Piik/docs/deployment.md

Application Release And Recovery

This file owns routine immutable application releases. Initial service setup is in self-hosting operations; environment and ports are in configuration reference. Exact production identity is owned by the immutable release descriptor, runtime REVISION, and deployment record. Status owns only the compact current product and operational snapshot; it is not a per-release ledger.

The tracked release-app.sh updates an existing Go deployment with embedded media, bare-metal nginx, nftables, and application port 8787. It requires an existing running Go release. Another proxy, firewall owner, application port, first installation, or initial embedded-media cutover needs its own scoped bootstrap/updater; do not call this wrapper generic. Its firewall check compares the nftables ruleset without traffic counters; it does not depend on a particular table name. Coordinate other firewall writers outside the cutover window. See nft output options.

Release Boundary

A routine application release changes only the built Piik server binary and the Browser assets it embeds. It does not change infrastructure, service units, proxy/firewall rules, secrets, media listener configuration, or persistent room state.

Any task that touches one of those excluded surfaces must first record its exact pre-change value and a recovery procedure for that surface. Do not complicate the routine application wrapper with one-off infrastructure branches.

The pre-cutover application release is guaranteed only through bounded health and postflight. It has no retention contract afterward and is not a maintained backup; Git and immutable artifacts own history.

Build Host

Start from a clean exact revision with Node.js 24, npm 11, and Go 1.26:

npm ci
npm run check
node scripts/package-app-release.mjs <output-directory-outside-repository>

The packager refuses a dirty tree, builds the Browser assets and the linux/amd64 server binary from that exact revision without cgo, records the full revision, emits a runtime archive plus path/size/SHA-256 manifest and release descriptor, and extracts its own artifact to verify it. The archive contains exactly piik-server, LICENSE, THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt, and REVISION. Upload the archive, manifest, and descriptor together to /opt/piik/uploads.

The same application descriptor is also the App assembly input. On each target platform, provide that platform's Go toolchain:

PIIK_GO=/path/to/go node scripts/assemble-client.mjs \
  /outside/repository/app-release/piik-<revision>.release.json \
  /outside/repository/piik-app \
  --target windows-amd64 \
  --capture /path/to/platform-capture \
  --tunnel /path/to/cloudflared

Assembly refuses a dirty or different revision and emits one directory with the App executable, the Browser assets taken from that release and embedded in it, the selected sidecars, notices, and matching REVISION. Its required target is one of windows-amd64, linux-amd64, or darwin-arm64; every supplied binary input must match it. It does not create an installer, auto-updater, release tag, or compatibility bundle.

Darwin App assembly runs on macOS with its SDK and cgo enabled: the pinned LiveKit dependency's Darwin CPU statistics call Mach APIs. Windows and Linux App builds keep cgo disabled. A core check on those hosts explicitly skips the Darwin binaries; macOS build and package verification belong to the existing native runner. This does not change the cgo-free linux/amd64 Server artifact.

The platform package also carries its native presentation metadata: Windows embeds the icon in the Go executable, Linux emits a freedesktop desktop entry under share/, and macOS emits a thin .app launcher with an ICNS resource. The latter two are packaging metadata only and do not duplicate the App executable.

CI and local release-candidate builds use the same wrapper on the target's native operating system:

node scripts/package-client-candidate.mjs \
  /outside/repository/app-release \
  windows-amd64 \
  /outside/repository/client-candidate

The wrapper downloads the pinned public-link sidecar, verifies its digest, builds the target App and available capture process, executes every packaged runtime from the extracted ZIP, and emits one .zip plus its SHA-256 file.

Retain the descriptor and successful deployment output as release metadata. Do not create a follow-up source commit solely to duplicate their revision, asset, or hashes.

Manual client_checks=true dispatch packages Server and three-platform App candidates after validation. Once automatic publication is explicitly enabled, accepted main merges run that same pipeline and publish the verified artifacts. Candidate artifacts are retained for 14 days. Branches and PRs do not start cloud CI; no release-record commit is written back to main. The workflow does not deploy into a running application service.

Do not build or run the full repository check on a constrained production host. That host runs only the packaged binary and needs no Node, npm, or dependency install.

Update Check

Builds carry a product version plus full source revision. Packagers use one release plan or exact Git tag and inject its identity into Server, App and Web; untagged local candidates use development. Schema-2 package descriptors carry the same pair and artifact hashes. The version policy owns ordering and first-public-release readiness.

The default App launcher starts immediately, then checks GitHub Releases in the background, falling back to the Gitee mirror if GitHub is unavailable. The release-source policy owns selection and provenance checks. It shows a link only when the latest stable release is newer, the same version has a known different source SHA, or a development build can choose the official release. These notices are distinct; a different SHA alone is not called newer. The request sends no current revision, credentials, room data, or media data; network errors, private-repository responses, and missing releases are treated as no notice. It never downloads, replaces, or interrupts a running share.

An operator can perform the corresponding read-only Server check:

bash deploy/check-release.sh

The Server also checks once in the background after startup and logs an available release with its download URL. It does not delay startup, periodically poll, notify room participants or install anything.

The script runs the deployed binary's --check-release, using that binary's injected identity, and prints one JSON result with versions, available source SHAs and the release URL. Exit 0 means no newer/different official build, 10 means update-available, different-build or official-release, and 20 means the check is unavailable. It does not accept a separate revision file. For a private repository, inject a short-lived GITHUB_TOKEN through the operator environment; never place it in the repository or command line. The command does not mutate files, services, containers, or persistent state.

Atomic Cutover

The wrapper requires an already running packaged Go release and the service layout described above. For a new installation, use the self-hosting guide. Infrastructure changes need their own scoped recovery procedure under CONTRIBUTING.

Run the tracked server entry with the uploaded descriptor:

sudo env PIIK_PUBLIC_ORIGIN=https://share.example.com \
  bash /path/to/repository/deploy/release-app.sh \
  /opt/piik/uploads/piik-<revision>.release.json

The wrapper:

1. takes a deployment lock and validates the descriptor, revision, archive, manifest, current Go process, Piik/nginx service state, and public origin;
2. rejects unexpected archive paths, links, file types, or duplicate inodes;
3. extracts to a new release directory and verifies every file hash and size;
4. validates production configuration by running the packaged binary's configuration check as the service user under a bounded runtime;
5. proves the old and new releases share no regular-file inode;
6. atomically switches /opt/piik/current, starts the service, and polls bounded local/public health; and
7. restores the exact prior symlink and service when cutover or health fails.

Never hard-link release files or recursively mutate permissions before the inode audit: metadata changes would violate both releases. Expected service states should be read as data (systemctl show), not used as bare commands under strict-shell error traps.

Persistent State

Stable mode stores only room authority at the configured SQLite path. The systemd service owns its state directory and file permissions. Application restart retains room ownership, invitations, policy and password verifier; participants, signaling, routes, SFU state and media reconnect from fresh process state.

Lightweight mode has no persistent room state and starts empty. A release does not add a migration or compatibility reader for either mode; current exact schema validation fails closed before accepting signaling or media admission.

Postflight

Verify only the surfaces relevant to the release:

• local and public /healthz return {"status":"ok"};
• the public HTML references the new immutable main asset;
• Piik and nginx have expected active/restart state;
• Piik owns each configured STUN/SFU UDP listener and public reachability matches the configuration;
• the current symlink and served revision match the descriptor;
• room creation, Host authentication, one direct Viewer, and configured SFU fallback complete the scoped smoke; and
• infrastructure, config, secrets, ports, and persistent state not named by the task are unchanged.

Representative network, mobile, audio, 20-Viewer, and endurance evidence belongs to verification status, not routine postflight.

Recovery

Before cutover, the wrapper keeps the exact prior release path. On failure after the switch begins, it stops Piik, restores that path atomically, restarts the service, and waits for health. A failed recovery exits distinctly and requires operator intervention; it must not silently report the new release as active.

Infrastructure or persistent-state recovery is separate and limited to the surfaces changed by that task. Do not restore an entire server, old firewall, or old secret set for an application-only failure.

If a task changes persistent room data, prepare and verify a separate SQLite backup and recover matching data, configuration and application together. Restoring old data can revive revoked credentials; account for later authority changes before reopening ingress.