Deploy PostOwl on Coolify

[stickerdaniel]

Setting Up PostOwl on Coolify

What is Coolify?

Coolify is like having your own Vercel or Netlify running on your server. It's an open-source platform that makes deploying applications really simple as you will see in this guide.

You're in the Coolify dashboard? Let's go!

1. Create Your Project

Head to your Coolify dashboard and create a new project. Then select the "production" environment.

2. Add and configure the Repository

Click "Add new resource" → "Public Repository" and paste:

https://github.com/PostOwl/postowl.git

Choose "Dockerfile" as Build Pack and press "Continue"

Add this Post-deployment command that creates the Database and click the "Save" button

sqlite3 data/db.sqlite3 < scripts/schema.sql

3. Configure Environment Variables

Add these environment variables (adjust the values to match your setup):
You can paste them in the Developer view

# Your domain (Coolify will show you the generated one)
ORIGIN=https://your-app.yourdomain.com

# Database location
DB_PATH=./data/db.sqlite3

# Admin credentials (choose strong values!)
ADMIN_PASSWORD=your-super-secret-password
ADMIN_NAME=Your Name
ADMIN_EMAIL=you@yourdomain.com

# SMTP settings (optional - for email notifications)
SMTP_SERVER=your-smtp-server.com
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_USERNAME=your-email@yourdomain.com
SMTP_PASSWORD=your-email-password

4. Set Up Persistent Storage

Crucial part that makes sure your Data is kept between deployments: go to the Persistent Storage tab and add a Volume Mount with

Destination Path: /app/data

This ensures your blog posts survive deployments and server restarts. Without this, you'll lose all your content every time Coolify redeploys your app.

5. Deploy!

Once deployed, visit your generated URL and sign in with your admin password. Done

[keybits]

Thanks @stickerdaniel - I was looking at Coolify recently.

Great to know PostOwl works on that platform. 🎉

Are you using PostOwl for any sites?

(I'm currently working on upgrading it to Svelte 5, Tailwind 4 and making it ready to get some new features)