Docker & compose

Prerequisites

• Docker and Docker Compose
• A .env file configured with all required environment variables — see Configuration

1. Create a directory for your deployment

mkdir my-links-deployment
cd my-links-deployment

2. Create a docker-compose.yml

name: my-links
services:
  postgres:
    container_name: postgres
    image: postgres:18
    restart: always
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_DB=${DB_DATABASE}
      - POSTGRES_USER=${DB_USER}
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}
    healthcheck:
      test: ['CMD-SHELL', 'pg_isready', '-U', '${DB_USER}']
    volumes:
      - postgres-volume:/var/lib/postgresql
    ports:
      - '${DB_PORT}:5432'

  my-links:
    container_name: my-links
    image: sonny93/my-links:latest
    restart: always
    environment:
      - DB_HOST=postgres
      - HOST=0.0.0.0
      - NODE_ENV=production
    env_file:
      - .env
    depends_on:
      postgres:
        condition: service_healthy
    ports:
      - ${PORT}:3333
    volumes:
      - favicon-volume:/app/storage/favicons

volumes:
  postgres-volume:
  favicon-volume:

favicon-volume holds the cached favicon images (see Configuration). Unlike postgres-volume, losing it isn't a data loss — the app re-downloads what it needs — but keeping it out of your backup strategy means a restore re-fetches every favicon from scratch instead of serving them immediately.

3. Create your .env

Use .env.example from the repository as a template, and see Configuration for what each variable does. It sits next to your docker-compose.yml, at the root of your deployment directory.

4. Start it

docker compose up -d

This pulls the image from Docker Hub, starts PostgreSQL, applies database migrations automatically, and starts the application in production mode — reachable on the port set in PORT (default 3333). Account maintenance runs alongside it in the same container, flagging inactive accounts and deleting expired ones once their grace period runs out — no separate setup needed.

Native deployment

If you would rather run it without Docker:

1. Node.js 24.14.0 (or compatible), pnpm, and PostgreSQL 18 installed and running.

2. Clone and install:

   git clone https://github.com/my-links/my-links.git
   cd my-links
   pnpm install

3. Copy .env.example to .env and configure it. Native runs expect it inside apps/webapp, unlike the Docker path above:

   cp .env.example apps/webapp/.env

4. Point DB_* at your PostgreSQL instance, then apply migrations (every node ace command runs from apps/webapp):

   cd apps/webapp
   node ace migration:run

5. Compile the translation catalogs and build:

   pnpm run compile
   node ace build

6. Copy .env into the build output and start it:

   cp .env build/
   cd build
   pnpm run start

The application is reachable on the port set in PORT.

Account maintenance (flagging inactive accounts, deleting expired ones) and the favicon store's orphan purge are not automatic here — the Docker path gets them for free, scheduled inside the application itself, but a native deployment needs its own system cron calling, from build/:

node bin/console.js account:flag-inactive
node bin/console.js account:prune-deleted
node bin/console.js favicon:purge-orphans