Deployment #

HappyView requires a database. SQLite is the default; Postgres is also supported, but requires additional setup. The Quickstart covers the fastest path with Railway. This page covers other deployment options.

Docker #

Build the image:

docker build -t happyview .

For local development, see Docker deployment.

Production Compose example #

:::note This example omits Tap, which is required for real-time record streaming and backfill. See the full docker-compose.yml in the repository for a complete configuration including Tap. :::

Using SQLite (default):

services:
  happyview:
    image: happyview:latest
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      DATABASE_URL: "sqlite://data/happyview.db?mode=rwc"
      PUBLIC_URL: "https://happyview.example.com"
      SESSION_SECRET: "${SESSION_SECRET}"
    volumes:
      - happyview-data:/app/data

volumes:
  happyview-data:

Using Postgres:

services:
  postgres:
    image: postgres:17
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: happyview
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: "${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}"
      POSTGRES_DB: happyview
    volumes:
      - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data

  happyview:
    image: happyview:latest
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      DATABASE_URL: "postgres://happyview:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@postgres/happyview"
      PUBLIC_URL: "https://happyview.example.com"
      SESSION_SECRET: "${SESSION_SECRET}"
    depends_on:
      postgres:
        condition: service_healthy

volumes:
  pgdata:

Railway / Fly.io / other platforms #

The general process for any hosting platform:

1. Choose a database: SQLite (default, zero setup) or Postgres 17+ (provision separately)
2. Set DATABASE_URL, PUBLIC_URL, and SESSION_SECRET environment variables (see Configuration for all options)
3. Deploy the Docker image or build from source
4. HappyView listens on PORT (default 3000)
5. Health check: GET /health returns ok

See the database setup guide for details on both backends.

For Railway specifically, the Quickstart template handles all of this with a single click.

Database #

HappyView supports SQLite (default) and Postgres. The backend is auto-detected from the DATABASE_URL scheme (sqlite:// or postgres://). Migrations run automatically on startup. No manual migration step is needed. See the database setup guide for details.

TLS #

HappyView does not terminate TLS. Put it behind a reverse proxy (nginx, Caddy, Cloudflare Tunnel, etc.) for HTTPS. Make sure PUBLIC_URL matches the public-facing URL (including https://).

Logging #

HappyView uses the RUST_LOG environment variable to control log output. The default (happyview=debug,tower_http=debug) logs all HappyView activity and HTTP requests. For production, consider happyview=info,tower_http=info to reduce noise. See Configuration for details.