Self-hosting

The application needs Node.js 24 or its container image, PostgreSQL 17 or newer, and a stable HTTPS origin reachable by other fediverse servers. A reverse proxy should terminate TLS and forward traffic to port 8000. The PostgreSQL connection must be direct and always on: the Fedify queue keeps a long-lived LISTEN connection, so transaction-mode poolers and databases that scale to zero are unsuitable. Feed and favicon requests reject private or loopback destinations, including redirect targets, and validate the DNS address used for the socket. ALLOW_PRIVATE_ADDRESS is only for local tests and is rejected when NODE_ENV=production. Keep ordinary network egress controls in place as an additional boundary around the application.

Anonymous registration is enabled with three budgets: REGISTRATION_ATTEMPTS_PER_HOUR (default 60, including failed or repeated requests), REGISTRATION_DAILY_LIMIT (default 20 successful new feeds in a rolling 24 hours), and REGISTRATION_TOTAL_LIMIT (default 1000 stored feeds). They apply to both the web form and @rss2pub commands. Only one new registration fetch is admitted at a time across app instances using a PostgreSQL advisory lock; other attempts receive a retryable response. The hourly attempt counter is per app process; the daily and total feed counts come from the shared database. The web form rejects bodies over 4 KiB before parsing them. Tune these limits to the host's storage, network, and polling capacity. At the trusted reverse proxy, also rate-limit POST /register by client IP and strip untrusted forwarded-address headers.

Single-host Compose example

After the first public release, copy selfhost.env.example to a private selfhost.env, set ORIGIN, choose a URL-safe PostgreSQL password, and pin a published RSS2PUB_VERSION. Apply the bundled schema before starting the app:

docker compose --env-file selfhost.env -f compose.selfhost.yml up -d db
docker compose --env-file selfhost.env -f compose.selfhost.yml run --rm app \
  node dist/web/migrate.js
docker compose --env-file selfhost.env -f compose.selfhost.yml up -d app

The example binds the web server only to 127.0.0.1:8000; put an HTTPS reverse proxy on the same host in front of it. PostgreSQL is available only inside the Compose network and persists in the postgres-data volume. Back up that volume through PostgreSQL before upgrades; see migration policy. For a different platform, use the same environment variables with the release container and an external PostgreSQL service.

For this Compose example, stop the app and write a database backup before changing RSS2PUB_VERSION:

docker compose --env-file selfhost.env -f compose.selfhost.yml stop app
docker compose --env-file selfhost.env -f compose.selfhost.yml exec -T db \
  pg_dump -U rss2pub -d rss2pub --format=custom > rss2pub-before-upgrade.dump

Keep the backup private. Update the version in selfhost.env, then pull and migrate that version before starting the app:

docker compose --env-file selfhost.env -f compose.selfhost.yml pull app
docker compose --env-file selfhost.env -f compose.selfhost.yml run --rm app \
  node dist/web/migrate.js
docker compose --env-file selfhost.env -f compose.selfhost.yml up -d app

ORIGIN must be the final scheme and host, without a path, query, or fragment. Do not change it after remote servers begin following actors. Set BEHIND_PROXY=true only when a trusted reverse proxy fronts the service. Use /healthz for liveness and /readyz for readiness.

The footer links to the source code through SOURCE_URL. The default points to this repository. If you deploy modified code, set SOURCE_URL to the publicly available corresponding source for that deployed version, including your changes. See the GNU AGPLv3 network-source guidance. Third-party packages and the W3C test corpus retain their own licenses.

The first public install uses a new database. If an earlier private instance used the same ORIGIN, do not silently replace its database: remote servers may still hold actor IDs and keys from that instance. Keep the old database or choose a new origin and establish new actor identities.