Reverse Proxy

Reverse Proxy

Putting TREK behind a TLS-terminating reverse proxy is strongly recommended for production.

Why HTTPS Matters for TREK

• PWA install requires HTTPS — browsers block "Add to Home Screen" on plain HTTP.
• Session cookies — the trek_session cookie is marked secure in production, so it won't be sent over HTTP.
• OIDC / SSO — identity providers require the redirect URI to use HTTPS.
• MCP — the MCP API requires HTTPS for OAuth 2.1 auth.

Two Hard Requirements

Whatever proxy you use, it must satisfy two constraints:

1. WebSocket upgrades on /ws — TREK uses WebSockets for real-time sync. Set proxy_read_timeout 86400 (Nginx) or rely on Caddy's automatic upgrade handling.
2. Body size ≥ 500 MB — backup restore ZIPs can include the full uploads directory. Set client_max_body_size 500m (Nginx) or request_body_max_size 500mb (Caddy) if you restore large backups.

Nginx

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name trek.yourdomain.com;
    return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name trek.yourdomain.com;

    ssl_certificate /path/to/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /path/to/privkey.pem;

    location /ws {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
        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_read_timeout 86400;
        # File uploads are capped at 50 MB; backup restore ZIPs can include the full
        # uploads directory and may exceed that — raise this value if restores fail.
        client_max_body_size 500m;
    }

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
        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;
        # Needed for backup restore uploads — can exceed the Nginx default of 1 MB.
        client_max_body_size 500m;
    }
}

Key lines:

• proxy_read_timeout 86400 — keeps WebSocket connections alive (86400 s = 24 h).
• client_max_body_size 500m — allows large backup restore uploads; set in both locations.
• X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme — tells TREK whether the original request was HTTPS; required for FORCE_HTTPS redirect and cookie security to work correctly.

Caddy

Caddy handles WebSocket upgrades automatically:

trek.yourdomain.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:3000
}

For large backup restores, add:

trek.yourdomain.com {
    request_body max_size 500mb
    reverse_proxy localhost:3000
}

HTTPS Environment Variables

Four variables control how TREK behaves behind a proxy. They work as a group:

Variable	Purpose	Default
FORCE_HTTPS	When true: 301-redirects HTTP→HTTPS (except /api/health), sends HSTS (max-age=31536000), adds CSP upgrade-insecure-requests, forces cookie secure flag	false
TRUST_PROXY	Number of trusted proxy hops. Lets Express read the real client IP from X-Forwarded-For. Automatically set to 1 in production even if not explicitly configured.	1 (production), off (development)
COOKIE_SECURE	Controls the secure flag on trek_session. Auto-derived as true when NODE_ENV=production or FORCE_HTTPS=true. Set to false explicitly to allow cookies over plain HTTP (e.g. LAN testing without TLS).	auto
ALLOWED_ORIGINS	Comma-separated list of allowed CORS origins (e.g. https://trek.example.com). In production without this set, all cross-origin requests are blocked. In development without this set, all origins are allowed.	blocked in prod, open in dev

Note on FORCE_HTTPS and proxy headers: The HTTPS redirect reads X-Forwarded-Proto directly from the incoming headers — it does not depend on Express's trust proxy setting. If you set FORCE_HTTPS=true and your reverse proxy correctly sends X-Forwarded-Proto: https, the redirect will work regardless of TRUST_PROXY. However, you still need TRUST_PROXY set so Express resolves the correct client IP from X-Forwarded-For.

If you access TREK directly on http://<host>:3000 without a proxy, leave FORCE_HTTPS unset and do not set TRUST_PROXY.

See Environment-Variables for full documentation of these and all other variables.

Next Steps

• Environment-Variables — full variable reference including OIDC
• Install-Docker-Compose — production compose file with proxy-ready env vars