Deploying to a server

These options assume you have a Linux server with a domain name pointed at it.

Run with Docker

The easiest way to deploy. Download the three config files from GitHub, edit the domain in the Caddyfile, and start:

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/radiac/privipod/main/docker-compose.yml
mkdir -p docker
curl -O --output-dir docker https://raw.githubusercontent.com/radiac/privipod/main/docker/Dockerfile
curl -O --output-dir docker https://raw.githubusercontent.com/radiac/privipod/main/docker/Caddyfile

Then edit the three required values in docker-compose.yml:

  • PRIVIPOD_HOSTNAME - your domain name (e.g. privipod.example.com). This enables deployed mode: strict ALLOWED_HOSTS checking, HSTS headers, and correct share link generation.

  • PRIVIPOD_SECRET_KEY - a random secret key for Django session signing. You can generate a strong one with:

    uv run --with django python -c "from django.core.management.utils import get_random_secret_key; print(get_random_secret_key())"

  • PRIVIPOD_PASS - password for the admin user. Set it here for an initial password, then change it once logged in.

Also replace privipod.example.com in docker/Caddyfile with your domain:

$EDITOR docker/Caddyfile
$EDITOR docker-compose.yml

docker compose up -d

Caddy handles TLS automatically via Let’s Encrypt. Check logs for confirmation that the service started in deployed mode:

docker compose logs -f

You can change the admin password after logging in via the Django admin at /admin/.

Systemd service

It’s more complicated than docker, but if you prefer to run it directly on your server, you can run it with systemd, and then use a web server such as nginx or caddy to handle HTTPS and route traffic to the service.

Create /etc/systemd/system/privipod.service with something like this:

[Unit]
Description=Privipod
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=privipod
WorkingDirectory=/opt/privipod
ExecStart=uvx privipod \
    --store /opt/privipod/privipod.db \
    localhost:8000
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Run privipod once to create a user (see Command-line options for ways to do this):

uvx privipod --store /opt/privipod/privipod.db

Enable and start it:

sudo useradd -r -s /sbin/nologin privipod
sudo mkdir -p /opt/privipod
sudo chown -R privipod:privipod /opt/privipod

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now privipod

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u privipod -f

You will now need to configure a web server to forward to privipod on localhost:8000.