FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

General

What is MeadOS, in one sentence?

A self-hosted, browser-based workspace that tracks your mead from recipe and fermentation through to the bottle and the cellar — recipes, gravity logs, nutrient schedules, inventory, labels, tasting notes and aging, all backed by one SQLite file.

Is it free? Can I sell it or use it commercially?

It's free to use, modify and share for any noncommercial purpose (personal, hobby, research, nonprofit/education) under the PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0. Selling it or using it for commercial advantage is not permitted.

Does it work for wine, cider or beer?

It's built for mead, but the cyser (apple), pyment (grape) and braggot (malt) recipes and the general calculators apply to cider/wine/beer-adjacent brews too. The honey-centric features (honey library, honey ratings, TOSNA honey-darkness scaling) are mead-specific.

Is there a cloud/hosted version?

No. MeadOS is self-hosted by design — it runs on hardware you control and keeps your data local. That's the point.

Installation & running

What do I need to install?

Just Python 3.8+. No pip packages, no Node.js, no build step, no separate database. Clone the repo and run python3 server.py.

Which devices can use it at once?

Any number, on the same network. They all share the same data. Open http://<machine-ip>:8080 from a phone, tablet or another computer.

Can I change the port or database location?

Yes: python3 server.py --port 9000 --db /path/to/meados.db. See Installation.

How do I keep it running all the time?

Run it under systemd (Linux) or launchd (macOS), or nohup for quick use. Full examples on Security & Deployment.

Can I install it like an app?

Yes — it's a PWA. Use your browser's Install / Add to Home Screen. It uses your brand logo as the icon and opens the cached shell offline.

Data & safety

Where is my data, and how do I back it up?

Everything is in meados.db (plus uploaded images under assets/). Back up by copying that one file — safe even while running. Details and restore steps on Backups & Data.

I overwrote something by accident. Can I get it back?

Yes — MeadOS keeps the last 50 saves in a history table. Restore from the in-app history view or directly from the database. See Backups & Data.

Will updating MeadOS wipe my batches?

No. git pull updates the app files only; your meados.db is untouched. Back up first as a habit.

Security & access

Do I need a password?

On a trusted home LAN with no port-forwarding, no. If you expose MeadOS to the internet, set an external-access password and ideally run it behind an HTTPS reverse proxy.

Is it safe to expose to the internet?

It can be, with care: set the password, put it behind a reverse proxy with HTTPS (and ideally its own auth), and confirm the trusted-network settings. MeadOS adds login throttling, CSRF/origin checks and an audit log on top.

Why does a connection from the internet show as "LAN"?

A NAT hairpin, CDN or VPN can make external requests appear with a private or shared IP. Check the security card, and add genuine ranges as trusted networks only when you're sure. Behind Cloudflare, enable the CF-Connecting-IP option.

Brewing features

Do I have to use Home Assistant?

No. It's entirely optional. Without it, you log temperatures and gravity manually, and the calendar feed gives you reminders. See Home Assistant.

Can I add my own recipes?

Yes — create from scratch, fork a built-in recipe, save templates, import BeerXML, and export to BeerXML or PDF. See Recipes & Designer.

What's the "every honey rated" thing on recipe pages?

Each recipe carries a hand-curated verdict for every honey in the library — great / good / workable / clash — with a note on what that honey does to that specific mead, and your in-stock honeys pinned to the top. See Recipes.

How does it decide a batch is "done fermenting"?

By the data, not the calendar: a stable gravity across two readings at target, plus the brew-coach steps you've completed. It flags a possible stall if gravity goes flat too early. See Batches & Fermentation.

Why does it insist on sorbate and metabisulfite before backsweetening?

Because metabisulfite alone won't reliably stop yeast from restarting on fresh sugar. The two together are what actually stabilise a still mead. (Sparkling/bottle-conditioned recipes deliberately skip stabilising so they can carbonate.)

Can I scale a recipe and switch units?

Yes — the recipe scale slider rescales ingredients, nutrient counts and costs live, with a metric / US / imperial readout. Everything is stored metric internally.

Still stuck?

See Troubleshooting, or open an issue on GitHub.