How to deploy Bluesky Later to DigitalOcean Droplet

A few days ago I wrote about how to deploy Bluesky Later on your own server using Coolify. While I recommend it to start using Bluesky Later in your own server, it is possible to run it without Coolify. In this post, I will show you how to run Bluesky Later on a DigitalOcean Droplet using Docker.

First, you need to have a DigitalOcean account. If you don't have one, you can create one here. Then create a new Droplet using the Docker image which you can find in the DigitalOcean Marketplace. For the Droplet size and type, I recommend using the "Basic" type with "Regular (Disk type: SSD)" CPU option, and the lowest price spec ($6/month).

Once the Droplet is created, enter the server using SSH. Then you need to install docker-compose first:

apt install docker-compose

Next, create a docker-compose.yml file in the root directory of the server with the following content:

services:
  postgres:
    image: postgres:15-alpine
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: ${POSTGRES_USER:-blueskylater}
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:-blueskylater}
      POSTGRES_DB: ${POSTGRES_DB:-blueskylater_scheduler}
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test:
        [
          'CMD-SHELL',
          'pg_isready -U ${POSTGRES_USER:-blueskylater} -d ${POSTGRES_DB:-blueskylater_scheduler}',
        ]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5
    networks:
      - app-network

  app:
    image: nicnocquee/bluesky-later:latest
    environment:
      DATABASE_URL: ${DATABASE_URL:-postgres://blueskylater:blueskylater@postgres:5432/blueskylater_scheduler}
      CRON_SECRET: ${CRON_SECRET:-your-secret-here}
    ports:
      - '80:8080'
    depends_on:
      postgres:
        condition: service_healthy
    networks:
      - app-network

networks:
  app-network:
    driver: bridge

volumes:
  postgres_data:

After that, create a hidden file called .env in the root directory of the server with the following content:

DATABASE_URL=postgresql://REPLACE_WITH_USERNAME:REPLACE_WITH_SECURE_PASSWORD@postgres:5432/REPLACE_WITH_DATABASE_NAME
POSTGRES_USER=REPLACE_WITH_USERNAME
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=REPLACE_WITH_SECURE_PASSWORD
POSTGRES_DB=REPLACE_WITH_DATABASE_NAME

Replace the REPLACE_WITH_USERNAME, REPLACE_WITH_SECURE_PASSWORD, and REPLACE_WITH_DATABASE_NAME with the values you want to use for the Postgres database. You can use any username, password, and database name you want.

Then run the following command to start the app:

docker-compose --env-file .env up -d

Once the app is up and running, you can access it at http://your-server-ip-address. You will be greeted with the initial setup page. Follow the instructions to secure the Bluesky Later instance.

Happy scheduling and say hi to me on Bluesky! 🦋