# Default deployment: one box

Every web app on buildyourown.software is written to run the same way. Learn it once and every tool's build prompt makes sense.

## The shape

- **One process.** Node 22 running the app. A second process only when the tool genuinely needs one (a job worker, a probe runner). Never a serverless function.
- **SQLite.** `better-sqlite3` with Drizzle, WAL mode, file at `./data/app.db`. Migrations checked into the repo and run on startup. Keep the schema portable so `DATABASE_URL=postgres://...` works later, but don't build for it now.
- **Local disk for files.** Uploads live under `./data/files/<table>/<id>/`. The app serves them through an authenticated route with short-lived signed URLs it mints itself. No bucket.
- **In-process scheduler.** `croner` inside the app process for reminders, retention, digests, and polling. A row in a `job_locks` table stops two instances from running the same job.
- **Sessions the app issues itself.** On first run the app creates an admin from `ADMIN_EMAIL` and `ADMIN_PASSWORD` (or prompts in the browser if unset). Teammates join through invite links. Sessions are signed, httpOnly cookies. Google sign-in is an optional add-on, never a requirement.
- **Realtime from the process.** Server-sent events fed by an in-memory event bus. No database change feeds, no websocket service.
- **Email through any SMTP server.** `nodemailer` with `SMTP_URL`. Without it, mail is written to `./data/outbox/*.eml` and printed to the log, so every flow works on a laptop with no account. When you go public, point `SMTP_URL` at the one relay you choose. Sending straight from a VPS lands in spam, so this is the one hosted service most tools keep.
- **UTC in the database,** local time in the UI, `date-fns-tz` for every conversion.

## Running it

- **Laptop:** `pnpm install && pnpm dev`. That's the whole install. No env vars are required; every setting has a default that works locally.
- **Public:** a VPS with 1 CPU and 1 GB RAM, one DNS record, and `docker compose up -d`. The compose file has two services: `app` and `caddy`. Caddy terminates TLS with a certificate it gets on its own. `./data` is a named volume.
- **Backups:** `pnpm backup` runs `sqlite3 .backup` into `./data/backups/<date>.db` and prunes to the last 14. A `backup` service in compose runs it nightly. Restoring is copying one file.
- **Updates:** `git pull && docker compose up -d --build`. Migrations run on boot.

## What this rules out

No Vercel, Supabase, Neon, Clerk, Auth0, R2, S3, Fly, Cloudflare Workers, Upstash, or any service that needs an account to run the app. If a tool can't avoid an outside service (a calendar OAuth app, a GitHub webhook, an SMTP relay, a second probe location), the build prompt says so in one line and makes it optional or last.

## Acceptance criteria every tool inherits

- A fresh clone runs with `pnpm install && pnpm dev` and no env vars, and the first browser visit creates the admin.
- `docker compose up -d` on a clean Ubuntu VPS with one A record serves the app over HTTPS with no other setup.
- Killing the process mid-job and restarting it doesn't double-run or lose the job.
- `pnpm backup` then deleting `./data/app.db` and restoring from the backup brings every record back.
- Every outbound email in dev shows up in `./data/outbox`.