π§ TripWise¶

TripWise is a self-hosted web application for planning trips. A trip is built as an itinerary of stages: places, dates, notes, and points of interest, and browsed in a clean web UI.
Introduction¶
The goal of TripWise is to keep a whole trip plan in one place instead of scattered notes, bookmarks, and spreadsheets. Each trip holds a single itinerary of items (transport, lodging, food, activities) that feeds a to-do list, an interactive map, a day-by-hour planner, a budget and can be shared with other users or exported as a PDF + attachments archive.
This page covers installing and running the application as a self-contained web service.
Info
TripWise is open-source and lives in this repository under src/
(Rust backend + gmaps and osrm sidecars + React/TypeScript frontend), with the Podman
packaging in build/, quadlet/ and nginx/.
Features¶
- π§³ One itinerary, four views: transport, lodging, food and activities feed the to-do list, the map, the planner and the budget
- ποΈ Day-by-hour planner board: items as duration blocks, a dashed idea tray per day, drag-and-drop scheduling on a 15-minute snap β anything with no stated length taking a 15-minute block β and ideas promoted to the itinerary in one click; a hotel stay dragged back onto a day it covers leaves a stopover at that hour, as many as the day needs, so a day reads museum β hotel β dinner β hotel and shows when, and for how long, you are back at it
- π Interactive keyless map β OpenFreeMap vector street map with English-first labels, Esri satellite view β with category-tinted pins that carry the item's own icon β train, plane, Booking, Airbnb, activityβ¦ (planner ideas included), transport routes that thicken and name themselves under the cursor (a click frames the leg and selects it), and Google Maps hand-off β and a day-grouped list beside the map whose day titles double as filters: click one to keep that single day on the map
- πΆ Walking layer chaining each day's stops on foot: routed server-side and cached, so the paths still draw offline, and coloured green / orange / red by whether the walk fits the time the itinerary leaves for it β hovering names its distance and duration, clicking frames the leg and both its ends, and the badge totals only the paths in view
- π Live updates: a change made in one browser tab, on another device, or by someone you share the trip with shows up on its own β the map, the itinerary and the planner repaint without a reload
- π‘ Live mode: one top-bar toggle (off by default) hides every day already behind you, so the map, the itinerary and the planner start at the current day and show only what comes next β tonight's lodging and undated items stay put
- π Worldwide place search with autocomplete, or pick the spot directly on the map
- π° Multi-currency budget with manual exchange rates, a per-category breakdown and a paid / still-to-pay split telling what is already booked from what you only know the price of
- π Tickets and receipts attached to items, exported in one click as a styled PDF + attachments ZIP
- β° One email reminder per item ("pick up the tickets the day before"), mailed to everyone with access to the trip at the chosen time β or at the server's daily reminder hour when none is set
- π΄ Installable web app (Android / desktop) with a full offline mode: visited trips stay browsable without a connection, offline edits sync back automatically on reconnect, and a trip pinned "Available offline" keeps its attachments β and the PDF/ZIP export β working with no network at all
- π€ Per-user trip sharing as viewer or editor
- π Invite-only accounts with emailed activation links, self-service password reset and optional TOTP 2FA
How it works¶
Web UI (SPA) βββΊ axum API βββΊ PostgreSQL (trips / items / ideas / shares / users / sessions) β β β β β ββββΊ /data/tripwise (avatars, thumbnails, attachments) β β β ββββΊ tripwise-osrm βββΊ OSRM router (keyless walking directions) β ββββΊ PostgreSQL (tripwise_osrm: the path cache) βΌ tripwise-gmaps βββΊ Google Maps (keyless place autocomplete)
The backend binary serves both the API and the built React SPA. Trips, itinerary
items, shares and sessions live in PostgreSQL; uploads (avatars, trip thumbnails,
item attachments) are stored as files under the data directory, so the database
stays small. Place searches go through the dedicated gmaps sidecar, the only
component talking to Google, reachable solely on the private container network,
while map tiles (OpenFreeMap vector street map with English-first labels β
OpenStreetMap raster as the silent fallback β and Esri satellite imagery) load
keyless straight in the browser. The map's walking lines follow the same rule as
place search: a dedicated tripwise-osrm sidecar is the only component that
talks to a routing engine β the keyless FOSSGIS pedestrian instance by default,
a self-hosted osrm-routed when OSRM_URL names one β and it keeps every path
it computes in a small database of its own (tripwise_osrm, created on first
start), swept daily. The backend builds each day's chain from its own rows and
asks that sidecar leg by leg, so re-ordering a day only recomputes the pairs
that actually changed and the browser receives a ready-to-draw answer.
π₯ Installation¶
This section describes how to install and run Podman services using systemd Quadlet, enabling containers to restart automatically. It allows the service to run in its own isolated rootless environment with a dedicated Linux user.
π Requirements¶
βοΈ Configuration¶
π Service Setup¶
Info
Please follow the following installation steps:
Define Service Variables
# define the service name
SERVICE_NAME=tripwise
Initialize Service Environment
# built-in bash safety and SERVICE_NAME validation
set -euo pipefail; [ -n "${SERVICE_NAME:-}" ] || { echo "SERVICE_NAME is empty"; exit 1; }
# automatically generate variables
SERVICE_HOME="/media/ssd/podman-users/${SERVICE_NAME}"
SERVICE_DIR="/media/ssd/podman/${SERVICE_NAME}"
SERVICE_USER="${SERVICE_NAME}_svc"
SERVICE_ADMIN="${SERVICE_NAME}_admins"
π Service Isolation¶
Configure Rootless Podman UID/GID Namespace Mappings
# allocate rootless Podman UID/GID mappings if missing
SUBID_SIZE=65536
allocate_subids_if_missing() {
local user="$1"
local start
if ! grep -q "^${user}:" /etc/subuid; then
start="$(awk -F: 'BEGIN { max = 100000 } { end = $2 + $3; if (end > max) max = end } END { print max }' /etc/subuid)"
sudo usermod --add-subuids "${start}-$((start + SUBID_SIZE - 1))" "$user"
fi
if ! grep -q "^${user}:" /etc/subgid; then
start="$(awk -F: 'BEGIN { max = 100000 } { end = $2 + $3; if (end > max) max = end } END { print max }' /etc/subgid)"
sudo usermod --add-subgids "${start}-$((start + SUBID_SIZE - 1))" "$user"
fi
}
allocate_subids_if_missing "${SERVICE_USER}"
# verify rootless Podman UID/GID namespace mappings exist
grep -q "^${SERVICE_USER}:" /etc/subuid || { echo "ERROR: missing subuid mappings for ${SERVICE_USER}"; exit 1; }
grep -q "^${SERVICE_USER}:" /etc/subgid || { echo "ERROR: missing subgid mappings for ${SERVICE_USER}"; exit 1; }
# validate that all subordinate ID ranges in a file are non-overlapping
validate_subid_ranges() {
local file="$1"
awk -F: '
{
start = $2
end = $2 + $3 - 1
for (i = 1; i <= count; i++) {
if (start <= ends[i] && end >= starts[i]) {
printf "ERROR: overlapping ranges in %s\n", FILENAME
printf " %s:%s:%s overlaps %s:%s:%s\n",
$1, $2, $3,
names[i], starts[i], sizes[i]
exit 1
}
}
count++
names[count] = $1
starts[count] = start
ends[count] = end
sizes[count] = $3
}
' "$file"
}
validate_subid_ranges /etc/subuid
validate_subid_ranges /etc/subgid
# configure the rootless storage driver BEFORE Podman first initializes its storage.
# fuse-overlayfs is a reliable rootless overlay backend and avoids kernel-version
# quirks of native rootless overlay on ARM/Armbian. It is optional with the default
# userns used here, but recommended; set it before the first storage init so no
# 'podman system reset' is needed later.
sudo -u "${SERVICE_USER}" mkdir -p "${SERVICE_HOME}/.config/containers"
sudo -u "${SERVICE_USER}" tee "${SERVICE_HOME}/.config/containers/storage.conf" >/dev/null <<'EOF'
[storage]
driver = "overlay"
[storage.options.overlay]
mount_program = "/usr/bin/fuse-overlayfs"
EOF
# rebuild rootless Podman state to ensure existing containers/storage use current namespace mappings
# use a login shell (-i) so HOME points at the service user's home
# (storage now initializes with fuse-overlayfs; no 'podman system reset' needed)
sudo -iu "${SERVICE_USER}" podman system migrate
Configure Secure Service Directory Permissions
# Apply the admin/service ACL policy to one directory tree, deterministically.
# $1 = tree to treat
# $2 = (optional) a sub-path to skip entirely (e.g. a container data subtree)
#
# Why setfacl, not chmod: on an ACL'd tree, chmod edits only the mask, never group::,
# so stale execute bits survive. setfacl sets every entry explicitly (mask included),
# lowercase β the result is reproducible and no execute bit can resurface.
apply_acl_tree() {
local tree="$1"
local skip="${2:-}"
local prune=()
[ -n "$skip" ] && prune=( -path "$skip" -prune -o ) # skip this subtree if a 2nd arg is given
sudo find "$tree" "${prune[@]}" -exec chown "${SERVICE_USER}:${SERVICE_ADMIN}" {} + # service user owns; admin group is the owning group
# directories β access ACL (perms on the existing dirs)
sudo find "$tree" "${prune[@]}" -type d -exec setfacl -m g:${SERVICE_ADMIN}:rwx {} + # admin group: access existing dirs
sudo find "$tree" "${prune[@]}" -type d -exec setfacl -m u:${SERVICE_USER}:rwx {} + # service user: access existing dirs
sudo find "$tree" "${prune[@]}" -type d -exec setfacl -m u::rwx,g::rwx,o::-,m::rwx {} + # owner/group rwx, deny others, pin mask rwx
# directories β default ACL (inherited by NEW files/dirs created later)
sudo find "$tree" "${prune[@]}" -type d -exec setfacl -d -m g:${SERVICE_ADMIN}:rwx {} + # admin group: inherit access on new items
sudo find "$tree" "${prune[@]}" -type d -exec setfacl -d -m u:${SERVICE_USER}:rwx {} + # service user: inherit access on new items
sudo find "$tree" "${prune[@]}" -type d -exec setfacl -d -m u::rwx,g::rwx,o::- {} + # default owner/group/other for new items
# files β access ACL (rw only, never executable)
sudo find "$tree" "${prune[@]}" -type f -exec setfacl -m g:${SERVICE_ADMIN}:rw {} + # admin group: access existing files
sudo find "$tree" "${prune[@]}" -type f -exec setfacl -m u:${SERVICE_USER}:rw {} + # service user: access existing files
sudo find "$tree" "${prune[@]}" -type f -exec setfacl -m u::rw,g::rw,o::-,m::rw {} + # owner/group rw, deny others, pin mask rw
sudo find "$tree" "${prune[@]}" -type d -exec chmod g+s {} + # setgid: new items inherit the group (a MODE bit; ACLs can't set it)
}
# --- SERVICE_HOME: Podman's private runtime home ------------------------------
# Own the home + set setgid, then ACL ONLY the .config subtree (containers.conf,
# storage.conf, and the *.network / *.container quadlets you hand-edit) so admins
# can edit them sudo-less.
#
# Leave ~/.local (storage) and ~/.cache to Podman: ACLs on the overlay store break
# the runtime ("OCI permission denied" on the `merged` mount). Admin reaches them via sudo.
sudo chown "${SERVICE_USER}:${SERVICE_ADMIN}" "${SERVICE_HOME}" # service user owns; admin group is the owning group
sudo chmod u=rwx,g=rwx,o=,g+s "${SERVICE_HOME}" # owner/admin access; deny others; inherit group on new items
apply_acl_tree "${SERVICE_HOME}/.config" # .config subtree: full sudo-less admin ACL treatment
# --- bind-mount data dirs: created + owned BEFORE the SERVICE_DIR ACL pass ---------
# Each container writes as a mapped subuid, so its data dir must be owned by that subuid
# (chown as root; only root crosses the id range). We create + own them FIRST so they
# neither inherit SERVICE_DIR's default ACL (inheritance happens at creation) nor get
# walked by apply_acl_tree (which prunes data/).
#
# No ACLs here: Postgres refuses a group-accessible PGDATA. Admin reaches them via sudo;
# back Postgres up with pg_dumpall, not a raw file copy.
SUBUID_BASE="$(awk -F: -v u="${SERVICE_USER}" '$1==u {print $2}' /etc/subuid)"
SUBGID_BASE="$(awk -F: -v u="${SERVICE_USER}" '$1==u {print $2}' /etc/subgid)"
# data subdir : in-container uid/gid it must be owned by
data_dirs=(
"postgres-db:70" # /var/lib/postgresql β postgres user (pinned User=70:70)
"tripwise:1000" # /data/tripwise β tripwise uploads directory (image USER 1000)
)
mkdir -p "${SERVICE_DIR}/data" # the data/ parent: plain, no ACL
sudo chown "${SERVICE_USER}:${SERVICE_ADMIN}" "${SERVICE_DIR}/data" # owner/admin
sudo chmod 0750 "${SERVICE_DIR}/data" # children are set individually below
for entry in "${data_dirs[@]}"; do
sub="${entry%%:*}" # subdir name
ids="${entry#*:}" # "uid" or "uid:gid"
uid="${ids%%:*}" # uid
gid="${ids#*:}"; [ "$gid" = "$ids" ] && gid="$uid" # gid (defaults to uid)
dir="${SERVICE_DIR}/data/${sub}"
sudo mkdir -p "$dir"
sudo chown -R "$((SUBUID_BASE + uid - 1)):$((SUBGID_BASE + gid - 1))" "$dir" # map both to host subids
sudo chmod 0700 "$dir"
done
# --- SERVICE_DIR: application data, env files, configuration -------------------
# Full treatment so the admin group gets sudo-less access AND the service user keeps
# access even on admin-created files. data/ is EXCLUDED: those dirs are owned by the
# containers' subuids and need engine-specific modes (Postgres rejects a group/other-
# accessible PGDATA), so they are handled separately just below.
apply_acl_tree "${SERVICE_DIR}" "${SERVICE_DIR}/data" # treat everything EXCEPT data/
Configure Secure NGINX Static Assets Permissions
# Grant the NGINX worker user (www-data) read-only access to assets subtrees.
# $1 = service directory β traverse-only (x)
# $2..$n = assets subtrees served directly by NGINX (configs, icons, favicon, manifest, ...)
apply_acl_nginx() {
local tree="$1"; shift
local assets
sudo setfacl -m u:www-data:x "$tree" # traverse only: pass through, no listing, no reading
for assets in "$@"; do
# assets directories β enter + list, existing and future
sudo find "$assets" -type d -exec setfacl -m u:www-data:rx {} + # www-data: read existing dirs
sudo find "$assets" -type d -exec setfacl -d -m u:www-data:rx {} + # www-data: inherit read on new items
# assets files β www-data read-only, owner/admin rw, never executable.
# Entries AND mask are pinned explicitly: a bare `setfacl -m u:www-data:r`
# would recalculate the mask to the union of all entries, resurfacing the
# latent rwx inherited from the default ACL (files would show group rwx).
sudo find "$assets" -type f -exec setfacl \
-m u:www-data:r,u:${SERVICE_USER}:rw,g:${SERVICE_ADMIN}:rw,u::rw,g::rw,o::-,m::rw {} +
done
}
# --- SERVICE_DIR/nginx: served directly by NGINX -----------
# Created AFTER the apply_acl_tree pass so they inherit the default ACL + setgid
# group (service user/admin keep full access); www-data is then layered on top
# as a read-only named entry.
sudo mkdir -p "${SERVICE_DIR}/nginx"
sudo chown "${SERVICE_USER}:${SERVICE_ADMIN}" "${SERVICE_DIR}/nginx"
apply_acl_nginx "${SERVICE_DIR}" "${SERVICE_DIR}/nginx"
π‘οΈ Rootless Podman Defaults¶
Configure rootless Podman per-user configuration directory
# configure rootless Podman defaults for this service user
# - store per-user Podman configuration under ~/.config/containers
sudo -u "${SERVICE_USER}" mkdir -p "${SERVICE_HOME}/.config/containers/systemd"
Configure rootless Podman defaults
# configure rootless Podman defaults for this service user
# - use k8s-file logging for easier log rotation and inspection
sudo -u "${SERVICE_USER}" tee "${SERVICE_HOME}/.config/containers/containers.conf" >/dev/null <<EOF
[containers]
log_driver = "k8s-file"
[engine]
healthcheck_events=false
EOF
π§ Service Configuration¶
Setup TripWise Parameters
Before deploying, you need to define a few environment variables that will be used throughout the setup process.
BASE_URL: public URL where the web service is accessibleHOST_PORT: external port used by NGINX to route traffic to the serviceADMIN_EMAIL: the default admin account (email only β there is no admin password in the env)- SMTP settings: required so the admin and invited users receive their activation links (startup aborts if the relay is unreachable)
###################################################################################
# NGINX Proxy Configuration
###################################################################################
HOST_PORT=10060
###################################################################################
# Postgres Configuration
###################################################################################
PG_VERSION=18-alpine
PG_DB=tripwise
PG_USER=tripwise
PG_PASSWORD="$(openssl rand -hex 32)"
###################################################################################
# TripWise Configuration
###################################################################################
BASE_URL=https://tripwise.domain.fr
ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@domain.fr
###################################################################################
# SMTP Configuration
###################################################################################
SMTP_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_SECURITY=starttls
SMTP_USER=tripwise@domain.fr
SMTP_PASSWORD=your-smtp-password
SMTP_FROM=tripwise@domain.fr
Getting Your Gmail SMTP Password
To send emails via Gmail SMTP, you'll need to generate an App Password.
A special password used for third-party applications.
Visit myaccount.google.com/apppasswords to create one.
Use the generated password in the SMTP_PASSWORD field of your configuration.
Create the Environment file
sudo -u "${SERVICE_USER}" tee "${SERVICE_DIR}/postgres.env" >/dev/null <<EOF
###################################################################################
# PostgreSQL Database Configuration
###################################################################################
POSTGRES_VERSION=${PG_VERSION}
POSTGRES_DB=${PG_DB}
POSTGRES_USER=${PG_USER}
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${PG_PASSWORD}
EOF
sudo -u "${SERVICE_USER}" tee "${SERVICE_DIR}/tripwise.env" >/dev/null <<EOF
###################################################################################
# NGINX Proxy Configuration
###################################################################################
HOST_PORT=${HOST_PORT}
###################################################################################
# Build Version
###################################################################################
GIT_COMMIT=
###################################################################################
# TripWise Configuration
###################################################################################
TRIPWISE_BASE_URL=${BASE_URL}
TRIPWISE_COOKIE_SECURE=true
###################################################################################
# Default admin (seeded 'pending' on first start)
###################################################################################
TRIPWISE_ADMIN_EMAIL=${ADMIN_EMAIL}
###################################################################################
# SMTP (required for new-user validation emails)
###################################################################################
SMTP_HOST=${SMTP_HOST}
SMTP_PORT=${SMTP_PORT}
SMTP_SECURITY=${SMTP_SECURITY}
SMTP_USER=${SMTP_USER}
SMTP_PASSWORD=${SMTP_PASSWORD}
SMTP_FROM=${SMTP_FROM}
EOF
Keep the .env files
All the secret informations will be stored in the .env files.
π§© Quadlet Service¶
Enable and Start Quadlet Services
# open an interactive shell as the service user
sudo -iu "${SERVICE_USER}"
# reload systemd user units
systemctl --user daemon-reload
# build the tripwise images (first install; podmanctl --update rebuilds afterwards)
systemctl --user start tripwise-build.service
systemctl --user start tripwise-gmaps-build.service
systemctl --user start tripwise-osrm-build.service
# start Podman Quadlet services
systemctl --user start tripwise-server.service
# verify service status
systemctl --user status tripwise-server.service
To follow the service logs in real time, run
sudo journalctl _UID=$(id -u ${SERVICE_USER}) -ffrom the Debian account.
π Deploy TripWise¶
Install NGINX
NGINX needs to be installed, follow the NGINX section.
Configure NGINX
NGINX needs to be configured using a file in /etc/nginx/sites-enabled directory.
This configuration file specify the documentation path:
# Per-client rate-limit bucket for the auth endpoints (login is Argon2-costly;
# activate consumes single-use tokens). Must live in http{} context, so it sits
# outside the server{} block.
#
# Every zone below keys on $limit_key, the shared key from nginx.conf: the address
# for IPv4, the /64 prefix for IPv6 β keying on a full IPv6 address would let one
# subscriber prefix mint 2^64 empty buckets and bypass the limits entirely.
limit_req_zone $limit_key zone=tripwise_auth:10m rate=10r/m;
# Per-client connection bucket for the SSE liveness stream: /api/events is public
# and each connection stays open, so an anonymous client could otherwise pin a
# worker connection per stream. The app caps the total itself (events.rs) β this
# keeps a single source from eating that whole budget.
limit_conn_zone $limit_key zone=tripwise_events:10m;
# Per-client bucket for the liveness probe. Its own zone, NOT a share of the
# auth one: while offline the app probes /api/health every 15 s per tab, and at
# the auth zone's 10r/m that traffic ate the bucket a login needs β a household
# with a few tabs open could 429 its own sign-in. Generous on purpose (the app
# probes only while it believes it is offline); the point is a ceiling, not a brake.
limit_req_zone $limit_key zone=tripwise_health:10m rate=60r/m;
# Per-client connection bucket for the authenticated change stream
# (/api/events/trips). Its own zone rather than a share of the one above: a tab
# sitting on a trip page holds one of each, so a single browser would otherwise
# spend the liveness budget twice over. Each of these also costs a forwarding
# task, not just a socket (events.rs).
limit_conn_zone $limit_key zone=tripwise_trip_events:10m;
# Per-client bucket for the upload routes. Each request streams to a temp file
# before its bytes are accepted, so a burst of cancelled uploads is the cheapest
# way to churn disk; the app bounds the staged total (uploads.rs MAX_TEMP_BYTES)
# and this bounds the arrival rate.
#
# Only the writing methods are counted. Reads stage nothing, and the trip export
# pulls the cover thumbnail plus every item's attachment list and every
# attachment's bytes back to back β far past burst=20 at this zone's 1r/s
# refill, so the download half of the location below answered 429 mid-export.
# limit_req skips a request whose key is empty, which exempts GET/HEAD while
# POST/DELETE keep exactly the brake this zone was written for.
map $request_method $tripwise_upload_key {
default $limit_key;
GET "";
HEAD "";
}
limit_req_zone $tripwise_upload_key zone=tripwise_uploads:10m rate=60r/m;
# The app container, published on the loopback by its Quadlet unit. It sits
# behind an upstream block for one reason: `keepalive`. Without it nginx opens β
# and immediately closes β a brand-new TCP connection for EVERY proxied request,
# and on this host each of those crosses rootless Podman's userspace port
# forwarder. A trip page pulls its thumbnails, avatars and attachments on
# top of the SPA assets, so a single page load paid a handshake per image
# through that forwarder.
# `proxy_http_version 1.1` (already set in every location) and
# `proxy_set_header Connection ""` are what let a connection go back into this
# pool instead of being torn down.
upstream tripwise_app {
server 127.0.0.1:10060;
keepalive 32;
keepalive_requests 1000;
keepalive_timeout 60s;
}
server {
server_name tripwise.domain.fr;
# Security headers; `always` also covers the NGINX-served error pages. No
# Content-Security-Policy here: the app serves its own on every response
# (src/backend/src/web.rs) with the allowances its features need (WASM for
# the JPEG XL decoder, blob: workers for MapLibre, the tile/glyph hosts).
# Browsers enforce EVERY CSP header they receive, so a second, stricter
# proxy policy would silently break those features β keep the app's CSP the
# single source of truth.
add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=63072000; includeSubDomains" always;
add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
add_header X-Frame-Options "DENY" always;
add_header Referrer-Policy "strict-origin-when-cross-origin" always;
# setup 404 error_page
error_page 404 /404.html;
include snippets/error-404.conf;
# show maintenance page when backend is down
error_page 502 503 504 /maintenance.html;
include snippets/error-maintenance.conf;
# The backend answers unknown /api/* paths with a JSON 404 and every other path
# with the SPA (200), so the only 404 that ever reaches us from upstream is an
# API error. proxy_intercept_errors is on globally, which would swap that JSON
# body for the HTML page and leave the UI parsing markup as JSON. NGINX's own
# errors are unaffected β an unreachable container still gets the maintenance
# page, because NGINX generates that 502 itself rather than proxying it.
proxy_intercept_errors off;
# Default ceiling for the whole vhost. Everything except the upload routes posts
# JSON, so 1 MB is generous β and it matters that this is the default: nginx
# buffers a request body to disk BEFORE opening the upstream connection, so a
# server-wide 12m would let an unauthenticated client spool 12 MB to
# client_body_temp against any path and churn the proxy host's disk long before
# the app returns 401. The upload routes raise it for themselves below.
client_max_body_size 1m;
# Every unauthenticated auth endpoint, rate-limited before hitting the app.
# `activation/<token>` is included and is why the pattern has no trailing `$` β
# it carries the token in the path and runs a DB query per call. The app also
# keeps a per-IP activation lockout; this is the layer in front of it.
# A route left out of this list is a route with no limit at all: the zone only
# applies where a location names it.
# Regex location (takes precedence over `location /`), so it repeats the proxy
# setup; rejections give 429.
# Keep the port in sync with HOST_PORT in tripwise.env.
location ~ ^/api/auth/(login|activate|forgot-password|activation/) {
limit_req zone=tripwise_auth burst=5 nodelay;
limit_req_status 429;
proxy_pass http://tripwise_app;
proxy_http_version 1.1;
include proxy_params;
# Empty Connection header: keeps the pooled upstream connection alive.
proxy_set_header Connection "";
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Port $server_port;
proxy_redirect off;
}
# Upload/download routes (thumbnail, avatar, item and trip-level attachments)
# β uploads are rate-limited per source IP so cancelled ones cannot be used to
# churn the staging area; downloads pass freely (see the zone's map above).
# Regex location, so it repeats the proxy setup.
location ~ ^/api/(trips/[^/]+/(thumbnail|attachments|items/[^/]+/attachments)|users/me/avatar) {
limit_req zone=tripwise_uploads burst=20 nodelay;
limit_req_status 429;
# Keep above the app's own cap (TRIPWISE_MAX_UPLOAD_MB, default 10 MB), and
# stream the body to the app instead of spooling it to the proxy's disk.
client_max_body_size 12m;
proxy_request_buffering off;
proxy_pass http://tripwise_app;
proxy_http_version 1.1;
include proxy_params;
# Empty Connection header: keeps the pooled upstream connection alive.
proxy_set_header Connection "";
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Port $server_port;
proxy_redirect off;
}
# SSE liveness stream β long-lived by design, so it is capped per source IP
# and must not be buffered (buffering would swallow the heartbeats and the
# status dot would never turn green).
location = /api/events {
# One per open tab, and under HTTP/2 nginx counts each concurrent request
# as a connection β so this has to clear a normal browser's tab count with
# room for a reload overlapping the stream it is replacing. It was 4, which
# a fourth tab hit: the 429 is FATAL to an EventSource (the spec reconnects
# a dropped connection, never one answered with the wrong status), so that
# tab lost its liveness signal for good and the app blinked offline.
limit_conn tripwise_events 16;
limit_conn_status 429;
proxy_pass http://tripwise_app;
proxy_http_version 1.1;
include proxy_params;
# Empty Connection header: keeps the pooled upstream connection alive.
proxy_set_header Connection "";
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Port $server_port;
proxy_redirect off;
proxy_buffering off;
proxy_read_timeout 1h;
}
# SSE change stream β the same long-lived, unbuffered treatment as the
# liveness stream above (buffering would hold the change events until the
# connection closed, which is never), but authenticated and on its own
# connection bucket. An exact-match location: it would otherwise fall through
# to `location /` and be buffered there.
location = /api/events/trips {
limit_conn tripwise_trip_events 8;
limit_conn_status 429;
proxy_pass http://tripwise_app;
proxy_http_version 1.1;
include proxy_params;
# Empty Connection header: keeps the pooled upstream connection alive.
proxy_set_header Connection "";
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Port $server_port;
proxy_redirect off;
proxy_buffering off;
proxy_read_timeout 1h;
}
# Liveness probe β public because the UI seeds its status dot with it, but
# every hit runs a DB query against a 5-connection pool, so it is rate-limited:
# a flood would otherwise saturate the pool and stall real requests (and the
# container healthcheck probes the same route, with HealthOnFailure=kill).
# Its own zone rather than the auth one it used to share β see that zone's
# comment: the app's own offline probing was spending the login budget.
location = /api/health {
limit_req zone=tripwise_health burst=20 nodelay;
limit_req_status 429;
proxy_pass http://tripwise_app;
proxy_http_version 1.1;
include proxy_params;
# Empty Connection header: keeps the pooled upstream connection alive.
proxy_set_header Connection "";
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Port $server_port;
proxy_redirect off;
}
# reverse proxy
location / {
proxy_pass http://tripwise_app;
# keep it HTTP/1.1
proxy_http_version 1.1;
# forwarded headers. proxy_params APPENDS to the client's own
# X-Forwarded-For, so a caller can prepend whatever hops it likes; NGINX is
# the edge here and there is no upstream chain worth keeping, so overwrite
# it with the real peer and the app can never be handed a forged hop.
include proxy_params;
# Empty Connection header: keeps the pooled upstream connection alive.
proxy_set_header Connection "";
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Port $server_port;
proxy_redirect off;
}
}
# restart nginx
sudo nginx -t && sudo service nginx restart
Replace
tripwise.domain.frby the name of your website, and10060byHOST_PORT.
Activate HTTPS
To activate HTTPS protocol, follow the Let's Encrypt section.
First login β activate the admin account
The admin account is created pending on first start (from TRIPWISE_ADMIN_EMAIL).
There is no admin password in tripwise.env. To activate it:
- On first start, the server e-mails an activation link to
TRIPWISE_ADMIN_EMAIL(SMTP must be reachable β startup aborts otherwise). - Open the
/activate/:tokenlink from the e-mail, choose a password, and you are signed in. - The link is single-use and expires after
TRIPWISE_ACTIVATION_TTL_HOURS(72 h by default).
Accounts are invite-only β there is no self-registration. Further users and admins are invited from the Users admin page the same way (activation link by e-mail), and a pending account's link can be re-sent from there at any time.
β¬οΈ Updating TripWise¶
TripWise deploys on push. The bare repo's post-receive hook calls the deploy
wrapper, which stamps the pushed commit into tripwise.env, acknowledges the push
right away, and then runs podmanctl --update tripwise (stop β git pull β rebuild β
restart) detached in the background. The rebuild is incremental: --update never
re-pulls base images, so the cargo-chef dependency layers stay cached and a routine push
recompiles only the app crate (+ the SPA if it changed) β a few minutes. It can still
stretch to 10 min+ (first build, dependency changes, right after an --upgrade) β far
longer than the HTTP push stays open β so the heavy work is handed to a worker that
outlives the push, and git push returns in seconds with a short status. podmanctl no
longer stamps GIT_COMMIT itself β the wrapper owns that, so the About panel matches the
deployed commit. Base-image refreshes are a separate, deliberate step β see
Upgrading the base images below.
A flock in the worker serialises deploys: if you push again while a build is still
running, the second deploy waits for the first to finish, then redeploys whatever master
points at by then β concurrent git pull / image builds can never overlap, and the server
always converges on the latest pushed commit. Follow a running deploy with
sudo tail -f /var/log/tripwise-deploy.log.
One-time setup β deploy wrapper, hook and sudoers
# the deploy wrapper bakes in the instantiated service dir β guard it exists first
[ -d "${SERVICE_DIR}" ] || { echo "missing ${SERVICE_DIR}"; exit 1; }
# (a) the wrapper β fast + synchronous: stamp the commit, ack the push, detach the build.
# ${SERVICE_DIR}/${SERVICE_NAME} expand now; the rest stays literal (\$β¦).
sudo tee /usr/local/bin/tripwise-deploy >/dev/null <<EOF
#!/bin/sh
set -eu
ENV_FILE=${SERVICE_DIR}/tripwise.env
LOG=/var/log/${SERVICE_NAME}-deploy.log
commit=\${1:-}
case "\$commit" in ''|*[!0-9a-f]*) echo "usage: tripwise-deploy <short-sha>" >&2; exit 2 ;; esac
[ -f "\$ENV_FILE" ] && grep -q '^GIT_COMMIT=' "\$ENV_FILE" || { echo "tripwise-deploy: no GIT_COMMIT= in \$ENV_FILE" >&2; exit 1; }
# fast + synchronous: stamp the commit and stream a short ack back over the push
sed -i "s/^GIT_COMMIT=.*/GIT_COMMIT=\$commit/" "\$ENV_FILE"
echo "tripwise: GIT_COMMIT -> \$commit"
echo "tripwise: starting 'podmanctl --update ${SERVICE_NAME}' in the background (~10 min)"
# slow + detached: a 10 min rebuild must NOT hold the HTTP push open (it trips the
# git/proxy timeout). Hand it to the worker in a NEW session with its std fds off
# the push connection, so 'git push' returns now.
setsid /usr/local/bin/${SERVICE_NAME}-deploy-run "\$commit" </dev/null >>"\$LOG" 2>&1 &
echo "tripwise: push accepted - deploy running in background"
echo "tripwise: follow it with -> sudo tail -f \$LOG"
EOF
sudo chmod 0755 /usr/local/bin/tripwise-deploy
# (b) the worker β slow + detached: serialise deploys with flock, then rebuild.
sudo tee /usr/local/bin/${SERVICE_NAME}-deploy-run >/dev/null <<EOF
#!/bin/sh
set -eu
LOCK=/run/lock/${SERVICE_NAME}-deploy.lock
SERVICE_NAME=${SERVICE_NAME}
SERVICE_DIR=${SERVICE_DIR}
SERVICE_USER=${SERVICE_USER}
SERVICE_ADMIN=${SERVICE_ADMIN}
commit=\${1:-unknown}
# serialise deploys: fd 9 holds an exclusive lock for the whole worker. A second
# push that lands mid-build BLOCKS at flock, then runs once we finish β so it is
# never dropped; it redeploys whatever master points at by then.
exec 9>"\$LOCK"
echo "[\$(date -Is)] queued: \$commit"
flock 9
echo "[\$(date -Is)] running: podmanctl --update \$SERVICE_NAME (commit \$commit)"
podmanctl --update "\$SERVICE_NAME"
# Safety net only: podmanctl re-owns the tree itself, between the pull and
# the builds β ownership MUST NOT change after a build, since Podman keys a
# COPY layer on the copied files' tar headers (uid/gid included), so a
# post-build chown makes identical sources hash differently next time and
# the following deploy recompiles for nothing. This catches anything a
# root-run step outside podmanctl dropped in. data/ is skipped: those trees
# belong to the containers' mapped subuids.
find "\$SERVICE_DIR" -path "\$SERVICE_DIR/data" -prune -o -user root -exec chown "\$SERVICE_USER:\$SERVICE_ADMIN" {} +
echo "[\$(date -Is)] done: \$commit"
EOF
sudo chmod 0755 /usr/local/bin/${SERVICE_NAME}-deploy-run
The hook's
sudoruns the wrapper as root: it stampsGIT_COMMIT(the hex-only check keeps the wildcard sudoers rule safe β nosedinjection), prints a short ack that streams back over the push, thensetsid-detaches the worker so the long rebuild outlives the HTTP connection. The worker'sflockserialises deploys; its output (pluspodmanctl's) lands in/var/log/tripwise-deploy.log. No extra sudoers entry is needed β the wrapper is already root when it launches the worker. The trailingfind/chownis a safety net:podmanctl --updatealready normalizes ownership between the pull and the builds, which is the order that matters β re-owning files after a build changes their tar headers, and Podman's cache keysCOPYlayers on those, so the next deploy recompiles untouched code. The net still catches anything a root-run step outside podmanctl leaves behind (data/excluded β ownership can't be inherited: only the setgid group and default ACLs propagate).
# install into the bare repo's hooks/ β fires on every push
sudo tee /media/ssd/git/podman/tripwise.git/hooks/post-receive >/dev/null <<'EOF'
#!/bin/sh
set -eu
DEPLOY_BRANCH=refs/heads/master
while read -r oldrev newrev refname; do
[ "$refname" = "$DEPLOY_BRANCH" ] || continue # only the deploy branch
sudo /usr/local/bin/tripwise-deploy "$(git rev-parse --short "$newrev")" </dev/null
done
EOF
# normalize the hook ownership
sudo chown www-data:debian /media/ssd/git/podman/tripwise.git/hooks/post-receive
sudo chmod 0750 /media/ssd/git/podman/tripwise.git/hooks/post-receive
# git seeded hooks/ with executable *.sample files β inert, but strip the bit
sudo chmod -x /media/ssd/git/podman/tripwise.git/hooks/*.sample
The commit comes from the just-pushed ref (the bare repo already holds it), so it is stamped before the instantiated repo pulls β the env always matches the code the restart runs.
# let the git/web user run ONLY the deploy wrapper as root, no password
sudo tee /etc/sudoers.d/tripwise-deploy >/dev/null <<'EOF'
www-data ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: /usr/local/bin/tripwise-deploy *
EOF
sudo chmod 0440 /etc/sudoers.d/tripwise-deploy
sudo visudo -cf /etc/sudoers.d/tripwise-deploy
www-datais the user your HTTPS git backend runs the hook as β replace it if yours differs (e.g. if you push over SSH asdebian).
# deploys pull non-interactively as root: pull from the co-located bare repo over a
# LOCAL path (the HTTPS origin needs a credential prompt + TTY, which a hook lacks)
git -C ${SERVICE_DIR} remote set-url origin /media/ssd/git/podman/tripwise.git
# trust both repos for root so the root-run `git pull` doesn't refuse with
# "detected dubious ownership"; --system applies whatever HOME the hook runs with
sudo git config --system --add safe.directory ${SERVICE_DIR}
sudo git config --system --add safe.directory /media/ssd/git/podman/tripwise.git
Without the local origin the pull dies with could not read Username for 'https://β¦'; without
safe.directoryit dies with detected dubious ownership. Either waypodmanctl --updateaborts and leaves the service stopped.
Deploy a new version
# from your working clone β the push triggers the whole deploy
git push origin master
The push returns in seconds with a short status (
GIT_COMMIT -> β¦, deploy started); the stop β git pull β rebuild β restart then runs detached in the background. Watch it withsudo tail -f /var/log/tripwise-deploy.log; the About panel shows the newGIT_COMMITonce the restart completes.A manual
podmanctl --update tripwisestill works but no longer refreshesGIT_COMMITβ runsudo tripwise-deploy <short-sha>(or just push) to update it.
π§± Upgrading the base images¶
Routine deploys never re-pull the images the build starts FROM (rust:1-slim,
node:24-alpine, debian:trixie-slim) nor the registry images the stack runs
(postgres:${POSTGRES_VERSION}) β that is what keeps the layer cache valid and pushes
fast. Refreshing them is a deliberate step:
podmanctl --list --check # UPDATE column shows when an upstream image moved
podmanctl --upgrade tripwise # pull bases + registry images, then rebuild + restart
A moved
rust:1-sliminvalidates the whole Rust layer chain β toolchain, cargo-chef, every dependency crate of the backend and of both the gmaps and osrm sidecars β so an upgrade rebuild runs 15 min+ on the ARM host: schedule it, don't treat it as a routine deploy.--upgradealso re-pullspostgres:${POSTGRES_VERSION}(engine patch releases within the pinned tag). To change a pinned version (e.g.POSTGRES_VERSIONinpostgres.env, or aFROMtag inbuild/Dockerfile), edit/push it first, then run--upgrade. After the upgrade, re-stamp the About panel if needed:sudo tripwise-deploy <short-sha>.