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Server Setup

This project is ran on our Debian server, but this setup should work on any Debian-based server.

1. Install system dependencies​

This project requires rsync for syncing the documentation from repos, and nginx for routing, and then node for running the framework.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y git curl rsync nginx

Use the NodeSource repo for Node.js 22:

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs

You can verify the correct version matches what this project requires:

node --version   # v22.x.x

Then we need the pnpm package manager:

npm install -g pnpm

2. Clone the repo​

git clone https://github.com/TrickfireRobotics/docs.git /home/trickfire/docs
cd /home/trickfire/docs

3. Install dependencies and build​

pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
pnpm website:build

The first build takes 1–2 minutes. Subsequent builds are faster due to pnpm's cache.

4. Configure nginx​

The sites-available/sites-enabled directories are not created automatically on all distros. Create them if missing, then copy the config and enable it:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/nginx/sites-available /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
sudo cp /home/trickfire/docs/scripts/nginx.conf /etc/nginx/sites-available/trickfire-docs
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/trickfire-docs /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/trickfire-docs

Make sure /etc/nginx/nginx.conf includes the sites-enabled directory inside its http {} block. Check with:

grep -n "sites-enabled" /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

If nothing is returned, add this line inside the http {} block:

include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*;

nginx runs as www-data and cannot traverse /home/trickfire by default. Grant execute permission:

sudo chmod o+x /home/trickfire

Then test and reload:

sudo nginx -t
sudo nginx -s reload

The config serves build/ on localhost:80. The Cloudflare tunnel (set up next) is what exposes this to the internet, nginx itself only listens on localhost.

5. Verify the server​

curl -s http://localhost/ | grep -i title
# ...<title data-rh=true>Home | TrickFire Robotics Docs</title>...

Updating the server​

The scripts/build.sh script handles updates automatically. To run it manually:

bash /home/trickfire/docs/scripts/build.sh

This pulls the latest framework code, updates dependencies if the lockfile changed, and rebuilds the site. Content in content/ is untouched (it's gitignored).