A small invite-only social platform for sharing links and files. Users can post URLs and media (YouTube, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, images, audio, video, …), vote, comment, follow each other, build playlists, and search content. A real-time WebSocket layer handles live presence, vote counts, and notifications. The UI is localized (English and French) and ships multiple visual themes.

Stack

Layer	Technology
Runtime	Deno 2.x
API	Oak (HTTP + WebSocket)
Database	SQLite via `node:sqlite`
Frontend	React 19 + Vite 8

Development

Prerequisites

Deno 2.x

Setup

cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env: set GERBEUR_JWT_SECRET to the output of: openssl rand -hex 32

Run

deno task dev

This starts both the API server (port 8000, with file watching) and the Vite dev server (port 3000) concurrently.

Open http://localhost:3000. On first run a default admin / admin account is created — change the password immediately.

Environment variables

See .env.example for the full list with descriptions. Key variables:

Variable	Description	Default
`GERBEUR_JWT_SECRET`	JWT signing secret — required, generate with `openssl rand -hex 32`	—
`GERBEUR_PUBLIC_URL`	Public-facing URL of the server (no trailing slash) — used for CORS, WebSocket origin, email links, OG URLs	`http://localhost:GERBEUR_PORT`
`GERBEUR_PORT`	Internal port Oak listens on	`8000`
`GERBEUR_LISTEN_HOST`	Network interface Oak binds to; use `127.0.0.1` to restrict to loopback	`0.0.0.0`
`GERBEUR_FRONTEND_URL`	Frontend base URL for email links and CORS; auto-added to allowed origins — the only variable needed when the frontend runs on a separate host	`GERBEUR_PUBLIC_URL`
`GERBEUR_ALLOWED_ORIGINS`	Comma-separated extra origins for CORS/WebSocket; `PUBLIC_URL` and `FRONTEND_URL` are always included — typically only needed in dev for the Vite server	`""` (empty)
`GERBEUR_SITE_NAME`	Site name used in the browser tab, app header, OG meta tags, and emails	`gerbeur`
`GERBEUR_SMTPS_URL`	SMTPS connection URL for outgoing email (`smtps://user:pass@host:465`)	unset
`GERBEUR_FROM_EMAIL`	Sender address for outgoing emails — required when `GERBEUR_SMTPS_URL` is set	unset
`GERBEUR_WELCOME_EMAIL_BODY`	Markdown body for the account-creation welcome email; supports `{{username}}` and `{{site_name}}`	built-in template
`VITE_API_PROTOCOL`	API protocol baked into the frontend bundle (see Production)	`http`
`VITE_API_HOSTNAME`	API hostname baked into the frontend bundle	`localhost`
`VITE_API_PORT`	API port baked into the frontend bundle	`8000`

Production

Docker (recommended)

The standard deployment runs API and frontend in a single container. The API server (Oak) serves the compiled frontend as static files, so both share the same origin — no VITE_API_* build args needed. Set GERBEUR_PUBLIC_URL to the externally-visible URL; it is automatically allowed for HTTP/WebSocket requests.

docker build -t gerbeur .

docker build -t gerbeur .

docker run -d \
  -p 8000:8000 \
  -v gerbeur-db:/app/api/sql \
  -v gerbeur-uploads:/app/api/uploads \
  -e GERBEUR_JWT_SECRET=$(openssl rand -hex 32) \
  -e GERBEUR_PUBLIC_URL=https://example.com \
  -e GERBEUR_SITE_NAME=mysite \
  --name gerbeur \
  gerbeur

The two volumes are required for persistence:

gerbeur-db — SQLite database (api/sql/gerbeur.db), initialized automatically on first run
gerbeur-uploads — user-uploaded files (api/uploads/)

Separate API and frontend (optional)

If you need to run the API on a different host than the frontend, pass the API location as build args so it gets baked into the frontend bundle. In that setup, add the frontend origin to GERBEUR_ALLOWED_ORIGINS so cross-origin HTTP/WebSocket requests are accepted:

docker build \
  --build-arg VITE_API_PROTOCOL=https \
  --build-arg VITE_API_HOSTNAME=api.example.com \
  --build-arg VITE_API_PORT=443 \
  -t gerbeur .

Reverse proxy

Put a reverse proxy (nginx, Caddy, …) in front of the container to handle TLS. Forward everything to port 8000. Example Caddyfile:

example.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:8000
}

Project structure

api/
  main.ts          # Entry point — Oak application, middleware, routes
  config.ts        # Environment variables
  middleware/      # errorMiddleware, authMiddleware
  routes/          # HTTP routes + WebSocket
  services/        # Business logic
  model/           # Database schema, row types, type guards
  lib/             # JWT, pagination, upload helpers, …
  sql/
    schema.sql     # Database schema
    init.ts        # First-run database initialisation
    gerbeur.db     # SQLite database (not committed)
  uploads/         # User-uploaded files (not committed)
src/               # React frontend (Vite)
  config/api.ts    # API base URL, validation constants
  pages/           # Route-level components
  components/      # Shared UI components
  contexts/        # Auth, WebSocket, player, follows, theme
  hooks/           # Data fetching and UI hooks
  locales/         # Lingui message catalogues (en, fr)
  themes/          # Per-theme CSS files
  i18n.ts          # Lingui runtime setup
public/            # Static assets (favicon, icon sprite)