:

   cd cobalt && nano docker-compose.yml
   

   i'm using nano in this example, it may not be available in your distro. you can use any other text editor.

3. copy and paste the sample config from here and edit it to your needs. make sure to replace default URLs with your own or cobalt won't work correctly.

4. finally, start the cobalt container (from cobalt directory):

   docker compose up -d
   

if you want your instance to support services that require authentication to view public content, create cookies.json file in the same directory as docker-compose.yml. example cookies file can be found here.

cobalt package will update automatically thanks to watchtower.

it's highly recommended to use a reverse proxy (such as nginx) if you want your instance to face the public internet. look up tutorials online.

run cobalt api outside of docker (useful for local development)

requirements:

• node.js >= 18
• git
• pnpm

1. clone the repo: git clone https://github.com/imputnet/cobalt.
2. go to api/src directory: cd cobalt/api/src.
3. install dependencies: pnpm install.
4. create .env file in the same directory.
5. add needed environment variables to .env file. only API_URL is required to run cobalt.
   • if you don't know what api url to use for local development, use http://localhost:9000/.
6. run cobalt: pnpm start.

ubuntu 22.04 workaround

nscd needs to be installed and running so that the ffmpeg-static binary can resolve DNS (#101):

sudo apt install nscd
sudo service nscd start

list of environment variables

this section has moved to a dedicated document that is way easier to understand and maintain. go check it out!