# Hosting A Server

Following these instructions requires docker, docker-compose, and git.

git clone https://gitlab.futo.org/polycentric/polycentric.git
cd polycentric
mkdir -p state/opensearch/data
sudo chown 1000:1000 -R state/opensearch/data

Edit Caddyfile replacing srv1.polycentric.io with your domain name. Go to your domain registrar and set an A, and or AAAA record pointing to your server. Caddy will automatically fetch a TLS certificate for your domain when the server starts.

Edit docker-compose.production.yml replacing the value of ADMIN_TOKEN with a strong passphrase.

docker-compose -f docker-compose.production.yml up -d

You are now done. Add your new server to your profile using the Polycentric client and start using it. Upgrading the server is very simple:

# stop the existing server
docker-compose -f docker-compose.production.yml down
# download updates
docker-compose -f docker-compose.production.yml pull
# start the server up again
docker-compose -f docker-compose.production.yml up -d

A Polycentric server depends on PostgreSQL, and OpenSearch. Configuration is controlled with environment variables. A proxy such as NGINX, or Caddy is required to provide TLS. Manual configuration is required if you wish to run a distributed server, such as storage being run on other nodes. The Polycentric server may be horizontally scaled across multiple nodes with shared external storage.

# An unsigned 16 bit number representing the port that should be bound.
export HTTP_PORT_API='80'
# The PostgreSQL connection string
export POSTGRES_STRING='postgres://postgres:testing@postgres'
# The OpenSearch connection string
export OPENSEARCH_STRING='http://opensearch:9200'
# The token required for administrative tasks
export ADMIN_TOKEN='something_long_and_random'

Server operators may choose to censor content on their own node. There are two types of censorship available. The first DO_NOT_RECOMMEND means that content will not be returned in server curated data. Examples of this include the explore page, and recommended profiles. The second is DO_NOT_STORE where the server will outright refuse to host data.

A specific post, or entire profile may be censored. The API accepts a particular link to censor. If you want to censor a post, provide a link to a post, if you want to censor a profile, provide a link to a profile.

Example API usage with curl:

curl \
    -X POST \
    -H 'Authorization: abc123' \
    https://my-server.com/censor?censorship_type=DO_NOT_RECOMMEND \
    -d 'https://polycentric.io/feed/a/CiA_zaEPAlQ2H7hmNbT'