The easiest way to set up a CouchDB instance is using the official docker image.
Some initial configuration is required. Create a local.ini
to use Self-hosted LiveSync as follows:
[couchdb]
single_node=true
max_document_size = 50000000
[chttpd]
require_valid_user = true
max_http_request_size = 4294967296
[chttpd_auth]
require_valid_user = true
authentication_redirect = /_utils/session.html
[httpd]
WWW-Authenticate = Basic realm="couchdb"
enable_cors = true
[cors]
origins = app://obsidian.md,capacitor://localhost,http://localhost
credentials = true
headers = accept, authorization, content-type, origin, referer
methods = GET, PUT, POST, HEAD, DELETE
max_age = 3600
You can launch CouchDB using your local.ini
like this:
$ docker run --rm -it -e COUCHDB_USER=admin -e COUCHDB_PASSWORD=password -v /path/to/local.ini:/opt/couchdb/etc/local.ini -p 5984:5984 couchdb
Remember to replace the path with the path to your local.ini
Run in detached mode:
$ docker run -d --restart always -e COUCHDB_USER=admin -e COUCHDB_PASSWORD=password -v /path/to/local.ini:/opt/couchdb/etc/local.ini -p 5984:5984 couchdb
Remember to replace the path with the path to your local.ini
Create a directory, place your local.ini
within it, and create a docker-compose.yml
alongside it. The directory structure should look similar to this:
obsidian-livesync
├── docker-compose.yml
└── local.ini
A good place to start for docker-compose.yml
:
version: "2.1"
services:
couchdb:
image: couchdb
container_name: obsidian-livesync
user: 1000:1000
environment:
- COUCHDB_USER=admin
- COUCHDB_PASSWORD=password
volumes:
- ./data:/opt/couchdb/data
- ./local.ini:/opt/couchdb/etc/local.ini
ports:
- 5984:5984
restart: unless-stopped
And finally launch the container
# -d will launch detached so the container runs in background
docker compose up -d
If you want to access Self-hosted LiveSync from mobile devices, you need a valid SSL certificate.
In the testing phase, localhost.run or something like services is very useful.
example using localhost.run:
$ ssh -R 80:localhost:5984 [email protected]
Warning: Permanently added the RSA host key for IP address '35.171.254.69' to the list of known hosts.
===============================================================================
Welcome to localhost.run!
Follow your favourite reverse tunnel at [https://twitter.com/localhost_run].
**You need a SSH key to access this service.**
If you get a permission denied follow Gitlab's most excellent howto:
https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ssh/
*Only rsa and ed25519 keys are supported*
To set up and manage custom domains go to https://admin.localhost.run/
More details on custom domains (and how to enable subdomains of your custom
domain) at https://localhost.run/docs/custom-domains
To explore using localhost.run visit the documentation site:
https://localhost.run/docs/
===============================================================================
** your connection id is xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, please mention it if you send me a message about an issue. **
xxxxxxxx.localhost.run tunneled with tls termination, https://xxxxxxxx.localhost.run
Connection to localhost.run closed by remote host.
Connection to localhost.run closed.
https://xxxxxxxx.localhost.run is the temporary server address.
Set the A record of your domain to point to your server, and host reverse proxy as you like.
Note: Mounting CouchDB on the top directory is not recommended.
Using Caddy is a handy way to serve the server with SSL automatically.
I have published docker-compose.yml and ini files that launch Caddy and CouchDB at once. Please try it out.
And, be sure to check the server log and be careful of malicious access.