Note : creating a dedicated App Wishlist for the Cloudron Custom App Installer ("CCAI"), to avoid further "hijacking" of @Kubernetes thread in App Packaging forum category.

This app makes it easy for a Cloudron user to install a custom-packaged app without having to clone the repo locally, install docker locally, build the docker image and push to a docker repository, and install Cloudron CLI to make the installation.

This appeals to :

• cloudron users wanting to keep their local device clean of dev utilities
• cloudron users who are not technically comfortable with the manual clone/build/install process

It is not a 1-click install, given the need for user to login to their Cloudron instance, and enter app location, but it's as close as we're going to get.

Latest version v4.1.1 :

• adopts suggestion from @robi to allow list of available custom apps to grow w/o intervention (popup dialogue for user to add a custom app to a list for themselves and others to install)
• tightens the UI to allow more custom apps in the list
• adds Grid or List display mode for known custom apps
• improves page responsive UI for different window widths

git repo : https://git.cloudron.io/timconsidine/cloudron-customapp-installer

home page : https://ccai.appx.uk
This page is left running as a service for Cloudron users wanting to install custom apps in advance of this app (or another Cloudron-supported version) making it into the App Store.

concept video : https://ccai-demo.appx.uk (but video needs an update for latest version UI and usage flow)

NB : the ability for an app packager to add their own custom app to the list without the site admin's involvement reinforces the NEED FOR CAUTION ON INSTALLING CUSTOM APPS.

• Check the app's reputation in the Cloudron forum
• Check the app packager reputation in the Cloudron forum.

TODO :

• add optional keep me logged in for 15 minutes to allow the user to install multiple custom apps without repeatedly logging in to their Cloudron instance.
• update the concept video for latest UI and usage flow

DISCLAIMER :

• this app inherently carries some risks that a poorly-packaged app mucks up a Cloudron instance. However Cloudron's app-isolation principles mitigate this to a large degree.
• nevertheless, only use this app if you understand and accept the risks
• for these reasons, it is understandable that Cloudron may or may not want this kind of app in the AppStore
• [@]staff or any developer are welcome to fork or re-write this app to improve it and address these issues

https://ntfy.sh

ntfy (pronounce: notify) is a simple HTTP-based pub-sub notification service. It allows you to send notifications to your phone or desktop via scripts from any computer, entirely without signup, cost or setup. It's also open source if you want to run your own.

Really simple notifications for scripts, server status etc.

curl -d "Backup successful 😀" ntfy.sh/mytopic

If self-hosted, obviously change the ntfy.sh to your own domain.

While trying to resolve some backup issues, I wondered if it might be possible in future Cloudron release to have backup policies per app.

Some apps need backing up daily but some might only need weekly or monthly. Currently backup configuration is set globally for the instance.

Just to add context to my comment :
I have 45 apps running on my Cloudron (I am sure others have even more).
<5 minute installs vs 2-3 hours 'conventionally' : 45 times. That's a lot of time and grey hair saved.
Normally I would need multiple servers to run that for segregation, so the Cloudron monthly-equiv fee is off-set by saving on multiple VPS.

I totally get that non-profits have a duty and a need to keep costs down.
But that's exactly what Cloudron does.

Cloudron is truly cost-effective and cost-minimising.
Cloudron is the only tech cost that I'm genuinely happy to carry.
And they stand out a mile vs the rest of the industry in terms of quality, kind and constructive support.

But @girish and @nebulon : that doesn't mean you can increase the price !!

@lewisl said in So Many Problems:

Cloudron is a clever idea, failing extensively in implementation.

Totally get that this is your personal experience, and I'm sorry for it.

However I can't let such a comment go unchallenged.

Please accept that it is your experience and not a widely accepted fact or even just widely accepted point of view.

I get you're pissed off, but the simple fact that you got a polite constructive response shows Cloudron is not as you seem to think it is.

• Title: Memorial Website on Cloudron

---

• Git: https://git.cloudron.io/timconsidine/cloudron-memorial
• Licence: MIT
• Dockerfile: Yes
• Public docker image: tcmbp132021/cloudron-memorial:v2
• Custom App Deploy: https://ccai.appx.uk (1st entry)
• Example: https://jerry-considine.memorialised.uk
• Alternative/Original: Extended from David Wolf https://github.com/devidw/memorial (no license specified)

---

• Summary: Sadly my brother passed away yesterday. I wanted to create a memorial, but could not tolerate searching for and adapting a template.

• Home Page
• Obituary Page
• Gallery Page
• Contribute Page

Follow the instructions in app portal to configure and populate the site.

This is a custom app which can be deployed quickly using https://ccai.appx.uk (1st entry in list).

---

• Notes: When a loved one passes, it is not the time to be building a technical work of art. This is simple, but gets the job done at a very difficult time.

---

Hope it helps someone else experiencing loss.

I'm using a domain memorialised.uk.
Happy to host sub-sites for those who don't have a suitable domain to use.

@girish : it will for sure be impossible to persuade others to do it the Cloudron way, so the problem has to be addressed.

Personally I feel the Cloudron stability and reliability is SO IMPORTANT that it must be preserved and it is the priority. If it is impossible to find a solution, we have to accept a situation like "sorry, this XXX app is such a mess, it is not possible to make it comply with Cloudron standards, and even though it is good functionality, and we could possibly package it, we're not going to. Because it's a mess."

While I don't have a technical solution approach to the problem, I think it's almost inevitable that we end up with another status of apps :

• OFFICIAL (package tested, released, maintained, conforms to Cloudron standards)
• UNSTABLE (although I don't like this word : should be Beta or not-yet-officially-released)
• MESS or "Pig's Breakfast" (packaged, works, use it, but maintained as best endeavours, esp ref backups, because upstream dev does not conform to Cloudron standards)

Not ideal, but better than lowering Cloudron standards. Would rather accept not having XXX app in the store.

Announcing ...

CCAI-P : Cloudron CustomApp Installer Personal Edition

Recognising that many users are reluctant to enter their cloudron credentials on an open url, I have adapted the current "open" CCAI custom app installer, into a "closed" app using cloudron ProxyAuth for authentication, and a token for installations.

While a one-time install of the Personal CustomApp Installer is needed, manually or using the hosted CCAI, after that, the user is secure with their own app deployment, and credentials do not need to be entered on a 3rd party site.

The Personal Edition has a button to import the master app catalogue when needed.

The Personal Edition feels a lot faster as no login code / 2FA is needed.

---

My Git Repo : https://git.cloudron.io/timconsidine/cloudron-customapp-installer-personal

Built Docker Image : tcmbp132021/cloudron-customapp-installer-personal:v1.0.0

Available on the open CCAI site https://ccai.appx.uk

---

I have a first version of Seafile Community Edition packaged for Cloudron !

Took longer than I expected, but I previously didn't believe it even to be possible.

All seems working, including the web UI and desktop sync clients.

• Only issue I have found is that my Safari does not display PDFs when loaded in the browser from the Seafile library. Firefox does work (Chrome untested).
• other file formats do work in the browser

More testing needed, but looks good currently.

I will add this to the Custom App Installer shortly.

PRO edition needs some thought.
Due to Seafile licensing, I cannot package it.
There is an upgrade route from Community to PRO.
Need to test it out against this package.
Will try this out later.

EDIT : also need think about using volumes and about backups to extract files into native names, not Seafile's tracked/masked naming.

Good morning
This is a technical issue, not a political post.

I have become stuck in UK and unable to return to family in Ukraine.
Flight pre-planned for Day2 of invasion obviously cancelled.
Internet in Kharkiv breaking down now.

I am doing research on 'offline' comms, maybe some kind of relay or mesh. But time is short and frankly brain is not as clear as it usually is.

So any advice appreciated.

Scenario is I stay here in UK for now, but also interested in scenario of going to Poland and waiting it out there. So maybe no internet there other than mobile phone.

As I said, tech query not political, but please forgive me a quick 'Slava Ukraini'.

So I have successfully migrated my Cloudron instance to a more powerful VPS.
And I am reminded how slick the Cloudron server migration process is.
In a world of complex tech, which doesn't always work as intended, Cloudron server migration is a thing of joy and beauty.
4th time I've gone through the process over the years.
Thank you for making it effortless !

I use ClouDNS as my DNS service, so I have to use wildcard domains on Cloudron, but I scripted the DNS updates this time for an even easier flow.

--> I want to suggest that server migration is a powerful aspect of Cloudron which is not profiled adequately.

It should have more prominence on cloudron website, and also in docs.cloudron.io. Good docs are part of good marketing.
Restoring a server is buried at the bottom of backups section, which might be logical, but it really deserves its own section, under Installation or under Knowledge Base.

Been looking for a better way to handle my podcasts.
Stumbled over this : https://github.com/advplyr/audiobookshelf

Audiobookshelf is a self-hosted audiobook and podcast server.

Features :

• Fully open-source, including the android & iOS app (in beta)
• Stream all audio formats on the fly
• Search and add podcasts to download episodes w/ auto-download
• Multi-user support w/ custom permissions
• Keeps progress per user and syncs across devices
• Auto-detects library updates, no need to re-scan
• Upload books and podcasts w/ bulk upload drag and drop folders
• Backup your metadata + automated daily backups
• Progressive Web App (PWA)
• Chromecast support on the web app and android app
• Fetch metadata and cover art from several sources
• Basic ebook support and e-reader (experimental)
• Merge your audio files into a single m4b w/ metadata and embedded cover (experimental)

OK, bit naughty (sorry) adding this as a wishlist, but here we go.

I've struggled to find a suitable simple form app.
Everything is a darned obese elephant doing a job which a mouse can do.
And the mouse does a better (as in more functional) job !
(Yep, looking at you Nextcloud, formio, ohmyform, lime-survey etc. etc.)

So I built one "to scratch my itch".
And it only seems fair to share it in case it helps others.

https://git.cloudron.io/timconsidine/custom-form-cloudron

Configurable Form storing to Directus

This is a simple web app running in NodeJS to display a form and write the responses to a Directus collection.

By "simple", I mean it is NOT a full-blown forms solution, and is not meant to be. This gets the job done simply, easily, without installing an elephant to pull what a single mouse can do by itself.

The primary page displays the form with fields you set in config.json.

A second page allows the viewing of responses as a web page, which can be printed using standard browser functionality to paper or PDF.

Data is in Directus ready for use in another app if needed.

A key feature of the app is that the primary app and form elements can be set in the app's .env file.

• DIRECTUS_TOKEN
• DIRECTUS_COLLECTION_URL
• YOUR OWN FORM FIELDS !!
• VIEW_PAGE_USERNAME
• VIEW_PAGE_PASSWORD
• PAGE_TITLE
• HEADER_TITLE
• SUBHEADER_1
• SUBHEADER_2
• FOOTER_BACKGROUND_COLOR
• FOOTER_TEXT_COLOR
• YOUR LOGO (upload to /app/data/public)

Just edit /app/data/.env AND RESTART THE APP.

The form is deliberately not highly styled.
Minimalist and functional, not whizz-bang.
Want whizz-bang ? Go for it - edit index.html.

The view page is password-protected - change the values in /app/data.env.
The view page is also very plain design, so that it can easily be printed to paper or PDF.
This is the form page.

ToDo :

• add support for additional form field types (date, checkbox etc.)
  [I only needed text and select initially]

Whoop, whoop, whoop
Breakthrough !

After spending X hours on packaging the release, Y hours on building from source and Z hours on alternative implementations of building from source,

• where X is too long,
• where Y is X * 2, and
• where Z is Y * 3,

... I gave up and changed approach again, and now have Sync-in packaged and installing and running on my Cloudron !

TBH, there is still a bunch of work to do, but having cracked baseline minimal function deployment, I'm hopeful (well, praying) that I can get the rest of it done.

WORKING :

• builds, installs and runs
• login and basic file storage operations working

TO-DO / TO-TEST :

• desktop client downloading and synchronisation (now)
• OnlyOffice integration
• file storage "in app" and by volume mount
• backups
• WebDAV (now )
• automated install by CCAI (Custom App Installer)

I will of course make a repo on git.cloudron.io, but want to do so when I have ironed out some things (had to be a bit naughty to get to here) and completed more of the o/s work.

I don't use Windows so will need some help testing desktop sync on that platform; when the time comes, volunteers appreciated.

(grinning like a Cheshire one)

[Announce] CustomAppGateway (CAG) – Solving the "Chicken & Egg" for Custom Apps

Hi everyone,

I'm excited to share a new project that I hope will be a valuable addition to our ecosystem: CustomAppGateway (CAG).

Available now at CAG Website

The "Chicken & Egg" Problem

For a while now, I've been working on CCAI and then CCAI-P (Cloudron Custom App Installer - Personal), a tool designed to be the primary "Install UI" for custom apps. It empowers you to easily install packaged custom apps that aren't yet in the official store.

However, there is a catch-22: How do you install the installer (CCAI-P) without using the CLI ?

Enter CustomAppGateway (CAG)

CustomAppGateway is the solution to that problem. It is a specialized, lightweight run-once tool designed solely to deploy CCAI-P to your Cloudron instance securely and easily.

It provides three simple methods:

1. CAG Online (Hosted): A web-based installer that runs securely in your browser (using a proxy to handle CORS, with tokens processed in memory only).
2. CAG Web (self-hosted) : same as above but made easy to deploy to your own server.
3. CAG App (Downloaded): A standalone terminal executable for Mac, Windows, and Linux for those who prefer a local utility.

AppStore Independence

CAG and CCAI-P are about AppStore Independence. You are not reliant on waiting for an app to be officially adopted or packaged by the Cloudron team to use it, if you need it NOW.

That said, the Cloudron App Store remains vital. It provides the seamless, tested update mechanism we all rely on. While custom apps give us freedom and immediacy, the App Store is still the gold standard for long-term maintenance and stability.

Updates & Housekeeping

• CCAI-P is now the primary interface for installing custom apps and will receive further updates and improvements.
• The old CCAI open hosted version is effectively deprecated and will be archived/deleted. I encourage everyone to switch to using CCAI-P.

Security

A hot topic which I’ve taken seriously.
CAG leverages the excellent security baked into the Cloudron platform.
We focus on :

• using a dedicated one-time token which you create and subsequently delete
• restricting the token to use only on your IP address
  The footprint for attack is tiny.

A Note to the Cloudron Team

I want to extend a huge and ongoing thank you to the Cloudron team for their continued, tireless efforts. Cloudron remains the #1 self-hosting platform because of your hard work.

We know you face time and effort constraints with a small team. My hope is that CustomAppGateway and CCAI-P can ease your burden a little by empowering the community to self-service their custom app needs, allowing you to focus on the core platform and official apps.

Where to get it

CAG Website

Status

• hosted installer : zero setup : tested
• web installer : private setup : tested
• desktop installer : minimal setup : tested on MacOS
• TODO :
  • test desktop installer on Windows
  • test desktop installer on Linux

Feedback is always welcome!
And in doing so, please cut me some slack - it's a ground-breaking project, and as such may have some gremlins for a short (hopefully) while.

Well said.
Cloudron is the most stable platform and resource I have come across, and resolutions of any problems are usually swift, thanks to those on the product side and in the forum.

Sometimes I wish there was a down button in the forum.

http://raneto.com/
Markdown powered Knowledgebase for Nodejs
Raneto is an open source Knowledgebase platform that uses static Markdown files to power your Knowledgebase.

Nice little app

A highly customizable homepage (or startpage / application dashboard) with Docker and service API integrations.

https://gethomepage.dev/
https://github.com/benphelps/homepage

Not yet at V1.0 release but seems to be getting traction
Might (ha ha) be a simple packaging.

@LoudLemur and you !
The community here is possibly the best on the net.
Hope @girish @nebulon @staff get a well-deserved rest, and the whole community has a wonderful Christmas holiday !