path: root/nixos/modules/services/networking/pleroma.xml

<chapter xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
         xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
         xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
         version="5.0"
         xml:id="module-services-pleroma">
 <title>Pleroma</title>
 <para>
  <link xlink:href="https://pleroma.social/">Pleroma</link> is a lightweight activity pub server.</para>
 <section xml:id="module-services-pleroma-generate-config">
  <title>Generating the Pleroma config</title>
  <para>The <literal>pleroma_ctl</literal> CLI utility will prompt you some questions and it will generate an initial config file. This is an example of usage
<programlisting>
<prompt>$ </prompt>mkdir tmp-pleroma
<prompt>$ </prompt>cd tmp-pleroma
<prompt>$ </prompt>nix-shell -p pleroma-otp
<prompt>$ </prompt>pleroma_ctl instance gen --output config.exs --output-psql setup.psql
</programlisting>
  </para>
  <para>The <literal>config.exs</literal> file can be further customized following the instructions on the <link xlink:href="https://docs-develop.pleroma.social/backend/configuration/cheatsheet/">upstream documentation</link>. Many refinements can be applied also after the service is running.</para>
 </section>
 <section xml:id="module-services-pleroma-initialize-db">
  <title>Initializing the database</title>
  <para>First, the Postgresql service must be enabled in the NixOS configuration
<programlisting>
services.postgresql = {
  enable = true;
  package = pkgs.postgresql_13;
};
</programlisting>
and activated with the usual
<programlisting>
<prompt>$ </prompt>nixos-rebuild switch
</programlisting>
  </para>
  <para>Then you can create and seed the database, using the <literal>setup.psql</literal> file that you generated in the previous section, by running
<programlisting>
<prompt>$ </prompt>sudo -u postgres psql -f setup.psql
</programlisting>
  </para>
 </section>
 <section xml:id="module-services-pleroma-enable">
  <title>Enabling the Pleroma service locally</title>
  <para>In this section we will enable the Pleroma service only locally, so its configurations can be improved incrementally.</para>
  <para>This is an example of configuration, where <link linkend="opt-services.pleroma.configs">services.pleroma.configs</link> option contains the content of the file <literal>config.exs</literal>, generated <link linkend="module-services-pleroma-generate-config">in the first section</link>, but with the secrets (database password, endpoint secret key, salts, etc.) removed. Removing secrets is important, because otherwise they will be stored publicly in the Nix store.
<programlisting>
services.pleroma = {
  enable = true;
  secretConfigFile = "/var/lib/pleroma/secrets.exs";
  configs = [
    ''
    import Config

    config :pleroma, Pleroma.Web.Endpoint,
      url: [host: "pleroma.example.net", scheme: "https", port: 443],
      http: [ip: {127, 0, 0, 1}, port: 4000]

    config :pleroma, :instance,
      name: "Test",
      email: "admin@example.net",
      notify_email: "admin@example.net",
      limit: 5000,
      registrations_open: true

    config :pleroma, :media_proxy,
      enabled: false,
      redirect_on_failure: true

    config :pleroma, Pleroma.Repo,
      adapter: Ecto.Adapters.Postgres,
      username: "pleroma",
      database: "pleroma",
      hostname: "localhost"

    # Configure web push notifications
    config :web_push_encryption, :vapid_details,
      subject: "mailto:admin@example.net"

    # ... TO CONTINUE ...
    ''
  ];
};
</programlisting>
  </para>
  <para>Secrets must be moved into a file pointed by <link linkend="opt-services.pleroma.secretConfigFile">services.pleroma.secretConfigFile</link>, in our case <literal>/var/lib/pleroma/secrets.exs</literal>. This file can be created copying the previously generated <literal>config.exs</literal> file and then removing all the settings, except the secrets. This is an example
<programlisting>
# Pleroma instance passwords

import Config

config :pleroma, Pleroma.Web.Endpoint,
   secret_key_base: "&lt;the secret generated by pleroma_ctl&gt;",
   signing_salt: "&lt;the secret generated by pleroma_ctl&gt;"

config :pleroma, Pleroma.Repo,
  password: "&lt;the secret generated by pleroma_ctl&gt;"

# Configure web push notifications
config :web_push_encryption, :vapid_details,
  public_key: "&lt;the secret generated by pleroma_ctl&gt;",
  private_key: "&lt;the secret generated by pleroma_ctl&gt;"

# ... TO CONTINUE ...
</programlisting>
  Note that the lines of the same configuration group are comma separated (i.e. all the lines end with a comma, except the last one), so when the lines with passwords are added or removed, commas must be adjusted accordingly.</para>

  <para>The service can be enabled with the usual
<programlisting>
<prompt>$ </prompt>nixos-rebuild switch
</programlisting>
  </para>
  <para>The service is accessible only from the local <literal>127.0.0.1:4000</literal> port. It can be tested using a port forwarding like this
<programlisting>
<prompt>$ </prompt>ssh -L 4000:localhost:4000 myuser@example.net
</programlisting>
and then accessing <link xlink:href="http://localhost:4000">http://localhost:4000</link> from a web browser.</para>
 </section>
 <section xml:id="module-services-pleroma-admin-user">
  <title>Creating the admin user</title>
  <para>After Pleroma service is running, all <link xlink:href="https://docs-develop.pleroma.social/">Pleroma administration utilities</link> can be used. In particular an admin user can be created with
<programlisting>
<prompt>$ </prompt>pleroma_ctl user new &lt;nickname&gt; &lt;email&gt;  --admin --moderator --password &lt;password&gt;
</programlisting>
  </para>
 </section>
 <section xml:id="module-services-pleroma-nginx">
  <title>Configuring Nginx</title>
  <para>In this configuration, Pleroma is listening only on the local port 4000. Nginx can be configured as a Reverse Proxy, for forwarding requests from public ports to the Pleroma service. This is an example of configuration, using
<link xlink:href="https://letsencrypt.org/">Let's Encrypt</link> for the TLS certificates
<programlisting>
security.acme = {
  email = "root@example.net";
  acceptTerms = true;
};

services.nginx = {
  enable = true;
  addSSL = true;

  recommendedTlsSettings = true;
  recommendedOptimisation = true;
  recommendedGzipSettings = true;

  recommendedProxySettings = false;
  # NOTE: if enabled, the NixOS proxy optimizations will override the Pleroma
  # specific settings, and they will enter in conflict.

  virtualHosts = {
    "pleroma.example.net" = {
      http2 = true;
      enableACME = true;
      forceSSL = true;

      locations."/" = {
        proxyPass = "http://127.0.0.1:4000";

        extraConfig = ''
          etag on;
          gzip on;

          add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' '*' always;
          add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Methods' 'POST, PUT, DELETE, GET, PATCH, OPTIONS' always;
          add_header 'Access-Control-Allow-Headers' 'Authorization, Content-Type, Idempotency-Key' always;
          add_header 'Access-Control-Expose-Headers' 'Link, X-RateLimit-Reset, X-RateLimit-Limit, X-RateLimit-Remaining, X-Request-Id' always;
          if ($request_method = OPTIONS) {
            return 204;
          }
          add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block";
          add_header X-Permitted-Cross-Domain-Policies none;
          add_header X-Frame-Options DENY;
          add_header X-Content-Type-Options nosniff;
          add_header Referrer-Policy same-origin;
          add_header X-Download-Options noopen;
          proxy_http_version 1.1;
          proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
          proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
          proxy_set_header Host $host;

          client_max_body_size 16m;
          # NOTE: increase if users need to upload very big files
        '';
      };
    };
  };
};
</programlisting>
  </para>
 </section>
</chapter>