How to Install LogChimp on Ubuntu?

A comprehensive guide for installing, configuring, and running LogChimp on your Ubuntu 20.04 server for production use.

Overview

This is the official guide for self-hosting LogChimp using our recommended stack on Ubuntu 20.04. If you're comfortable installing, maintaining, and updating your own software, this guide is for you. By the end of this guide, you’ll have a fully configured LogChimp installation running in production.

You can use this link to DigitalOcean and get free $100 credits.

Prerequisites

The officially recommended production installation requires the following stack:

• Ubuntu v20.04
• NGINX
• Node.js v12
• PostgreSQL v12
• Systemd
• A server with at least 1GB memory
• A registered domain name

Before getting started, you should set up a working DNS A-Record from your domain registrar, pointing to the server’s IP address.

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Server Setup

Create a New User

Open up your terminal and log in to your new server as the root user:

# Login via SSH
ssh root@<your_server_ip>

# Create a new user and follow prompts
adduser <user>

# Add the user to the superuser group to unlock admin privileges
usermod -aG sudo <user>

# Then log in as the new user
su - <user>

Update Packages

Ensure package lists and installed packages are up to date.

# Update package lists
sudo apt-get update

# Update installed packages
sudo apt-get upgrade

Follow any prompts to enter the password you just created in the previous step.

Install NGINX

LogChimp uses an NGINX server and SSL configuration.

# Install NGINX
sudo apt-get install nginx

Allow firewall connections for HTTP, HTTPS, and OpenSSH.

sudo ufw allow 'Nginx HTTP'
sudo ufw allow 'Nginx HTTPS'
sudo ufw allow 'OpenSSH'

Install PostgreSQL

Next, you’ll need to install PostgreSQL to be used as the production database.

# Install PostgreSQL
sudo apt-get install postgresql-12 postgresql-contrib

Create <user> (also known as a role) for the database using the psql prompt.

# Open the PostgreSQL prompt
sudo -u postgres psql

# Create a new user with SUPERUSER
CREATE ROLE <user> PASSWORD '<password>' SUPERUSER;

# Create a database
CREATE DATABASE <database name>;

# Then exit the PostgreSQL prompt
quit

Install Node.js

You will need to have a supported version of Node installed system-wide as described below. If you have a different setup, you may encounter problems.

# Add the NodeSource APT repository for Node 12
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_12.x | sudo -E bash

# Install Node.js
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

# Install pnpm
sudo npm install pnpm@latest -g

Install LogChimp

Install LogChimp Server

# Create the 'server' directory
sudo mkdir server && cd server

# Get the latest release tag name
LATEST_RELEASE_TAG=$(curl --silent "https://api.github.com/repos/logchimp/logchimp/releases/latest" | grep '"tag_name":' | sed -E 's/.*"([^"]+)".*/\1/')

# Download the LogChimp server to the current directory
sudo curl -L -o logchimp-server.tar.gz "https://api.github.com/repos/logchimp/logchimp/tarball/$LATEST_RELEASE_TAG"

After extracting the files to the current directory.

# Delete the zip file (optional)
sudo rm logchimp-server.tar.gz

# Install packages using pnpm
pnpm install

Configuration

Create the logchimp.config.json configuration file in the current directory using LogChimp CLI.

Running in the Background

Create a service file in /etc/systemd/system/logchimp.service

[Unit]
Description=Build better products with customer feedback
Documentation=https://logchimp.codecarrot.net
After=network.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/node /home/logchimp/core/index.js
Restart=on-failure
StandardOutput=syslog
StandardError=syslog
SyslogIdentifier=logchimp
User=<user>
Environment=NODE_ENV=production

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

# Reload systemd
sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Install LogChimp Theme

To install the LogChimp default theme.

# Change to the user directory
cd /home/<user>

# Download the LogChimp theme
git clone "https://github.com/logchimp/theme" theme

Build the LogChimp theme

# Change to the theme directory
cd theme

# Install packages using pnpm
pnpm install

# Compile the LogChimp theme
pnpm build

To customize the build, you can download the source code directly from GitHub.

Setup Nginx

cd /etc/nginx/sites-available/

# Create nginx configuration for your domain
sudo nano <your_domain>

Now paste this configuration and save the changes

server {
  listen 80;
  listen [::]:80;

  server_name <your_domain> www.<your_domain>;

  root  /home/logchimp/theme/dist;

  location / {
    index  index.html;
    try_files $uri $uri/ /index.html;
  }

  location /api {
    proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3000;
  }

  error_page   500 502 503 504  /50x.html;
  location = /50x.html {
    root   /usr/share/nginx/html;
  }
}

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/<your_domain> /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Add SSL Certificate to your Domain

You can either add your SSL certificate or create one for free by following these steps:

# Install certbot
sudo apt-get install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y

Obtaining an SSL certificate

sudo certbot --nginx -d <your_domain>

Lastly, certbot will ask how you’d like to configure your HTTPS settings. Select 2 and hit Enter. The configuration will be updated, and Nginx will reload to pick up the new settings.

🎉 Congrats! You've successfully set up your own LogChimp site.