Inventaire

Inventaire is a libre/free webapp to make inventories and lists of books, and facilitates book sharing. By aggregating individuals' and collectives' book inventories from around the world, Inventaire is kind of a huge, distributed community library.

Try the service in a VM

  1. Install Nix
    Arch Linux
    Bash
    $ pacman --sync --refresh --noconfirm curl git jq nix
    Debian
    Bash
    $ apt install --yes curl git jq nix
    Ubuntu
    Bash
    $ apt install --yes curl git jq nix
  2. Download a configuration file 
    # default.nix
{
  ngipkgs ? import (fetchTarball "https://github.com/ngi-nix/ngipkgs/tarball/main") { },
}:
ngipkgs.demo-vm (
  {
    config,
    lib,
    pkgs,
    ...
  }:
  let
    # !!! THIS IS INSECURE, DO NOT DO THIS IN PRODUCTION !!!
    # This is only done like this here to allow easy testing & debugging.
    # Use some secrets management mechanism to track values like this outside of Nix, so they can't leak into the store
    couchdbUser = "inventaire";
    couchdbPassword = "ThisIsNotSecurelyManagedAndImFullyAwareOfThis";
    couchdbPort = 5984;
    elasticPort = 9200;
    inventairePort = 3006;

    inventaireServiceDeps = [
      "couchdb.service"
      # If using ElasticSearch instead, change this to: "elasticsearch.service"
      "opensearch.service"
    ];
  in
  {
    # !!! THIS IS INSECURE, DO NOT DO THIS IN PRODUCTION !!!
    # This is just done like this here to allow easy testing & debugging.
    # Use some secrets management mechanism to get a string of a path at runtime here.
    environment.etc."inventaire-config-overrides.cjs".text = ''
      // This is not securely managed, and I'm fully aware of this.

      module.exports = {
        db: {
          username: "${couchdbUser}",
          password: "${couchdbPassword}",
        },
      }
    '';

    services.couchdb = {
      enable = true;
      port = couchdbPort;

      extraConfigFiles = [
        # !!! THIS IS INSECURE, DO NOT DO THIS IN PRODUCTION !!!
        # This is only done like this here to allow easy testing & debugging.
        # Point it at a path that secrets management will produce at runtime instead.
        ((pkgs.formats.ini { }).generate "couchdb-admin-setup.ini" {
          admins = {
            "${couchdbUser}" = "${couchdbPassword}";
          };
        })
      ];
    };

    # !!! THIS IS INSECURE, DO NOT DO THIS IN PRODUCTION !!!
    # This is only done like this here to allow easy testing & debugging.
    # Manually complete the CouchDB setup instead.
    systemd.services."couchdb-setup" = {
      description = "Setup of CouchDB";

      wantedBy = [
        "couchdb.service"
        "inventaire.service"
      ];
      after = [ "couchdb.service" ];
      before = [ "inventaire.service" ];

      path = with pkgs; [
        bash
        coreutils
        curl
        netcat
      ];

      serviceConfig.Type = "oneshot";

      script = ''
        set -e

        echo "Waiting for CouchDB to open its port..."
        timeout 30 bash -c 'until nc -z localhost ${toString config.services.couchdb.port}; do sleep 1; done'
        echo "CouchDB port open."

        echo "Creating _user table in CouchDB (if necessary)..."
        set +x # in case it already exists
        curl -X PUT \
          'http://${couchdbUser}:${couchdbPassword}@localhost:${toString config.services.couchdb.port}/_users'
        set -e
        echo "_user table created."

        echo "CouchDB should now be configured for Inventaire usage."
      '';
    };

    # We're using OpenSearch instead of ElasticSearch here because the latter's packaging in Nixpkgs would require us to opt into unfreely-licensed packages.
    # If unfree packages are not an issue to you, or you just want specifically ElasticSearch, then you may use `services.elasticsearch` here instead.
    services.opensearch = {
      enable = true;
      settings."http.port" = elasticPort;
    };

    services.inventaire = {
      enable = true;
      inProductionMode = false; # production mode expects to be running behind nginx, breaks some asset serving
      openFirewall = true;

      settings = {
        hostname = "0.0.0.0";
        port = inventairePort;

        # CouchDB
        db = {
          hostname = "localhost";
          port = couchdbPort;
        };

        # LevelDB
        leveldb = {
          directory = "${config.services.inventaire.stateDir}/db/leveldb";
        };

        # ElasticSearch / OpenSearch
        elasticsearch = {
          origin = "http://localhost:${toString elasticPort}";
        };

        # OpenStreetMap, so no access token is necessary
        mapTiles = {
          provider = "openstreetmap";
        };

        # Storage of downloaded files
        mediaStorage = {
          local = {
            directory = "${config.services.inventaire.stateDir}/storage";
          };
        };
      };

      # When using proper secrets management, set a path produced at runtime by your secrets management here instead.
      extraDevelopmentSettingsFile = "/etc/inventaire-config-overrides.cjs";
    };

    # We connect to local instances of these, so we might as well ensure they get launched first
    systemd.services."inventaire".wants = inventaireServiceDeps;
    systemd.services."inventaire".after = inventaireServiceDeps;
  }

)
    Download
  3. Enable binary substituters
    Bash
    $ export NIX_CONFIG='substituters = https://cache.nixos.org/ https://ngi.cachix.org/
trusted-public-keys = cache.nixos.org-1:6nchdd59x431o0gwypbmraurkbj16zpmqfgspcdshjy= ngi.cachix.org-1:n+cal72roc3qqulxihpv+tw5t42whxmmhpragkrsrow='
  4. Build and run a virtual machine
    Arch Linux, Debian Sid and Ubuntu 25.04
    Bash
    $ nix-build ./default.nix && ./result
    Debian 12 and Ubuntu 24.04/24.10
    Bash
    $ rev=$(nix-instantiate --eval --attr sources.nixpkgs.rev https://github.com/ngi-nix/ngipkgs/archive/master.tar.gz | jq --raw-output)
    $ nix-shell -I nixpkgs=https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/archive/$rev.tar.gz --packages nix --run "nix-build ./default.nix && ./result"
  5. Usage Instructions

    A (very insecure!) example of setting up Inventaire and its dependencies on the local machine.

Options

services.inventaire
services.inventaire.enable

Whether to enable Inventaire server.

Type:
boolean
Default:
false
services.inventaire.extraDevelopmentSettingsFile

Path to a .cjs file that exists at runtime with any additional setting.

Notes:

  • The passed path (if any) will be set up as config/local-development.cjs, to override the built-in defaults and values from the main settings attribute
  • These settings are not world-readable (assuming you're passing a path that isn't generated by Nix), and thus suitable for secrets

Links for settings (make sure to look at the version that's actually packaged):

Type:
null or absolute path
Default:
null
services.inventaire.extraProductionSettingsFile

Path to a .cjs file that exists at runtime with any additional setting.

Notes:

  • The passed path (if any) will be set up as config/local-production.cjs, to override the built-in defaults and values from the main settings attribute
  • These settings are not world-readable (assuming you're passing a path that isn't generated by Nix), and thus suitable for secrets

Links for settings (make sure to look at the version that's actually packaged):

Type:
null or absolute path
Default:
null
services.inventaire.inProductionMode

Whether to run in development or production mode.

Will affect which default settings get loaded, and which of the extra settings files options will be relevant.

Type:
boolean
Default:
false
services.inventaire.openFirewall

Whether to open the port specified in settings in the firewall.

Type:
boolean
Default:
false
services.inventaire.package

The inventaire package to use.

Type:
package
Default:
pkgs.inventaire
Notes:
Missing update script An update script is required for automatically tracking the latest release.
services.inventaire.settings

Settings that you wish to set for the service.

Notes:

  • The settings here will be set up as config/local.cjs, to override the built-in defaults
  • These settings are world-readable, and thus not suitable for secrets

Links for settings (make sure to look at the version that's actually packaged):

Type:
JSON value
Default:
{ hostname = "localhost"; leveldb = { directory = "/var/lib/inventaire/db/leveldb"; }; mediaStorage = { local = { directory = "/var/lib/inventaire/storage"; }; }; port = 3006; }
services.inventaire.stateDir

Directory in which Inventaire will run & put its data into.

Type:
absolute path
Default:
"/var/lib/inventaire"

Examples

Enable Inventaire 
{
  config,
  lib,
  pkgs,
  ...
}:
let
  # !!! THIS IS INSECURE, DO NOT DO THIS IN PRODUCTION !!!
  # This is only done like this here to allow easy testing & debugging.
  # Use some secrets management mechanism to track values like this outside of Nix, so they can't leak into the store
  couchdbUser = "inventaire";
  couchdbPassword = "ThisIsNotSecurelyManagedAndImFullyAwareOfThis";
  couchdbPort = 5984;
  elasticPort = 9200;
  inventairePort = 3006;

  inventaireServiceDeps = [
    "couchdb.service"
    # If using ElasticSearch instead, change this to: "elasticsearch.service"
    "opensearch.service"
  ];
in
{
  # !!! THIS IS INSECURE, DO NOT DO THIS IN PRODUCTION !!!
  # This is just done like this here to allow easy testing & debugging.
  # Use some secrets management mechanism to get a string of a path at runtime here.
  environment.etc."inventaire-config-overrides.cjs".text = ''
    // This is not securely managed, and I'm fully aware of this.

    module.exports = {
      db: {
        username: "${couchdbUser}",
        password: "${couchdbPassword}",
      },
    }
  '';

  services.couchdb = {
    enable = true;
    port = couchdbPort;

    extraConfigFiles = [
      # !!! THIS IS INSECURE, DO NOT DO THIS IN PRODUCTION !!!
      # This is only done like this here to allow easy testing & debugging.
      # Point it at a path that secrets management will produce at runtime instead.
      ((pkgs.formats.ini { }).generate "couchdb-admin-setup.ini" {
        admins = {
          "${couchdbUser}" = "${couchdbPassword}";
        };
      })
    ];
  };

  # !!! THIS IS INSECURE, DO NOT DO THIS IN PRODUCTION !!!
  # This is only done like this here to allow easy testing & debugging.
  # Manually complete the CouchDB setup instead.
  systemd.services."couchdb-setup" = {
    description = "Setup of CouchDB";

    wantedBy = [
      "couchdb.service"
      "inventaire.service"
    ];
    after = [ "couchdb.service" ];
    before = [ "inventaire.service" ];

    path = with pkgs; [
      bash
      coreutils
      curl
      netcat
    ];

    serviceConfig.Type = "oneshot";

    script = ''
      set -e

      echo "Waiting for CouchDB to open its port..."
      timeout 30 bash -c 'until nc -z localhost ${toString config.services.couchdb.port}; do sleep 1; done'
      echo "CouchDB port open."

      echo "Creating _user table in CouchDB (if necessary)..."
      set +x # in case it already exists
      curl -X PUT \
        'http://${couchdbUser}:${couchdbPassword}@localhost:${toString config.services.couchdb.port}/_users'
      set -e
      echo "_user table created."

      echo "CouchDB should now be configured for Inventaire usage."
    '';
  };

  # We're using OpenSearch instead of ElasticSearch here because the latter's packaging in Nixpkgs would require us to opt into unfreely-licensed packages.
  # If unfree packages are not an issue to you, or you just want specifically ElasticSearch, then you may use `services.elasticsearch` here instead.
  services.opensearch = {
    enable = true;
    settings."http.port" = elasticPort;
  };

  services.inventaire = {
    enable = true;
    inProductionMode = false; # production mode expects to be running behind nginx, breaks some asset serving
    openFirewall = true;

    settings = {
      hostname = "0.0.0.0";
      port = inventairePort;

      # CouchDB
      db = {
        hostname = "localhost";
        port = couchdbPort;
      };

      # LevelDB
      leveldb = {
        directory = "${config.services.inventaire.stateDir}/db/leveldb";
      };

      # ElasticSearch / OpenSearch
      elasticsearch = {
        origin = "http://localhost:${toString elasticPort}";
      };

      # OpenStreetMap, so no access token is necessary
      mapTiles = {
        provider = "openstreetmap";
      };

      # Storage of downloaded files
      mediaStorage = {
        local = {
          directory = "${config.services.inventaire.stateDir}/storage";
        };
      };
    };

    # When using proper secrets management, set a path produced at runtime by your secrets management here instead.
    extraDevelopmentSettingsFile = "/etc/inventaire-config-overrides.cjs";
  };

  # We connect to local instances of these, so we might as well ensure they get launched first
  systemd.services."inventaire".wants = inventaireServiceDeps;
  systemd.services."inventaire".after = inventaireServiceDeps;
}

This project is funded by NLnet through these subgrants: