Warta — Private Micro-Blog Social Media

Private invite-only social platform for family & trusted friends.

Stack

• Backend: Go + pgx (PostgreSQL driver)
• Database: PostgreSQL 16
• Frontend: Vanilla HTML/CSS/JS (no build step needed)
• Reverse proxy: nginx container exposed on host port 50982
• Deployment: Docker Compose

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Setup

1. Prerequisites

• Docker + Docker Compose installed on your VPS

2. Configure environment

cp .env.example .env
nano .env

Fill in:

• POSTGRES_PASSWORD — strong random password
• JWT_SECRET — at least 32 random characters (use openssl rand -hex 32)
• APP_BASE_URL — your full domain, e.g. https://warta.yourdomain.com
• ADMIN_EMAIL — your email

3. Start

docker compose up -d
docker compose logs -f

The app will be accessible at http://your-server:50982.

4. First-time admin setup

Once running, create your admin account (one-time only):

curl -X POST https://yourdomain.com/api/setup \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "username": "kalvin",
    "email": "you@email.com",
    "password": "your-strong-password",
    "display_name": "Kalvin"
  }'

After this, the /api/setup endpoint is permanently disabled.

5. Invite people

Log in at https://yourdomain.com, go to Invites, create an invite link, and share it with family/friends.

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Features

Feature	Details
Microblog feed	Chronological, ≤280 chars
Long-form posts	Expandable from microblog card
Media	Images, audio (≤7 min), video (≤5 min)
Storage quota	1024 MB per user
Dark/light mode	Auto (browser) + manual toggle
E2EE messaging	Web Crypto ECDH + AES-GCM, server never sees plaintext
Reactions	👍 toggle
Comments	Threaded
Moderation	2/3 community vote auto-removes · Admin can remove instantly
Invites	Any user can create, admin can revoke any

E2EE Notes

Messages use ECDH key agreement + AES-GCM encryption in the browser. Server stores only ciphertext — it cannot read messages.

⚠️ If a user loses their device/clears their browser, their private key is gone and old messages cannot be decrypted. This is the honest trade-off of real E2EE.

To back up your key: localStorage.getItem('e2ee_priv') from browser console → save securely.

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Updating

git pull
docker compose build
docker compose up -d

Backup

docker exec warta_db pg_dump -U warta warta > backup_$(date +%Y%m%d).sql
docker cp warta_backend:/app/uploads ./uploads_backup