/deploy

Deploy changed files from the local repo to The Local server at [email protected].

What to Deploy

Determine from context what has changed. The user may specify a file, service, or say "deploy everything".

Deployment Methods

Use scp for files served via Docker bind mounts (preserves inode — container sees change immediately, no restart needed):

• assets/custom.css → /opt/thelocal/assets/custom.css
• assets/index.html → /opt/thelocal/assets/index.html
• welcome/index.html → /opt/thelocal/welcome/index.html
• element-config.json → /opt/thelocal/element-config.json
• templates/*.html, templates/*.txt → /opt/thelocal/templates/

Use git pull + force-recreate when docker-compose.yml, Caddyfile, homeserver.yaml, or multiple files have changed:

ssh [email protected] 'cd /opt/thelocal && git pull && docker compose up -d --force-recreate element'

After Synapse config changes (homeserver.yaml), regenerate the .active file and restart:

ssh [email protected] 'cd /opt/thelocal && source .env && \
  sed -e "s|%%POSTGRES_PASSWORD%%|${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}|g" \
      -e "s|%%REGISTRATION_SECRET%%|${REGISTRATION_SECRET}|g" \
      -e "s|%%MACAROON_SECRET%%|${MACAROON_SECRET}|g" \
      -e "s|%%FORM_SECRET%%|${FORM_SECRET}|g" \
      -e "s|%%RESEND_API_KEY%%|${RESEND_API_KEY}|g" \
  homeserver.yaml > homeserver.yaml.active && docker compose restart synapse'

Process

1. Identify which files changed (use git status or ask the user)
2. Choose the right method (scp vs git pull) based on the file type
3. Run the appropriate commands
4. Confirm success (no errors in output)
5. If deploying CSS changes: remind the user to hard-reload their browser (Cmd+Shift+R or Ctrl+Shift+R)

Examples

# Deploy only custom.css
scp assets/custom.css [email protected]:/opt/thelocal/assets/custom.css

# Deploy all templates
scp templates/*.html templates/*.txt [email protected]:/opt/thelocal/templates/

# Deploy element config
scp element-config.json [email protected]:/opt/thelocal/element-config.json

# Deploy welcome page
scp welcome/index.html [email protected]:/opt/thelocal/welcome/index.html

After deploying assets/index.html (which contains the CSS version number), also restart element to ensure the bind mount inode is correct — or use --force-recreate if the file was previously git-pulled.