6.2 KiB
VPS deployment guide
Concrete setup for a Debian VPS running a private multi-user bincio instance.
Code is deployed directly from your laptop via git push — no GitHub required.
Assumptions
- Bare Debian 12 VPS with root SSH access
- You own a domain pointed at the VPS
- You have Strava API credentials
- Up to ~30 users
1. Install system dependencies
apt update && apt upgrade -y
apt install -y git curl nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx sqlite3
Node.js 20 LTS (the Debian package is too old):
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | bash -
apt install -y nodejs
uv (manages Python and all Python deps):
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
# add to PATH:
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc
2. Set up the code directory
mkdir -p /opt/bincio
git init --bare /opt/bincio-repo.git
Create the post-receive hook at /opt/bincio-repo.git/hooks/post-receive:
#!/bin/bash
set -e
REPO=/opt/bincio-repo.git
DEPLOY=/opt/bincio
DATA=/var/bincio/data
echo "--- Checking out code ---"
git --work-tree=$DEPLOY --git-dir=$REPO checkout -f
echo "--- Syncing Python deps ---"
cd $DEPLOY
~/.local/bin/uv sync
echo "--- Syncing JS deps ---"
cd $DEPLOY/site
npm install --silent
echo "--- Building site ---"
cd $DEPLOY
~/.local/bin/uv run bincio render --data-dir $DATA --site-dir $DEPLOY/site
echo "--- Copying dist to webroot ---"
rsync -a --delete $DEPLOY/site/dist/ /var/www/bincio/
echo "--- Restarting API ---"
systemctl restart bincio
echo "--- Done ---"
chmod +x /opt/bincio-repo.git/hooks/post-receive
mkdir -p /var/www/bincio
3. First deploy from your laptop
Add the VPS as a git remote (run this locally, once):
git remote add vps root@<your-vps-ip>:/opt/bincio-repo.git
Push your code:
git push vps main
The hook checks out the code, installs deps, and builds the site. Subsequent pushes (including unpublished branches) work the same way:
git push vps mobile_app # deploy any branch directly
4. Initialise the instance
cd /opt/bincio
uv run bincio init \
--data-dir /var/bincio/data \
--handle dave \
--display-name "Dave" \
--name "My Bincio"
# prompted for password; prints a first invite code
Set the user cap:
sqlite3 /var/bincio/data/instance.db \
"INSERT INTO settings VALUES ('max_users', '30');"
5. Prepare your own activities
Source files (raw GPX/FIT) live separately from the BAS output:
/var/bincio/sources/dave/ ← raw activity files, rsync'd from laptop
/var/bincio/data/dave/ ← BAS JSON output (bincio extract writes here)
Configure /opt/bincio/extract_config.yaml on the server to point to your
source dir:
sources:
- path: /var/bincio/sources/dave/activities
type: strava_export
- path: /var/bincio/sources/dave/activities.csv
type: strava_csv
output:
dir: /var/bincio/data
Sync and extract (run from your laptop or SSH in):
# push raw files from laptop
rsync -avz ~/your-activity-data/ root@<vps>:/var/bincio/sources/dave/
# extract on server
ssh root@<vps> "cd /opt/bincio && uv run bincio extract"
# rebuild site
ssh root@<vps> "cd /opt/bincio && \
uv run bincio render --data-dir /var/bincio/data --site-dir site && \
rsync -a --delete site/dist/ /var/www/bincio/"
6. systemd service
Create /etc/systemd/system/bincio.service:
[Unit]
Description=BincioActivity API
After=network.target
[Service]
WorkingDirectory=/opt/bincio
ExecStart=/root/.local/bin/uv run bincio serve \
--data-dir /var/bincio/data \
--site-dir /opt/bincio/site \
--host 127.0.0.1 \
--port 4041
EnvironmentFile=/etc/bincio/secrets.env
Restart=always
RestartSec=5
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Create /etc/bincio/secrets.env:
mkdir -p /etc/bincio
chmod 700 /etc/bincio
cat > /etc/bincio/secrets.env <<EOF
STRAVA_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id
STRAVA_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret
EOF
chmod 600 /etc/bincio/secrets.env
Enable and start:
systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable --now bincio
systemctl status bincio
7. nginx
Create /etc/nginx/sites-available/bincio:
server {
listen 80;
server_name yourdomain.com;
root /var/www/bincio;
index index.html;
# API → bincio serve
location /api/ {
proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:4041;
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_read_timeout 120s; # Strava sync can be slow
}
# Static files
location / {
try_files $uri $uri/ $uri.html =404;
}
}
ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/bincio /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
nginx -t && systemctl reload nginx
8. SSL
certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com
# certbot edits the nginx config and sets up automatic renewal
9. Invite users
After bincio init prints the first invite code, you can generate more from
the browser at /u/{handle}/athlete/ → Invites button (visible only to
the page owner), or directly via the CLI:
sqlite3 /var/bincio/data/instance.db \
"INSERT INTO invites (code, created_by, created_at) \
VALUES (upper(hex(randomblob(4))), 'dave', unixepoch());"
Share the link: https://yourdomain.com/register/?code=XXXXXXXX
Each new user uploads their activities via the + button in the top nav (supports bulk GPX/FIT/TCX drop). They can later connect Strava for incremental sync from the same modal.
Day-to-day operations
| Task | Command |
|---|---|
| Deploy code update | git push vps main (from laptop) |
| Sync your raw files | rsync -avz ~/your-activity-data/ root@<vps>:/var/bincio/sources/dave/ |
| Re-extract after sync | ssh root@<vps> "cd /opt/bincio && uv run bincio extract" then push again to rebuild |
| View API logs | journalctl -u bincio -f |
| Restart API | systemctl restart bincio |
| Check nginx logs | tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log |
| Renew SSL (auto) | certbot renew --dry-run |