Manual Setup

Deploy OpenJam without Docker by building the frontend and backend manually.

Prerequisites

• Go 1.22+
• Node.js 20+ or Bun
• PostgreSQL 14+
• Redis (optional)
• MinIO or S3-compatible storage (optional)

Build the Frontend

Bun

cd app
bun install
bun run build

npm

cd app
npm install
npm run build

This produces a dist/ directory with static files.

Build the Backend

cd server
CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -ldflags="-s -w" -o openjam-server .

Deploy

1. Copy the frontend build output:

   cp -r app/dist server/static

2. Configure environment variables (see Configuration)

3. Run the server:

   cd server
   ./openjam-server

The server serves both the API and frontend on the configured port (default 8080).

Running with systemd

Create /etc/systemd/system/openjam.service:

[Unit]
Description=OpenJam Whiteboard Server
After=network.target postgresql.service

[Service]
Type=simple
User=openjam
WorkingDirectory=/opt/openjam
ExecStart=/opt/openjam/openjam-server
EnvironmentFile=/opt/openjam/.env
Restart=always
RestartSec=5

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

sudo systemctl enable --now openjam