13 KiB
Rabbi Gerzi
Rabbi Gerzi is the public website and Torah media application for Rabbi Yehoshua Gerzi. The site presents Rabbi Gerzi's work, projects, and Torah media, with an authenticated admin area for managing media sets, nested elements, rich text, YouTube links, icons, and PDF uploads.
The application is split into:
backend/: Laravel 13, PHP 8.3, PostgreSQL, PHPUnit.frontend/rabbi_gerzi/: Vue 3, Vite, TypeScript, Pinia, Cypress.nix/: Nix packages, checks, upload limits, and the NixOS service module.
Production assumptions:
- Website:
https://rabbigerzi.com - API:
https://api.rabbigerzi.com
All local and deployment workflows are Nix-first. Run commands from
nix develop, or use direnv with the checked-in .envrc.
How the Application Works
Content and Public Browsing
Torah media is organized into sets. Each set has a name, description, icon, and one root element. Elements form an ordered tree: the root can have child elements, and each child can have further children.
Visitors browse the available sets at /media. Opening a set loads its root
element, where the visitor can move through parent, child, and sibling links.
An element can present an icon, formatted rich text, an embedded YouTube video,
and short or long PDFs. The PDF viewer supports page navigation, zoom, search,
download, printing, and opening the source document in a new tab.
Admin Editing
Administrators sign in at /login. An authenticated session reveals the
management controls on /media and protects all content-changing API calls.
From the media page, an administrator can:
- Create a set with a name, description, and icon. This also creates its root element and opens that element in edit mode.
- Edit an existing set's card details or replace its icon.
- Delete a set together with its complete element tree and managed uploads.
The Edit Element action on a public element opens its admin editor. The
editor supports:
- Editing the title, description, rich text, and YouTube URL. Rich text includes headings, inline formatting, alignment, lists, links, and tables.
- Uploading or removing an icon, a short PDF, and a long PDF.
- Adding child elements, moving direct children up or down, and opening a child directly in edit mode.
- Removing a child together with all of its descendants and managed uploads.
Title, description, rich text, and YouTube changes are written by the Save
action. Icon and PDF changes are uploaded or removed immediately. The
View Element action returns to the public presentation, and Logout ends
the admin session. Development login credentials are listed under
Local Development.
Required Secrets and Environment
Do not commit real secret values. Local examples can live in ignored .env
files, and production secrets should live outside the Nix store.
Required Production Secrets
The NixOS module requires
services.rabbi-gerzi.backend.environmentFile. That file must contain:
APP_KEY=base64:replace-with-laravel-app-key
RABBI_GERZI_INITIAL_ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@example.com
RABBI_GERZI_INITIAL_ADMIN_PASSWORD=replace-with-a-long-random-password
APP_KEYencrypts and signs Laravel application data.RABBI_GERZI_INITIAL_ADMIN_EMAILis the first admin login email.RABBI_GERZI_INITIAL_ADMIN_PASSWORDis used only to create that admin if it does not already exist.
The module also requires paths to a Borg repository passphrase file and SSH
private key through services.rabbi-gerzi.secretFiles. Keep both files
outside the Nix store and readable only by root.
Generate an app key inside the dev shell:
cd backend
php artisan key:generate --show
Public Frontend Config
The frontend build needs the public API origin:
VITE_API_BASE_URL=https://api.rabbigerzi.com
For NixOS deployment this is handled by
services.rabbi-gerzi.frontend.apiBaseUrl, which defaults to the backend
public URL.
NixOS Runtime Config
The NixOS module supplies these non-secret runtime values:
| Setting | Production value |
|---|---|
APP_ENV |
production |
APP_DEBUG |
false |
APP_URL |
https://api.rabbigerzi.com |
CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS |
https://rabbigerzi.com by default |
DB_CONNECTION |
pgsql |
DB_HOST |
/run/postgresql |
DB_DATABASE |
rabbi-gerzi by default |
DB_USERNAME |
rabbi-gerzi by default |
FILESYSTEM_DISK |
public |
LARAVEL_STORAGE_PATH |
/var/lib/rabbi-gerzi/storage by default |
SESSION_DRIVER |
database |
SESSION_DOMAIN |
empty by default, meaning host-only cookies |
SESSION_SAME_SITE |
none by default |
SESSION_SECURE_COOKIE |
true by default |
CACHE_STORE |
file |
QUEUE_CONNECTION |
sync |
MAIL_MAILER |
log |
The module also manages PostgreSQL, php-fpm, nginx, writable storage/cache directories, and the 6 MB upload limit for nginx and PHP.
Local Environment Files
Backend local configuration starts from:
cd backend
cp .env.example .env
php artisan key:generate
The checked-in example already targets the Nix dev PostgreSQL socket through
PGHOST, and uses the postgres local database/user.
Frontend local configuration should point Vite at the local backend:
cd frontend/rabbi_gerzi
printf '%s\n' 'VITE_API_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8000' > .env.local
Production Backups
The NixOS module creates an encrypted Borg backup in:
ssh://mgjjruz9@mgjjruz9.repo.borgbase.com/./repo
Each archive contains the complete application state directory and a
custom-format PostgreSQL dump. This covers database records, users, sessions,
and every uploaded icon and PDF. The Nix store, runtime secrets, and
/var/cache/rabbi-gerzi are reproducible or recovered separately and are not
archived.
The persistent timer runs daily at 05:15 in the server's local timezone and keeps 7 daily, 4 weekly, and 6 monthly archives. PHP-FPM drains active requests and remains stopped while the dump and archive are created, so database rows and uploaded files come from the same write-free window. The static frontend remains available during that window.
Run an immediate backup with:
sudo systemctl start borgbackup-job-rabbi-gerzi.service
See RECOVERY.md for archive verification and full restoration.
Local Development
Enter the Nix dev shell before running local development commands:
nix develop
If direnv is installed:
direnv allow
The dev shell provides PHP, Composer, Node, PostgreSQL, Cypress,
process-compose, TypeScript tooling, formatters, linters, and Nix formatters.
It also initializes a local PostgreSQL cluster in .postgres when needed.
Install dependencies:
cd backend
composer install
cd ../frontend/rabbi_gerzi
npm install --legacy-peer-deps
Create local environment files:
cd ../../backend
cp .env.example .env
php artisan key:generate
cd ../frontend/rabbi_gerzi
printf '%s\n' 'VITE_API_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8000' > .env.local
Start the local services from the repo root:
process-compose up
This starts:
- PostgreSQL on the local Unix socket under
.postgres. - Laravel at
http://127.0.0.1:8000. - Vite at
http://localhost:5173.
In another dev-shell terminal, prepare the database:
cd backend
php artisan migrate:fresh --seed
The seed admin login is:
admin@rabbigerzi.test
password123!@#
Testing
Run local tests from nix develop. To run the entire local test suite, keep
the app stack running in one dev-shell terminal:
nix develop
process-compose up
Then run backend, frontend, and Cypress checks from another dev-shell
terminal. process-compose provides the PostgreSQL database, Laravel backend,
and Vite frontend needed by the full suite.
Backend tests live under backend/tests.
- Unit tests exercise domain entities, use cases, middleware, controllers, and fake repositories without requiring PostgreSQL.
- Feature tests exercise HTTP endpoints, Laravel routing, migrations, seed data, and real framework integration.
- PHPUnit is configured to use an in-memory SQLite database for test runs.
Run backend tests:
cd backend
./vendor/bin/phpunit tests
Run backend style checks:
cd backend
phpcs app tests routes database
Frontend quality checks live under frontend/rabbi_gerzi.
npm run formatchecks and formats Vue and TypeScript source with oxfmt.npm run lintruns oxlint and eslint.npm run type-checkruns vue-tsc against the Vite application.
Run frontend checks:
cd frontend/rabbi_gerzi
npm run format
npm run lint
npm run type-check
Cypress E2E tests live under frontend/rabbi_gerzi/cypress/e2e.
- Specs drive the UI through the Vite frontend at
http://localhost:5173. - The Laravel backend must be running at
http://127.0.0.1:8000. - The Cypress config creates a seeded PostgreSQL template database before the
run and resets the app database between specs with the
db:resettask. - Seeded media assets are copied into
backend/storage/app/publicfor each reset.
Run E2E tests after process-compose up is healthy:
cd frontend/rabbi_gerzi
npm run test:e2e
Open the Cypress runner:
cd frontend/rabbi_gerzi
npm run test:e2e:open
Verification
Run the full local suite from a second dev-shell terminal while
process-compose up is running:
cd backend
phpcs app tests routes database
./vendor/bin/phpunit tests
cd ../frontend/rabbi_gerzi
npm run format
npm run lint
npm run type-check
npm run test:e2e
Run the full Nix package and module checks:
nix flake check
Deployment
Deploy through the flake's NixOS module. The module builds the frontend with
VITE_API_BASE_URL=https://api.rabbigerzi.com, serves it from nginx, runs the
Laravel backend with php-fpm, provisions PostgreSQL, creates writable storage
and cache directories, runs migrations, and ensures the initial admin exists.
Example host configuration:
{
inputs = {
nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
rabbi-gerzi.url = "git+ssh://git@example.com/rabbi-gerzi.git";
sops-nix = {
url = "github:Mic92/sops-nix";
inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
};
};
outputs =
{
nixpkgs,
rabbi-gerzi,
sops-nix,
...
}:
{
nixosConfigurations.rabbigerzi = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
system = "x86_64-linux";
modules = [
rabbi-gerzi.nixosModules.default
sops-nix.nixosModules.sops
(
{ config, ... }:
let
appKey = config.sops.placeholder."app-key";
initialAdminEmail =
config.sops.placeholder."admin-email";
initialAdminPassword =
config.sops.placeholder."admin-password";
in
{
sops = {
defaultSopsFile = ./secrets/rabbi-gerzi.yaml;
age.sshKeyPaths = [
"/etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key"
];
secrets = {
"app-key" = { };
"admin-email" = { };
"admin-password" = { };
"borg-passphrase" = { };
"borg-private-key" = { };
};
templates."rabbi-gerzi.env".content = ''
APP_KEY=${appKey}
RABBI_GERZI_INITIAL_ADMIN_EMAIL=${initialAdminEmail}
RABBI_GERZI_INITIAL_ADMIN_PASSWORD=${initialAdminPassword}
'';
};
services.rabbi-gerzi = {
enable = true;
secretFiles = {
borgPassphrase =
config.sops.secrets."borg-passphrase".path;
borgPrivateKey =
config.sops.secrets."borg-private-key".path;
};
frontend.hostName = "rabbigerzi.com";
backend = {
hostName = "api.rabbigerzi.com";
environmentFile =
config.sops.templates."rabbi-gerzi.env".path;
};
};
}
)
];
};
};
}
If the API origin must be set explicitly, use:
services.rabbi-gerzi.frontend.apiBaseUrl =
"https://api.rabbigerzi.com";
Configure .sops.yaml with age recipients for each administrator and the
server's SSH Ed25519 host key. Then create the encrypted secrets file:
sops secrets/rabbi-gerzi.yaml
Add these values in the editor opened by sops:
app-key: base64:replace-with-laravel-app-key
admin-email: admin@example.com
admin-password: replace-with-a-long-random-password
borg-passphrase: replace-with-the-repository-passphrase
borg-private-key: |
-----BEGIN OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY-----
replace-with-the-private-key
-----END OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY-----
Commit only the encrypted file written by sops. At activation time,
sops-nix decrypts these values and renders the runtime environment file
outside the Nix store.
Then rebuild the host with the deployment method used by the server, for example:
sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake .#rabbigerzi
During activation, rabbi-gerzi-setup runs:
php artisan migrate --force
php artisan rabbi-gerzi:ensure-initial-admin
The initial admin command is idempotent. If the configured admin email already exists, it leaves the user unchanged.
Useful Nix Outputs
Build the frontend package:
nix build .#frontend
Build the backend package:
nix build .#backend
Evaluate all checks:
nix flake check