Install¶

This sections will guide you though installing web-portal.

If following the Docker guide it is expected you have Docker and Docker Compose installed
If following without Docker you will need Python 3.11, older versions will not work
Is recommended to install behind a reverse proxy like Nginx for custom routing and domain names.
Third-Party plugins may require additional configs to be set

Selecting A Database¶

First you will need to decide which database to use:

SQLite
MySQL

If you only have a small amount of users and have no experience, its best to stick with SQLite.

Getting Ready¶

There are several ways of installing Web Portal. The recommended method is through the official Docker image.

With Docker (Recommended)¶

Now we can configure web-portal. We can do this using Docker Compose. So we will need to create a compose file.

This file should be placed in a directory where you are going to store all your app data. The following is an example of your directory layout:

web_portal/
    docker-compose.yml
    data/
    plugins/

Example Compose File¶

This is an example config (using SQLite) which you can copy, as long as SECRET_KEY value is changed for security.

Config values explained in "Configuration" section

version: "3"

services:
  web-portal:
    container_name: web-portal
    image: ghcr.io/enchant97/web-portal:2
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - ./data:/app/data
      # Uncomment if you want custom plugins
      # - ./plugins:/app/plugins
    ports:
      # Change only left side
      - 8000:8000
    environment:
      # This config is built into the Docker image
      # - "DATA_PATH=/app/data"
      - "DB_URI=sqlite:///app/data/db.sqlite"
      # This must be secure
      - "SECRET_KEY=replace_me_123"

Without Docker¶

While this is not the recommended method, it is possible and perfectly fine to run Web Portal without Docker.

Commands shown will assume a GNU/Linux based system is being used

Config values explained in "Configuration" section

#!/usr/bin/env bash
export WEB_PORTAL_VERSION=2.4.0
#
# Setup Environment
#
mkdir web-portal

cd web-portal

mkdir -p data
mkdir -p plugins

#
# Install/Update App
#
rm -rf .venv

python -m venv .venv

source .venv/bin/activate

git clone --depth=1 --branch=v${WEB_PORTAL_VERSION} https://github.com/enchant97/web-portal.git app-src

python -m pip install ./app-src

#
# Get Default Plugins
#
rsync -a app-src/plugins/ plugins

#
# Cleanup
#
rm -rf app-src

# filepath: web-portal/.env

PLUGINS_PATH="./plugins"
DATA_PATH="./data"
DB_URI="sqlite://data/db.sqlite"
SECRET_KEY="replace_me_123"

Configuration¶

All configs shown here should be given as environment variables, or in a .env file.

Base App¶

Name	Description	Default
DB_URI	URI of where db is stored
PLUGINS_PATH	Where plugins are stored
DATA_PATH	Where app data will be stored
SECRET_KEY	Your app secret (use something secure)	(randomly generated)
SECURE_COOKIES	Whether to require https for cookies	False
LOG_LEVEL	What log level to use	"INFO"
SHOW_VERSION_NUMBER	Whether the app version number is displayed	True
DISABLE_PLUGIN_LOADER	Disable the plugin loader	False
PLUGIN_SKIP_LIST	Skip loading specific plugins	-

SECRET_KEY should be set, otherwise logins will be reset on server restart

Lists must be given in JSON format e.g. ["core", "core_extras"] or ["core_extras"]

This table shows how the DB_URI values should look:

Database	URI Format
MySQL	mysql://user:password@hostname/database
SQLite	sqlite://path-to-database.db

Core Plugin¶

If you have the "core" plugin installed, which comes built-in to Web Portal unless you have removed it. These are the configs:

Name	Description	Default
ALLOW_ICON_UPLOADS	Whether to allow icon uploads	True
OPEN_TO_NEW_TAB	Whether to open the link widget links in a new tab	True

Docker Specific¶

Other configs related to when running through the official docker image:

Name	Description	Default
WORKERS	Number of separate processes to spawn	1
CERT_FILE	SSL certificate file path (public)	-
KEY_FILE	SSL key file path (private)	-

Default values indicated with '-' are not required

If you want HTTPS, both CERT_FILE and KEY_FILE environment values must be provided to valid certificates

Run¶

Now configurations have been done, you can move on to running Web Portal for the first time.

With Docker (Recommended)¶

Inside the app directory, run these commands

Running docker compose pull ensures you have the latest specified in the compose file

The -d argument runs the app in the background

docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

Without Docker¶

After following the "Getting Ready" section, you can launch the app using Hypercorn.

You may want to run this command through systemd or similar, this will allow the app to run in the background and startup automatically.

#!/usr/bin/env bash
source .venv/bin/activate
hypercorn 'web_portal.main:create_app()' --bind 0.0.0.0:8000 --workers 1

If you wish to configure Hypercorn the documentation can be found here, you could for example configure https or different bind methods.

Once Running¶

After the app is launched, navigate in the browser to the hostname and port you configured. From there you should see a setup wizard which will guide you through the rest of the install. After you have completed this you may want to read the usage guide here.

If you have a question, you can ask in the GitHub discussions page at: https://github.com/enchant97/web-portal/discussions.