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Tranquil PDS Containerized Production Deployment#

Warning: These instructions are untested and theoretical, written from the top of Lewis' head. They may contain errors or omissions. This warning will be removed once the guide has been verified. This guide covers deploying Tranquil PDS using containers with podman.

  • Debian 13+: Uses systemd quadlets (modern, declarative container management)
  • Alpine 3.23+: Uses OpenRC service script with podman-compose

Prerequisites#

  • A VPS with at least 2GB RAM and 20GB disk
  • A domain name pointing to your server's IP
  • A wildcard TLS certificate for *.pds.example.com (user handles are served as subdomains)
  • Root or sudo access

Quick Start (Docker/Podman Compose)#

If you just want to get running quickly:

cp .env.example .env

Edit .env with your values. Generate secrets with openssl rand -base64 48.

Build and start:

podman-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d

Get initial certificate (after DNS is configured):

podman-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml run --rm certbot certonly \
  --webroot -w /var/www/acme -d pds.example.com
podman-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml restart nginx

For production setups with proper service management, continue to either the Debian or Alpine section below.#

Debian 13+ with Systemd Quadlets#

Quadlets are the modern way to run podman containers under systemd.

1. Install Podman#

apt update
apt install -y podman

2. Create Directory Structure#

mkdir -p /etc/containers/systemd
mkdir -p /srv/tranquil-pds/{postgres,minio,valkey,certs,acme,config}

3. Create Environment File#

cp /opt/tranquil-pds/.env.example /srv/tranquil-pds/config/tranquil-pds.env
chmod 600 /srv/tranquil-pds/config/tranquil-pds.env

Edit /srv/tranquil-pds/config/tranquil-pds.env and fill in your values. Generate secrets with:

openssl rand -base64 48

For quadlets, also add DATABASE_URL with the full connection string (systemd doesn't support variable expansion).

4. Install Quadlet Definitions#

Copy the quadlet files from the repository:

cp /opt/tranquil-pds/deploy/quadlets/*.pod /etc/containers/systemd/
cp /opt/tranquil-pds/deploy/quadlets/*.container /etc/containers/systemd/

Note: Systemd doesn't support shell-style variable expansion in Environment= lines. The quadlet files expect DATABASE_URL to be set in the environment file.

5. Create nginx Configuration#

cp /opt/tranquil-pds/deploy/nginx/nginx-quadlet.conf /srv/tranquil-pds/config/nginx.conf

6. Build Tranquil PDS Image#

cd /opt
git clone https://tangled.org/lewis.moe/bspds-sandbox tranquil-pds
cd tranquil-pds
podman build -t tranquil-pds:latest .

7. Create Podman Secrets#

source /srv/tranquil-pds/config/tranquil-pds.env
echo "$DB_PASSWORD" | podman secret create tranquil-pds-db-password -
echo "$MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD" | podman secret create tranquil-pds-minio-password -

8. Start Services and Initialize#

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl start tranquil-pds-db tranquil-pds-minio tranquil-pds-valkey
sleep 10

Create the minio bucket:

podman run --rm --pod tranquil-pds \
  -e MINIO_ROOT_USER=minioadmin \
  -e MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD=your-minio-password \
  docker.io/minio/mc:RELEASE.2025-07-16T15-35-03Z \
  sh -c "mc alias set local http://localhost:9000 \$MINIO_ROOT_USER \$MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD && mc mb --ignore-existing local/pds-blobs"

Run migrations:

cargo install sqlx-cli --no-default-features --features postgres
DATABASE_URL="postgres://tranquil_pds:your-db-password@localhost:5432/pds" sqlx migrate run --source /opt/tranquil-pds/migrations

9. Obtain Wildcard SSL Certificate#

User handles are served as subdomains (e.g., alice.pds.example.com), so you need a wildcard certificate. Wildcard certs require DNS-01 validation.

Create temporary self-signed cert to start services:

openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 1 -newkey rsa:2048 \
  -keyout /srv/tranquil-pds/certs/privkey.pem \
  -out /srv/tranquil-pds/certs/fullchain.pem \
  -subj "/CN=pds.example.com"
systemctl start tranquil-pds-app tranquil-pds-nginx

Get a wildcard certificate using DNS validation:

podman run --rm -it \
  -v /srv/tranquil-pds/certs:/etc/letsencrypt:Z \
  docker.io/certbot/certbot:v5.2.2 certonly \
  --manual --preferred-challenges dns \
  -d pds.example.com -d '*.pds.example.com' \
  --agree-tos --email you@example.com

Follow the prompts to add TXT records to your DNS. Note: manual mode doesn't auto-renew.

For automated renewal, use a DNS provider plugin (e.g., cloudflare, route53).

Link certificates and restart:

ln -sf /srv/tranquil-pds/certs/live/pds.example.com/fullchain.pem /srv/tranquil-pds/certs/fullchain.pem
ln -sf /srv/tranquil-pds/certs/live/pds.example.com/privkey.pem /srv/tranquil-pds/certs/privkey.pem
systemctl restart tranquil-pds-nginx

10. Enable All Services#

systemctl enable tranquil-pds-db tranquil-pds-minio tranquil-pds-valkey tranquil-pds-app tranquil-pds-nginx

11. Configure Firewall#

apt install -y ufw
ufw allow ssh
ufw allow 80/tcp
ufw allow 443/tcp
ufw enable

12. Certificate Renewal#

Add to root's crontab (crontab -e):

0 0 * * * podman run --rm -v /srv/tranquil-pds/certs:/etc/letsencrypt:Z -v /srv/tranquil-pds/acme:/var/www/acme:Z docker.io/certbot/certbot:v5.2.2 renew --quiet && systemctl reload tranquil-pds-nginx

Alpine 3.23+ with OpenRC#

Alpine uses OpenRC, not systemd. We'll use podman-compose with an OpenRC service wrapper.

1. Install Podman#

apk update
apk add podman podman-compose fuse-overlayfs cni-plugins
rc-update add cgroups
rc-service cgroups start

Enable podman socket for compose:

rc-update add podman
rc-service podman start

2. Create Directory Structure#

mkdir -p /srv/tranquil-pds/{data,config}
mkdir -p /srv/tranquil-pds/data/{postgres,minio,valkey,certs,acme}

3. Clone Repository and Build#

cd /opt
git clone https://tangled.org/lewis.moe/bspds-sandbox tranquil-pds
cd tranquil-pds
podman build -t tranquil-pds:latest .

4. Create Environment File#

cp /opt/tranquil-pds/.env.example /srv/tranquil-pds/config/tranquil-pds.env
chmod 600 /srv/tranquil-pds/config/tranquil-pds.env

Edit /srv/tranquil-pds/config/tranquil-pds.env and fill in your values. Generate secrets with:

openssl rand -base64 48

5. Set Up Compose and nginx#

Copy the production compose and nginx configs:

cp /opt/tranquil-pds/docker-compose.prod.yml /srv/tranquil-pds/docker-compose.yml
cp /opt/tranquil-pds/nginx.prod.conf /srv/tranquil-pds/config/nginx.conf

Edit /srv/tranquil-pds/docker-compose.yml to adjust paths if needed:

  • Update volume mounts to use /srv/tranquil-pds/data/ paths
  • Update nginx cert paths to match /srv/tranquil-pds/data/certs/ Edit /srv/tranquil-pds/config/nginx.conf to update cert paths:
  • Change /etc/nginx/certs/live/${PDS_HOSTNAME}/ to /etc/nginx/certs/

6. Create OpenRC Service#

cat > /etc/init.d/tranquil-pds << 'EOF'
#!/sbin/openrc-run
name="tranquil-pds"
description="Tranquil PDS AT Protocol PDS (containerized)"
command="/usr/bin/podman-compose"
command_args="-f /srv/tranquil-pds/docker-compose.yml up"
command_background=true
pidfile="/run/${RC_SVCNAME}.pid"
directory="/srv/tranquil-pds"
depend() {
    need net podman
    after firewall
}
start_pre() {
    set -a
    . /srv/tranquil-pds/config/tranquil-pds.env
    set +a
}
stop() {
    ebegin "Stopping ${name}"
    cd /srv/tranquil-pds
    set -a
    . /srv/tranquil-pds/config/tranquil-pds.env
    set +a
    podman-compose -f /srv/tranquil-pds/docker-compose.yml down
    eend $?
}
EOF
chmod +x /etc/init.d/tranquil-pds

7. Initialize Services#

Start services:

rc-service tranquil-pds start
sleep 15

Create the minio bucket:

source /srv/tranquil-pds/config/tranquil-pds.env
podman run --rm --network tranquil-pds_default \
  -e MINIO_ROOT_USER="$MINIO_ROOT_USER" \
  -e MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD="$MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD" \
  docker.io/minio/mc:RELEASE.2025-07-16T15-35-03Z \
  sh -c 'mc alias set local http://minio:9000 $MINIO_ROOT_USER $MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD && mc mb --ignore-existing local/pds-blobs'

Run migrations:

apk add rustup
rustup-init -y
source ~/.cargo/env
cargo install sqlx-cli --no-default-features --features postgres
DB_IP=$(podman inspect tranquil-pds-db-1 --format '{{.NetworkSettings.Networks.tranquil-pds_default.IPAddress}}')
DATABASE_URL="postgres://tranquil_pds:$DB_PASSWORD@$DB_IP:5432/pds" sqlx migrate run --source /opt/tranquil-pds/migrations

8. Obtain Wildcard SSL Certificate#

User handles are served as subdomains (e.g., alice.pds.example.com), so you need a wildcard certificate. Wildcard certs require DNS-01 validation.

Create temporary self-signed cert to start services:

openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 1 -newkey rsa:2048 \
  -keyout /srv/tranquil-pds/data/certs/privkey.pem \
  -out /srv/tranquil-pds/data/certs/fullchain.pem \
  -subj "/CN=pds.example.com"
rc-service tranquil-pds restart

Get a wildcard certificate using DNS validation:

podman run --rm -it \
  -v /srv/tranquil-pds/data/certs:/etc/letsencrypt \
  docker.io/certbot/certbot:v5.2.2 certonly \
  --manual --preferred-challenges dns \
  -d pds.example.com -d '*.pds.example.com' \
  --agree-tos --email you@example.com

Follow the prompts to add TXT records to your DNS. Note: manual mode doesn't auto-renew.

Link certificates and restart:

ln -sf /srv/tranquil-pds/data/certs/live/pds.example.com/fullchain.pem /srv/tranquil-pds/data/certs/fullchain.pem
ln -sf /srv/tranquil-pds/data/certs/live/pds.example.com/privkey.pem /srv/tranquil-pds/data/certs/privkey.pem
rc-service tranquil-pds restart

9. Enable Service at Boot#

rc-update add tranquil-pds

10. Configure Firewall#

apk add iptables ip6tables
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
iptables -P INPUT DROP
ip6tables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT
ip6tables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
ip6tables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -j ACCEPT
ip6tables -A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT
ip6tables -A INPUT -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
ip6tables -P INPUT DROP
rc-update add iptables
rc-update add ip6tables
/etc/init.d/iptables save
/etc/init.d/ip6tables save

11. Certificate Renewal#

Add to root's crontab (crontab -e):

0 0 * * * podman run --rm -v /srv/tranquil-pds/data/certs:/etc/letsencrypt -v /srv/tranquil-pds/data/acme:/var/www/acme docker.io/certbot/certbot:v5.2.2 renew --quiet && rc-service tranquil-pds restart

Verification and Maintenance#

Verify Installation#

curl -s https://pds.example.com/xrpc/_health | jq
curl -s https://pds.example.com/.well-known/atproto-did

View Logs#

Debian:

journalctl -u tranquil-pds-app -f
podman logs -f tranquil-pds-app

Alpine:

podman-compose -f /srv/tranquil-pds/docker-compose.yml logs -f
podman logs -f tranquil-pds-tranquil-pds-1

Update Tranquil PDS#

cd /opt/tranquil-pds
git pull
podman build -t tranquil-pds:latest .

Debian:

systemctl restart tranquil-pds-app

Alpine:

rc-service tranquil-pds restart

Backup Database#

Debian:

podman exec tranquil-pds-db pg_dump -U tranquil_pds pds > /var/backups/pds-$(date +%Y%m%d).sql

Alpine:

podman exec tranquil-pds-db-1 pg_dump -U tranquil_pds pds > /var/backups/pds-$(date +%Y%m%d).sql