NodeBB

Community forum software

This project is funded by NLnet through these subgrants:

• NodeBB

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 (
     { pkgs, ... }:
   
     {
       services.nodebb = {
         enable = true;
         enableLocalDB = true;
         openFirewall = true;
         admin = {
           username = "admin";
           email = "admin@example.com";
           # Do *NOT* do this in production!
           passwordFile = pkgs.writeText "nodebb-admin-password" "nodebb";
         };
         settings.database = "postgres";
         # Do *NOT* do this in production!
         databasePasswordFile = pkgs.writeText "postgresql-password" "nodebb";
       };
   
       # Do *NOT* do this in production!
       services.postgresql.initialScript = pkgs.writeText "init-sql-script" ''
         CREATE ROLE nodebb LOGIN PASSWORD 'nodebb';
       '';
     }
   
   )
   
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"

{ pkgs, ... }:

{
  services.nodebb = {
    enable = true;
    enableLocalDB = true;
    openFirewall = true;
    admin = {
      username = "admin";
      email = "admin@example.com";
      # Do *NOT* do this in production!
      passwordFile = pkgs.writeText "nodebb-admin-password" "nodebb";
    };
    settings.database = "postgres";
    # Do *NOT* do this in production!
    databasePasswordFile = pkgs.writeText "postgresql-password" "nodebb";
  };

  # Do *NOT* do this in production!
  services.postgresql.initialScript = pkgs.writeText "init-sql-script" ''
    CREATE ROLE nodebb LOGIN PASSWORD 'nodebb';
  '';
}

{ config, pkgs, ... }:

{
  services.nodebb = {
    enable = true;
    enableLocalDB = true;
    admin = {
      username = "admin";
      email = "admin@example.com";
      # Do *NOT* do this in production!
      passwordFile = pkgs.writeText "nodebb-admin-password" "nodebb";
    };
    settings.database = "redis";
  };

  services.redis.servers."nodebb" = {
    port = 6379;
    # Do *NOT* do this in production!
    requirePassFile = pkgs.writeText "redis-password" "nodebb";
  };
}