magnetar/README.md

magnetar

A social networking server anyone can self-host

This project is in early development.

Quick start

1. Create a Postgres database
2. Create a Redis instance
3. Configure the required options in config/default.toml
4. Build Magnetar: cargo build --release --workspace --bins
5. Build the Magnetar Calckey frontend: cd fe_calckey/frontend && pnpm install && pnpm run build
6. Run Magnetar: ./target/release/magnetar
7. Build and run a modified version of Calckey, pointed to the same database and Redis
8. Start up the Magnetar frontend: ./target/release/magnetar_calckey_fe
9. Set up a reverse proxy based on .dev/Caddyfile

Read further for additional information.

What's inside

Magnetar builds to two primary binaries:

• magnetar -- The backend
• magnetar_calckey_fe -- A web server hosting a self-contained frontend

The fe_calckey/frontend directory contains the Calckey-based web frontend.

Additional dependencies

Magnetar depends on a Postgres database, Redis instance, as well as a modified Calckey backend running in tandem.

Building

Magnetar can be built both as standalone binaries or OCI containers (Podman, Docker, ...).

Native

Building the Magnetar backend requires:

• latest stable Rust toolchain

Building the included Magnetar/Calckey frontend requires:

• latest stable Rust toolchain
• Node.js and npm

Steps

1. Build both the frontend and the backend binaries:

   cargo build --release --workspace --bins
   

2. Switch to the frontend directory:

   cd fe_calckey/frontend
   

3. Install the frontend dependencies:

   pnpm install
   

4. Build the frontend

   pnpm run build
   

Container build

Magnetar can be built to a single monolithic OCI image using the provided Dockerfile, containing the Magnetar binaries.

podman build -t magnetar .
# or
docker build -t magnetar .

Running

Follow the steps from the "building" chapter.

Native setup

Debug builds can be run using cargo run --package magnetar --bin magnetar and run --package magnetar_calckey_fe --bin magnetar_calckey_fe.

Monolithic container image

Choose between the backend and frontend using the --entrypoint /magnetar/magnetar and --entrypoint /magnetar/magnetar_calckey_fe respectively.

Mount the directory in /magnetar/config to pass in configuration from the host machine. Alternatively, see the config/default.toml file and pass in corresponding environment variables.

Connecting all components

In order to connect all components of magnetar, a router/reverse proxy is necessary. See .dev/Caddyfile for a template configuration.