Manual Installation

Quick Start

Download the server binary for your platform and architecture from releases:

# Extract and install
tar -xzf dnote-server-*.tar.gz
sudo mv dnote-server /usr/local/bin/

# Run
dnote-server start

Server runs on http://localhost:3001.

Database: $XDG_DATA_HOME/dnote/server.db (typically ~/.local/share/dnote/server.db)

Systemd Service

Create user and directories:

sudo useradd -r -s /bin/false dnote
sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/dnote
sudo chown dnote:dnote /var/lib/dnote

Create /etc/systemd/system/dnote.service:

[Unit]
Description=Dnote Server
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=dnote
Group=dnote
Restart=always
RestartSec=3
WorkingDirectory=/var/lib/dnote

ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/dnote-server start

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now dnote
sudo systemctl status dnote

View logs:

sudo journalctl -u dnote -f

Reverse Proxy

Nginx

Create /etc/nginx/sites-available/dnote:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name dnote.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name dnote.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/dnote.example.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/dnote.example.com/privkey.pem;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3001;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    }
}

Enable:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/dnote /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Apache

Enable modules:

sudo a2enmod proxy proxy_http ssl headers

Create /etc/apache2/sites-available/dnote.conf:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName dnote.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://dnote.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName dnote.example.com

    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/dnote.example.com/fullchain.pem
    SSLCertificateKey /etc/letsencrypt/live/dnote.example.com/privkey.pem

    ProxyPreserveHost On
    ProxyPass / http://localhost:3001/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://localhost:3001/

    RequestHeader set X-Forwarded-Proto "https"
</VirtualHost>

Enable:

sudo a2ensite dnote
sudo systemctl reload apache2

SSL (Let’s Encrypt)

# Nginx
sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx
sudo certbot --nginx -d dnote.example.com

# Apache
sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-apache
sudo certbot --apache -d dnote.example.com

Backups

Create backup directory:

sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/dnote/backups
sudo chown dnote:dnote /var/lib/dnote/backups

Daily backup at 2 AM (run as dnote user):

sudo crontab -u dnote -e

Add:

0 2 * * * sqlite3 /var/lib/dnote/server.db ".backup /var/lib/dnote/backups/server-$(date +\%Y\%m\%d).db"

Optional: Cleanup old backups (keep 30 days):

0 3 * * * find /var/lib/dnote/backups -name "server-*.db" -mtime +30 -delete

Troubleshooting

Check service status:

sudo systemctl status dnote
sudo journalctl -u dnote -n 50 --no-pager

Test database access:

sudo -u dnote sqlite3 /var/lib/dnote/server.db ".tables"

Verify configuration:

# Check if server responds
curl http://localhost:3001

# Check environment variables
sudo systemctl show dnote --property=Environment

Connecting CLI to Server

Edit your Dnote CLI config at $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/dnote/dnoterc (typically ~/.config/dnote/dnoterc):

apiEndpoint: https://dnote.example.com/api

Then log in:

dnote login

See CLI configuration for more details.

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