How to acquire a token?

[deadcoder0904]

I am trying to self-host but facing some problems. I am currently trying to acquire a token, but I can't see where QUIRREL_SERVER_URL is set?

Is this the same as QUIRREL_BASE_URL or QUIRREL_API_URL? I'm confused.

Also, where should I set PASSPHRASES? Is it inside .env file where Quirrel picks it up or inside docker-compose.yml just under REDIS_URL?

version: '3.7'
services:
  quirrel:
    image: ghcr.io/quirrel-dev/quirrel:main
    environment:
      REDIS_URL: redis://redis
      PASSPHRASES: lalalalalalala
    ports:
      - '9181:9181'

  redis:
    image: redis

And when I do curl like:

$ curl --user ignored:{PASSPHRASE} -X PUT {QUIRREL_SERVER_URL}/tokens/{NAME_OF_TOKEN}

do I need to specify the fields inside {} or does it pick up from .env? I'm assuming NAME_OF_TOKEN can be anything set by me?

also, can i run complete quirrel setup using just docker locally or do i really need to deploy it on the server for it to work?

[Skn0tt]

Hi Akshay! The fields in {} are to be replaced by you. QUIRREL_SERVER_URL means "an HTTP url where your Quirrel deployment is reachable", so it's synonymous with QUIRREL_API_URL.

Your Quirrel instance needs to be reachable from wherever your application runs. Running it locally won't be enough.

If you're looking to set up Quirrel for local development, you don't need to deal with Docker. The CLI gives you a local development version of Quirrel by running quirrel.

[simonedelmann]

Regarding your deployment not working still:
Do you deploy Quirrel together with your application or separate?
If you deploy it together with your application you might be able to not expose Quirrel to the internet at all, because all communication stays inside the internal docker network. (That’s what I am currently doing.)
But you can also deploy Quirrel separate. (Similar to what Simon is doing at quirrel.dev) This might be useful if you have multiple applications which are supposed to use the same Quirrel instance.

I have to admit though, that I have no experience with railway or heroku, because I always deploy to my own VPS running docker.

[deadcoder0904]

@simonedelmann i deployed it together on railway but it doesn't support docker-compose.yml & currently on heroku, i deployed it using their redis addon.

so do you mean my example setup is correct? do i only need to separately deploy it? this means i only need to have .env file, redis installed & docker-compose.yml, right? no other files needed on the quirrel instance?

also, what vps do you use if you don't mind sharing?

[simonedelmann]

VPS is a cheap one at Netcup in Germany, but if my application wouldn't be mainly for hobby purpose I would probably choose a service like Heroku or put multiple small droplets (Digital Ocean) behind a load balancer, due to redundancy.

It should work deploying Quirrel separately.
If you are not using redis provided by Heroku (which I assume because you have a redis service in your docker-compose.yml) then I would specify your redis url direct in your docker-compose.yml. Also you need to make your redis instance permanent (by adding a volume to your data directory).

[deadcoder0904]

If you are not using redis provided by Heroku

haha i was doing that.

cool, thanks for all the info. now i'll deploy this bad boy. thank you :)

[deadcoder0904]

@simonedelmann finally, managed to deploy Quirrel on railway.app in 1-click. thank you for your help, much appreciated :)