The DEPLOY §7 snippet was a bare `acls` fragment: it named tags without declaring tagOwners, without saying how tags get applied, and without the rule that keeps the operator's own SSH access once the blanket accept is gone. Following it literally locks you out of the browser machine. Also records why tagging is load-bearing rather than stylistic - Tailscale has no deny, so excluding CDP from a selector that still covers your own devices requires the destination to fall outside autogroup:member/self, which is exactly what a tag does - and separates the bind proof from the ACL proof, which the old text conflated.
22 KiB
Deployment
Step-by-step for the backend (Docker + Traefik) and the Bromite userscript. Assumes you already run Traefik in Docker with a working HTTPS entrypoint and an ACME/cert resolver, and control a domain.
0. Prerequisites
- Docker + Docker Compose on the server.
- A Traefik instance watching a Docker network (default name assumed:
proxy). - DNS: an
A/AAAArecord forbookmark-api.<yourdomain>pointing at the server. - The repo copied to the server, e.g.
~/mangaBookmark/(needsbackend/,docker-compose.yml,docker-compose.prod.yml,.env.example).
Confirm the Traefik network exists (create if not):
docker network ls | grep proxy || docker network create proxy
1. Configure .env
cd ~/mangaBookmark
cp .env.example .env
Edit .env:
# Required — secret every Reader's userscript credential is derived from.
# Only SHA-256 hashes of credentials are stored.
TOKEN_KEY=<paste output of: openssl rand -hex 32>
# Required — the owner's Discord user ID. Seeds the first Reader: the
# administrator, and the owner of every bookmark that predates registration.
# The value is the snowflake in your Discord profile (Settings →
# Advanced → Developer Mode → right-click your name → Copy User ID).
OWNER_DISCORD_ID=<discord user id>
# CORS allowlist — leave as-is unless a site changes hostname.
ALLOWED_ORIGINS=https://asuracomic.net,https://asurascans.com,https://demonicscans.org,https://comix.to,https://kagane.to
# Required — password for the bundled Postgres container. Compose builds the
# backend's DATABASE_URL out of it and has no fallback for either.
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=<paste output of: openssl rand -hex 24>
# Leave unset. Only set this to point the backend at a Postgres compose does
# not run; it then replaces the URL built from POSTGRES_PASSWORD above.
# DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:pass@host:5432/bookmarks?sslmode=require
# Required for the Traefik override. Both have no fallback — compose refuses
# to start without them. BOOKMARK_WEB_HOST is required even if the web UI
# were unused; see 1b.
BOOKMARK_API_HOST=bookmark-api.violetcrown.my.id
BOOKMARK_WEB_HOST=bookmark.violetcrown.my.id
# Only if your Traefik setup differs from these defaults:
# PROXY_NETWORK=proxy
# TRAEFIK_ENTRYPOINT=websecure
# TRAEFIK_CERTRESOLVER=le
Generate + insert the two secrets in three lines:
sed -i "s|^TOKEN_KEY=.*|TOKEN_KEY=$(openssl rand -hex 32)|" .env
sed -i "s|^POSTGRES_PASSWORD=.*|POSTGRES_PASSWORD=$(openssl rand -hex 24)|" .env
grep -E '^TOKEN_KEY=' .env
TOKEN_KEY derives every Reader's userscript credential (issue #24); only
SHA-256 hashes of the credentials are stored, so this secret is what a
database leak alone cannot recover. Changing it invalidates every installed
script at once.
POSTGRES_PASSWORD is read only while the postgres-data volume is empty,
which in practice means at first boot. Changing it afterwards changes the URL
the backend dials but not the password the database expects, and bookmark-api
crash-loops on password authentication failed. Set it before §2 and leave it
alone.
Match
TRAEFIK_ENTRYPOINT/TRAEFIK_CERTRESOLVERto your Traefik's actual names (check your Traefik static config — common alternatives:https,myresolver,cloudflare). Wrong names = no certificate issued.
1b. Web UI
The browser UI is served by the same container on a second hostname. Sign-in is a Discord authorization code grant (ADR-0002): the owner's Discord account, gated by membership in one configured guild.
-
Add a DNS
A/AAAArecord forbookmark.<yourdomain>pointing at the server — the same address asbookmark-api.<yourdomain>. -
Create the Discord application at https://discord.com/developers/applications:
- OAuth2 → Redirects: add the exact callback URL
https://bookmark.violetcrown.my.id/auth/discord/callback. Discord matches it verbatim — a trailing slash or different hostname breaks sign-in. - OAuth2 → General: note the Client ID, and generate a Client Secret.
- No scopes or bot setup are needed in the dashboard; the service requests
identifyandguilds.members.readitself, and checks the user's membership of the guild, not the application's.
- OAuth2 → Redirects: add the exact callback URL
-
Set the variables in
.env:BOOKMARK_WEB_HOST=bookmark.violetcrown.my.id DISCORD_CLIENT_ID=<client id> DISCORD_CLIENT_SECRET=<client secret> DISCORD_GUILD_ID=<guild snowflake> DISCORD_REDIRECT_URI=https://bookmark.violetcrown.my.id/auth/discord/callback # Optional: only members holding this role may sign in. # DISCORD_REQUIRED_ROLE=<role snowflake>The guild id is in Discord's client with Developer Mode on: right-click the server name → Copy Server ID. The four uncommented variables are required — the backend refuses to start without them. Guild membership is registration: any member of
DISCORD_GUILD_IDbecomes a Reader with their own library on their first sign-in.OWNER_DISCORD_IDfrom §1 is only the administrator — the Reader who can revoke another Reader's sessions. -
Redeploy and check:
docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d --build curl -s -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}\n' https://bookmark.violetcrown.my.id/Expected
200, serving the login page with the Discord button. Signing in lands on the library; an account outside the guild is refused with a message that names neither the guild nor its id.
Sessions are rows in the database: the cookie carries only an opaque id, and
every request looks the row up and checks its expiry. Deleting a session row —
or the whole sessions table — logs the browser out immediately; nothing is
signed, so rotating a credential does not affect browser sessions. Sessions
last 60 days.
2. Build + start
docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d --build
This merges the base file (build/image/env/volume) with the prod override
(no host port, Traefik network + router labels). Always pass both -f
flags — the prod file is not standalone.
Two services come up: bookmark-api (the backend) and postgres (its
database, postgres:17-alpine). Postgres publishes no port — it sits alone
with bookmark-api on an internal: true network — and stops everything if it
is missing: bookmark-api waits for pg_isready to pass, then applies its
embedded migrations, and only then listens. The schema is created that way;
there is nothing to import by hand.
There is deliberately no browser here. Kagane and novelfull need one, and it
runs on a separate machine over the tailnet — §7. Until you do that step,
BROWSER_WS_URL is unset, the poller logs and skips those two sites, and
everything else works normally.
Check it's up and healthy:
docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.prod.yml ps
# bookmark-api Up; postgres Up (healthy)
docker logs bookmark-api --tail 20 # expect: "listening on :8080 ..."
3. Verify over HTTPS
Give Traefik a few seconds to issue the cert, then:
# Health (no auth) — must be valid TLS, no cert warning.
curl -s https://bookmark-api.violetcrown.my.id/healthz # -> ok
# Auth enforced.
curl -s -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}\n' \
https://bookmark-api.violetcrown.my.id/bookmarks # -> 401
# A Reader's own credential. It is derived, never stored in .env — take it from
# the Userscripts panel's install link after signing in, or from an installed
# script's API_TOKEN constant.
TOKEN=<your Reader credential>
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
https://bookmark-api.violetcrown.my.id/bookmarks # -> []
# CORS preflight from a real site origin.
curl -s -i -X OPTIONS \
-H 'Origin: https://asurascans.com' \
-H 'Access-Control-Request-Method: PUT' \
https://bookmark-api.violetcrown.my.id/bookmarks/x | grep -i access-control
# -> Access-Control-Allow-Origin: https://asurascans.com (+ Methods/Headers)
All four must pass. Valid TLS is non-negotiable — the manga sites are HTTPS, so
a bad cert makes the browser block the userscript's fetch() (mixed content).
4. Configure the userscript
The bindmounted userscript/*.user.js files carry __API_TOKEN__ placeholders
and the deployment's @downloadURL/@updateURL lines. Check the metadata
block — it ships hardcoded to this deployment's domain, so a deployer who
copies the repo to another domain must edit the two lines or the script
auto-updates from someone else's backend:
// @downloadURL https://bookmark-api.yourdomain.com/u/__API_TOKEN__/manga-bookmark.user.js
// @updateURL https://bookmark-api.yourdomain.com/u/__API_TOKEN__/manga-bookmark.user.js
The backend substitutes __API_TOKEN__ with the requesting Reader's derived
credential at serve time (issue #24), so no real credential ever sits in the
file. Only the API_BASE constant and the metadata hostname are deployer
edits; do not put a credential in this file.
5. Install on Bromite
- Bromite → Settings → User scripts → enable (accept the permission prompt).
- Sign in to the web UI, open the Userscripts panel, and open the install
link — Bromite detects
.user.jsand offers to install. The script already carries your credential; you never see or type one. - Confirm install — the
@matchlist covers both sites. - Open a series on asurascans.com or demonicscans.org → a 📑 button appears bottom-right → tap → + Bookmark this.
Optional desktop test: the script is GM_*-free, so the same file installs in
Tampermonkey/Violentmonkey for quick checks before going mobile.
Rotating the credential in the same web-UI panel invalidates every installed copy immediately — reinstall on all devices, or they silently stop syncing.
6. Smoke-test the full loop
- Bookmark a series on Asura.
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" https://bookmark-api.yourdomain.com/bookmarkson the server — the series should appear.- Open a chapter of that series — reopen the panel; last-read updates to that chapter (auto, never regresses on older chapters).
- Open Demonic, open the panel — the Asura bookmark shows there too (shared store, cross-site unified list).
7. The browser, on the home machine
Kagane and novelfull sit behind a Cloudflare JavaScript challenge no TLS fingerprint clears, so the poller reaches them through a real Chrome over CDP. That browser does not run on the VPS: it held 471 MiB of a 1974 MiB box with no swap, and it scores better from a residential IP anyway (ADR-0006). It is its own compose unit, deployed and updated independently of everything above.
Do this after §2, on the second machine. Both machines must already be on the same tailnet.
First, on the VPS, record what you are reclaiming — this is the whole point of the move and there is no way to measure it afterwards:
free -m | awk '/^Mem:/ {print "available before:", $NF, "MiB"}'
Take it again after §7 is finished and the old sidecar is gone. Expect roughly the sidecar's former footprint back (measured at 471 MiB working set, 595 MiB cgroup).
On the home machine:
git clone <this repo> ~/mangaBookmark && cd ~/mangaBookmark/chrome
tailscale ip -4 # -> 100.x.y.z, this machine's tailnet IP
cp .env.example .env
echo "BROWSER_BIND_ADDR=$(tailscale ip -4)" >> .env
docker compose up -d --build
The clone is only for chrome/; nothing else on this machine reads the rest of
the repo. The unit is its own compose project (bookmark-browser), so it shares
no volume, network or lifecycle with an API stack that happens to sit beside it.
BROWSER_BIND_ADDR has no default on purpose. CDP authenticates nothing —
whatever reaches port 9222 drives the browser and, through it, this host — so
the bind address is the access control, backed by Tailscale device identity.
On the VPS that job was done by Docker network membership; this machine has a
real LAN, so 0.0.0.0 would be a hole punched into your home network. Compose
refuses to start rather than guess.
Narrow it to the one device that needs it. The bind address keeps CDP off your LAN; it still leaves port 9222 open to every device on the tailnet, and CDP has no login — a compromised phone is enough to drive this host. A new tailnet's policy is allow-all, so this is the step that makes "Tailscale identity is the access control" true rather than aspirational.
Tailscale has no deny, so a restriction is expressed by removing the blanket
accept and enumerating what is left. That only works if the browser machine
can be excluded from a selector that still covers your own devices — which is
what tagging buys: a tagged device has no user, so autogroup:member and
autogroup:self stop matching it. Tagging is the mechanism, not decoration.
In the admin console, under Access controls, replace the default rule:
{
"tagOwners": {
// Empty list: implicitly owned by the tailnet Owner/Admins, which is you.
"tag:bookmark-api": [],
"tag:bookmark-browser": [],
},
"acls": [
// The only thing on the tailnet that may drive the browser.
{
"action": "accept",
"src": ["tag:bookmark-api"],
"proto": "tcp",
"dst": ["tag:bookmark-browser:9222"],
},
// Your own devices: everything of yours, both servers — but not CDP.
// Drop the `:22` and you have locked yourself out of the browser machine.
{
"action": "accept",
"src": ["autogroup:member"],
"dst": ["autogroup:self:*", "tag:bookmark-api:*", "tag:bookmark-browser:22"],
},
],
// Saved policies are rejected if these fail, so the rule cannot rot silently.
"tests": [
{ "src": "tag:bookmark-api", "accept": ["tag:bookmark-browser:9222"] },
{
"src": "you@example.com",
"accept": ["tag:bookmark-browser:22"],
"deny": ["tag:bookmark-browser:9222"],
},
],
}
Then apply the tags — on the VPS and the home machine respectively:
sudo tailscale up --advertise-tags=tag:bookmark-api
sudo tailscale up --advertise-tags=tag:bookmark-browser
Each re-authenticates in a browser and issues a new node key; the tailnet IP is
unchanged, so BROWSER_WS_URL and BROWSER_BIND_ADDR still hold. Key expiry is
disabled once a device is tagged, which is what you want for a server — an
expired key would otherwise take the poller down every few months.
Tagging replaces the device's user identity, so do this only to machines
that exist to run these services. If your "home machine" is also your daily
driver, tag it anyway and reach it through the :22 rule above, or skip the
tag and accept that any device of yours can reach CDP.
Enforcement is by the destination's packet filter, so the check below is real, not advisory.
Prove the bind is tight, from the home machine itself:
curl -s -m 3 http://$(tailscale ip -4):9222/json/version # -> JSON
curl -s -m 3 http://<this machine's LAN IP>:9222/json/version
# -> curl: (7) Failed to connect ... Connection refused
The first call is also what wakes Chrome: it is not running until something connects, and it is reaped again after five idle minutes. A cold first response takes a few seconds; that is the browser starting, not a fault.
That check proves the bind, not the ACL — traffic that starts on the node is not filtered. Prove the ACL from somewhere else: on your laptop or phone the same URL must now time out, and from the VPS it must answer.
# on any other device of yours -> hangs until timeout
curl -s -m 5 http://<home machine tailnet IP>:9222/json/version
# on the VPS -> JSON
curl -s -m 20 http://<home machine tailnet IP>:9222/json/version
On the VPS:
cd ~/mangaBookmark
echo 'BROWSER_WS_URL=ws://100.x.y.z:9222' >> .env # the home machine's tailnet IP
docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d
It must be the tailnet IP. A MagicDNS hostname fails: Chrome's DevTools HTTP
handler answers /json/version with a 500 for any Host header that is not an
IP or localhost, and the failure looks like a broken site rather than a broken
hostname.
Prove it end to end. This is the only check that says the challenge actually clears from that machine's egress — it fetches a real kagane cover and a real chapter list:
cd backend
SMOKE_BROWSER_WS_URL=ws://100.x.y.z:9222 go test -run TestSmokeKagane ./internal/latest
A red run means "not clearing from this address right now", which is a live fact to re-check before it is a defect — Cloudflare's scoring moves. Then, from the web UI, open a bookmarked kagane series and confirm the cover renders. Once a cover is stored it is served from Postgres forever after, so the browser being asleep, unreachable, or mid-power-outage costs chapter freshness and nothing visible.
Finally, take the VPS free -m reading again and compare it against the one
from the top of this section.
Updating the browser is independent of the API stack and has its own
runbook — REDEPLOY.md §8.
Updating
Pull new code, then rebuild:
docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d --build
Data persists in the named volume postgres-data across rebuilds. (If this
server predates the Postgres migration, the old SQLite volume bookmarks-data
is still on disk and deliberately undeclared in compose so down -v cannot take
it; see REDEPLOY.md §1 for when to remove it.)
The browser is a separate unit on a separate machine with its own update command — §7. Nothing above touches it, and it needs no coordination: the API picks up a restarted Chrome's new debugger UUID by itself.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause / fix |
|---|---|
| No cert / TLS error at the domain | TRAEFIK_ENTRYPOINT or TRAEFIK_CERTRESOLVER name wrong; or DNS not resolving yet. Check docker logs <traefik>. |
| 404 from Traefik | Service not on the proxy network, or BOOKMARK_API_HOST mismatch. Confirm docker network inspect proxy lists bookmark-api. |
fetch fails in the userscript, curl works |
Origin missing from ALLOWED_ORIGINS, or mixed content (backend not HTTPS). |
| 401 with the right credential | The script's credential no longer matches the stored hash — most likely a rotation happened and the device was not reinstalled. Reinstall from the web UI. |
| 401 after rotation, even right after reinstalling | TOKEN_KEY changed between the rotation and the reinstall; credentials are derived from it, so changing it invalidates every credential. Keep it stable. |
| Panel button absent | URL didn't match an adapter, or user scripts disabled in Bromite. |
compose ... config errors about TOKEN_KEY, OWNER_DISCORD_ID or POSTGRES_PASSWORD |
Run compose from the dir with .env, or export the vars. All three are required and none has a fallback. |
bookmark-api restarts in a loop, password authentication failed for user "bookmarks" |
POSTGRES_PASSWORD was changed after first boot; Postgres only applies it to an empty postgres-data. Restore the old value, or reset the role (REDEPLOY.md troubleshooting). |
bookmark-api never logs listening on :8080 |
It is blocked on postgres passing pg_isready, or a migration failed. docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.prod.yml logs postgres. |
kagane rows never get a latest_chapter; log says browser fetcher disabled or nothing at all |
BROWSER_WS_URL unset. Expected before §7 is done. |
kagane polls all fail; log shows a 500 from /json/version |
BROWSER_WS_URL names a MagicDNS hostname (or any name). Chrome's DevTools handler only accepts an IP or localhost — use the tailnet IP. |
| kagane polls fail with a connection error | Home machine off, off the tailnet, or the unit is down. tailscale ping <machine>, then docker compose ps in its chrome/. Costs freshness only; stored covers keep serving. |
| kagane cover is a placeholder for a newly bookmarked series | Its cover has never been fetched and the browser is unreachable. It fills in on the next successful poll of that series (up to LATEST_CHAPTER_POLL_BROWSER_COOLDOWN, default 6h). |
compose in chrome/ errors set BROWSER_BIND_ADDR to this machine's tailnet IP |
No chrome/.env, or the variable is empty. Deliberate — it has no default so an unset value cannot publish CDP to the LAN. |
| browser container restarts, or is OOM-killed | docker inspect bookmark-browser --format '{{.RestartCount}} {{.State.OOMKilled}}'. The 512 MiB cap is sized against a measured 645 MiB untuned peak; a real breach is a Chrome regression worth reading docker logs for, not a number to raise reflexively. |
Backend config reference and endpoint list: see README.md.
Installing / updating the userscript
The backend serves the script itself, so Violentmonkey can auto-update it.
Complements §4 above — the @downloadURL/@updateURL lines point at the
credential-bearing path, so auto-updates come from the same place as the
install.
Install once, on the phone (Cromite + Violentmonkey): sign in to the web UI,
open the Userscripts panel, and open the install link for the library —
the script is served with your credential already inside it. Its
@downloadURL/@updateURL point at the same credential-bearing path for
updates:
https://bookmark-api.<your-domain>/u/<your credential>/manga-bookmark.user.js
Violentmonkey offers to install it. The credential is in the path because
Violentmonkey's update poll sends no Authorization header, and the script
embeds the credential in plain text — an open URL would leak it. A wrong
credential answers 404. The credential is derived from TOKEN_KEY and never
appears anywhere but this URL and the rendered script.
Updating, without a redeploy:
vi userscript/manga-bookmark.user.js # on the VPS, in this checkout
./userscript is bindmounted read-only into the container and read fresh on
every request, so the edit is live immediately. The served @version is derived
from the file's mtime (YYYY.MM.DD.HHMM, UTC), not from the @version in the
file, so any edit outranks the installed copy and Violentmonkey pulls it on its
next check. The @version in the repo is a human marker only.
Updating via redeploy: git pull overwrites the file with the committed
version, which is the intended behaviour — a deploy always ships the repo's
script. Note that git pull sets mtime to checkout time, so even a rollback
serves a higher version and is adopted.
If the mount is missing, the endpoint answers 404 and logs it; bookmark sync is unaffected.