Custom Nginx Setup

Name: Rybbit
Author: Rybbit

This guide shows you how to set up Rybbit with your own Nginx installation instead of using the built-in Caddy server.

Prerequisites

Existing Nginx installation
SSL certificates (Let’s Encrypt recommended)
Domain pointed to your server
Rybbit running with --no-webserver flag

Setup Steps

Run Rybbit without Caddy

First, set up Rybbit to expose ports without the built-in webserver:


./setup.sh your.domain.name --no-webserver

This will expose:

Backend service on port 3001
Client service on port 3002

Configure Nginx

Create or update your Nginx configuration file (usually in /etc/nginx/sites-available/):


server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your.domain.name;
    return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}
 
server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name your.domain.name;
 
    # SSL configuration (using Let's Encrypt)
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/your.domain.name/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/your.domain.name/privkey.pem;
    
    # Modern SSL configuration
    ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
    ssl_ciphers ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384;
    ssl_prefer_server_ciphers off;
    
    # Security headers
    add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN" always;
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
    add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block" always;
 
    # API requests
    location /api/ {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3001;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $server_name;
        
        # Timeouts
        proxy_connect_timeout 60s;
        proxy_send_timeout 60s;
        proxy_read_timeout 60s;
    }
 
    # Client app
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3002;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $server_name;
        
        # Timeouts
        proxy_connect_timeout 60s;
        proxy_send_timeout 60s;
        proxy_read_timeout 60s;
    }
}

Enable the Site

Enable your Nginx configuration:


# Create symlink to enable the site
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/your-site /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
 
# Test the configuration
sudo nginx -t
 
# Reload Nginx
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Verify Setup

Check that everything is working:


# Check Nginx status
sudo systemctl status nginx
 
# Check Rybbit services
docker compose ps
 
# Test the website
curl -I https://your.domain.name

SSL Certificate Setup with Certbot

If you need to set up SSL certificates with Let’s Encrypt:

Install Certbot


# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt update
sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx
 
# CentOS/RHEL
sudo yum install certbot python3-certbot-nginx

Obtain Certificate


sudo certbot --nginx -d your.domain.name

Auto-renewal

Set up automatic renewal:


# Test renewal
sudo certbot renew --dry-run
 
# Check existing cron job
sudo crontab -l

Certbot usually sets up auto-renewal automatically, but you can add this cron job if needed:


0 12 * * * /usr/bin/certbot renew --quiet

Custom Ports

If you need to use custom ports for Rybbit:


./setup.sh your.domain.name --no-webserver --backend-port 8080 --client-port 8081

Update your Nginx configuration accordingly:


location /api/ {
    proxy_pass http://localhost:8080;  # Custom backend port
    # ... rest of config
}
 
location / {
    proxy_pass http://localhost:8081;  # Custom client port
    # ... rest of config
}

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

502 Bad Gateway: Check if Rybbit services are running:


docker compose ps
docker compose logs

SSL Certificate Issues: Verify certificate paths:


sudo certbot certificates

Permission Denied: Check Nginx error logs:


sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log

Logs

Monitor logs for debugging:


# Nginx access logs
sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/access.log
 
# Nginx error logs
sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log
 
# Rybbit logs
docker compose logs -f

For step-by-step Nginx installation and SSL setup, see our Nginx Setup Guide.