Getting Started

This guide will help you set up LetterSpace quickly on your own infrastructure.

Installation

We’ve made LetterSpace for simplicity and ease of use. The easiest way to get started is by using docker-compose.

Using Docker Compose

1. Create a docker-compose.yaml file:

   Create a file named docker-compose.yaml with the following content:

   services:
     db:
       image: postgres:17 # Use your preferred Postgres version
       restart: always
       environment:
         POSTGRES_USER: user # Change to a secure user
         POSTGRES_PASSWORD: password # Change to a secure password
         POSTGRES_DB: letterspace
       volumes:
         - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
       networks:
         - app_network
    
     backend:
       # For Bun runtime
       image: ghcr.io/dcodesdev/letterspace:bun
       # For NodeJS runtime
       # image: ghcr.io/dcodesdev/letterspace:node
       pull_policy: always
       restart: always
       depends_on:
         - db
       ports:
         - "5000:5000" # Expose backend on port 5000
       environment:
         # Make sure this matches the db service credentials
         DATABASE_URL: "postgresql://user:password@db:5432/letterspace?schema=public"
         JWT_SECRET: your_super_secret_jwt_key # Change to a secure secret
       networks:
         - app_network
    
   volumes:
     postgres_data:
       driver: local
    
   networks:
     app_network:
       driver: bridge

2. Run Docker Compose:

   Navigate to the directory where you saved the docker-compose.yaml file and run:

   docker-compose up -d

That’s it! LetterSpace backend should now be running and accessible on port 5000 of your host machine.

You can access the LetterSpace dashboard directly at http://localhost:5000  if running locally, or proceed to set up a reverse proxy.

Reverse Proxy (Optional)

If you don’t already have a reverse proxy, you can follow along.

To access the LetterSpace dashboard securely via a domain name (e.g., https://letterspace.yourdomain.com), you can use a reverse proxy like Nginx or Caddy.

We’ll use Caddy  as an example. Caddy is easy to use and automatically manages SSL certificates.

Install Caddy on Ubuntu

sudo apt install -y debian-keyring debian-archive-keyring apt-transport-https curl
curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/caddy/stable/gpg.key' | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/caddy-stable-archive-keyring.gpg
curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/caddy/stable/debian.deb.txt' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/caddy-stable.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install caddy

For other Linux distributions, check the official Caddy installation documentation .

DNS Configuration

Configure your domain’s DNS records. Add an A record pointing your desired subdomain (e.g., newsletter) to the public IP address of your server.

Configure Caddy

Create or edit Caddy’s configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/caddy/Caddyfile

Add the following configuration:

letterspace.yourdomain.com { # Replace with your actual domain
    reverse_proxy localhost:5000
}

Replace letterspace.yourdomain.com with your actual domain. Caddy will automatically provision an SSL certificate for it.

Start Caddy

Restart Caddy to apply your changes:

sudo systemctl restart caddy

Check the status to ensure it’s running:

sudo systemctl status caddy

Wait a minute or two for Caddy to provision the SSL certificate, then access the LetterSpace dashboard securely at https://letterspace.yourdomain.com.