vrbattles-api/DEPLOY.md

Deploying VRBattles API with Dokploy

Prerequisites

• Dokploy installed on your server
• Git repository (Gitea, GitHub, GitLab, etc.)

Quick Start

Step 1: Push to Git

git add .
git commit -m "Add production deployment configs"
git push origin main

Step 2: Create Project in Dokploy

1. Open Dokploy dashboard
2. Click "Create Project" → Give it a name (e.g., "VRBattles")
3. Click "Add Service" → Select "Compose"

Step 3: Configure the Compose Service

1. Source: Select your Git provider and repository
2. Branch: main (or your default branch)
3. Compose Path: docker-compose.prod.yml

Step 4: Set Environment Variables

In Dokploy's Environment tab, add these required variables:

Variable	Example	Description
JWT_SECRET	$(openssl rand -base64 32)	Generate a secure random string
POSTGRES_PASSWORD	your_secure_db_password	Database password
FRONTEND_URL	https://vrbattles.com	Your frontend URL
BASE_URL	https://api.vrbattles.com	API base URL

Optional variables (for S3 storage):

• S3_BUCKET
• S3_REGION
• AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID
• AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY

Step 5: Configure Domain (Optional)

1. Go to Domains tab in Dokploy
2. Add your domain: api.yourdomain.com
3. Dokploy will auto-configure SSL via Let's Encrypt

Step 6: Deploy!

Click "Deploy" and watch the logs.

---

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Dokploy                       │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐    │
│  │         docker-compose.prod.yml          │    │
│  │  ┌─────────────┐    ┌──────────────┐    │    │
│  │  │   api:3000  │────│  db:5432     │    │    │
│  │  │  (Rust API) │    │ (PostgreSQL) │    │    │
│  │  └─────────────┘    └──────────────┘    │    │
│  │         │                  │             │    │
│  │         ▼                  ▼             │    │
│  │   uploads_data      postgres_data        │    │
│  │    (volume)          (volume)            │    │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────┘    │
│                       │                          │
│                       ▼                          │
│              Traefik (reverse proxy)             │
│              SSL termination                     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                        │
                        ▼
              https://api.yourdomain.com

---

Useful Commands

View Logs

In Dokploy UI → Logs tab, or SSH to server:

docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml logs -f api

Access Database

docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml exec db psql -U postgres -d vrbattles

Manual Deploy

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

Backup Database

docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml exec db pg_dump -U postgres vrbattles > backup.sql

---

Troubleshooting

API won't start

1. Check logs in Dokploy
2. Verify DATABASE_URL is correct
3. Ensure JWT_SECRET is set

Database connection failed

1. Check if db service is healthy
2. Verify POSTGRES_PASSWORD matches in both services

Uploads not working

1. Check uploads_data volume is mounted
2. Verify BASE_URL is set correctly
3. For S3: check AWS credentials

---

Migrating Data

If you have existing data to import:

# Copy SQL dump to server
scp backup.sql user@server:/tmp/

# Import into running container
docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml exec -T db psql -U postgres -d vrbattles < /tmp/backup.sql