Lichess Docker Compose

Docker compose setup for Lichess development. Based on benediktwerner and phorcys420 lichess-docker.

Requirements

• docker and docker compose
• time, and preferably a coffee machine (or actually, weed)

Description

• lichess_base : A docker image, based on debian:stable-slim that packages Scala, Java & NodeJS.
• lila/data/application.conf. : An example application.conf config for lila server.
• lila-ws/data/ws.conf : An example ws.conf config for lila-ws server.
• lila-fishnet/data/application.conf: Example. Same as the original, but with the link changed to redis.
• nginx_examples : An example nginx.conf for chess.exaple.com.
• docker-compose.yaml. : redis, mongo, lila, lila-ws and other services.

Usage

Note: One may be tempted to replace the mongodb://db and redis://redis URLs with whatever their mind comes up with, but this is normal! Linked docker containers will automatically have hostnames.

Note: If you're on windows (non-WSL), make sure your git config is using Unix line endings (LF) and not Windows ones (CLRF).

Note: For example, the working folder will be lichess. Don't forget to change the path ./lichess, shown in the examples below.

1. Navigate to the folder, where the project will be.

2. Clone this repo to ./lichess and cd into them.

   git clone https://github.com/seb81/lichess-docker-compose ./lichess && cd ./lichess

3. Create a cache folder.

   mkdir -p ./cache

4. Create a source folder for lila and lila-ws.

   mkdir -p ./{lila,lila-ws}/source

5. Clone lila repo to ./lila/source.

   git clone --recursive https://github.com/lichess-org/lila.git ./lila/source

6. Clone lila-ws repo to ./lila-ws/source.

   git clone https://github.com/lichess-org/lila-ws.git ./lila-ws/source

7. Parts of the site (like puzzles) require some minimal content to function. Clone lila-db-seed repo.

   git clone https://github.com/lichess-org/lila-db-seed.git

8. Chown lila, lila-ws and cache.

   chown -R 1000:1000 ./{lila,lila-ws,cache}

9. Build the lichess_base image.

   docker build --tag sb/lichess_base ./lichess_base/

10. Edit the example configuration file located at ./lila/data/application.conf.

    nano ./lila/data/application.conf

11. Edit the CSRF origin in the example config file located at ./lila-ws/data/ws.conf.

    nano ./lila-ws/data/ws.conf

12. Run docker image lichess_base for setup lila.

   # get full path to lichess folder
   lichess_path=$(realpath .)
   
   # run docker image for buil and complile lila
   docker run \
     --name lila \
     --interactive \
     --tty \
     --rm \
     --volume $lichess_path/lila/source:/home/lichess/lila \
     --volume $lichess_path/lila/data/application.conf:/home/lichess/lila/conf/application.conf \
     --volume $lichess_path/cache:/home/lichess/.cache \
     --user 1000:1000 \
     --workdir /home/lichess/lila \
     sb/lichess_base
   
   # Build the CSS and JS
   ./ui/build
   
   # Start the SBT console
   ./lila compile
   
   # exit
   exit

13. Before the first run, you should create db indices. And (optional) seed database.

   # get full path to lichess folder
   lichess_path=$(realpath .)
   
   # run mongo db
   docker run \
     --name lila_db \
     --rm \
     --volume $lichess_path/lila_mongo/db:/data/db \
     --volume $lichess_path/lila_mongo/configdb:/data/configdb \
     --volume $lichess_path/lila/source/bin/mongodb/indexes.js:/host/lila/bin/mongodb/indexes.js \
     --volume $lichess_path/lila-db-seed:/host/lila-db-seed \
     mongo:5.0

In new terminal window

# create db indices
docker exec -it lila_db mongo lichess /host/lila/bin/mongodb/indexes.js

# optional seed database
docker exec -it lila_db mongorestore /host/lila-db-seed/dump

Optional populate your database

# get full path to lichess folder
lichess_path=$(realpath .)

# run docker image for lila-db-seed/spamdb/spamdb.py script.
docker run \
     --name lila-pip3 \
     --interactive \
     --tty \
     --rm \
     --volume $lichess_path/lila-db-seed:/home/lichess/lila-db-seed \
     --user 1000:1000 \
     --workdir /home/lichess/lila-db-seed \
     --link lila_db:db \
     sb/lichess_base

# temporary install python & pip, install pymongo
sudo apt update && sudo apt install python3 python3-pip -y && pip3 install pymongo

# usage help
python3 /home/lichess/lila-db-seed/spamdb/spamdb.py --help

# example. import users 2 normal users and all special users from ./lila-db-seed/spamdb/data/uids.txt
python3 /home/lichess/lila-db-seed/spamdb/spamdb.py \
 --uri mongodb://db:27017/lichess \
 --password strong_password \
 --users 0 \
 --posts 0 \
 --blogs 0 \
 --tours 0 \
 --games 0 \
 --follow 0 \
 --teams 1 \
 --no-timeline

# exit
exit

Stop mongo db. Ctrl + c in first terminal window with mongo db.

14. Optional add "play against the computer". if you don't need it, comment out the services lila-fishnet and lila-fishnet-client in docker-compose.yaml

git clone https://github.com/lichess-org/lila-fishnet.git  ./lila-fishnet
git clone --recursive https://github.com/lichess-org/fishnet.git ./fishnet
chown -R 1000:1000 lila-db-seed ./{lila,lila-ws,cache,lila-fishnet,fishnet}

15. Optional: setup Stockfish analysis. if you don't need it, comment out the service lila-stockfish-analysis in docker-compose.yaml

16. Run lichess docker compose.

docker compose -f ./docker-compose.yaml up -d

17. You should also read the Lichess Development Onboarding guide on the Lichess GitHub wiki for additional instructions on seeding the db, gaining admin access, or running suplementary services like fishnet for server analysis or playing vs Stockfish.

Domain structure

chess.example.com	1	IN	A       123.123.123.123
ws.chess.example.com. 1	IN	CNAME   chess.meetings.pp.ua.

Nginx config description:

chess.example.com being the main domain.

ws.chess.example.com being the websocket server for chess.example.com.

Note: Don't forget to restart nginx after editing the config for the domain

nginx -t && service nginx restart

Optional

If you do not want to add content from spamdb to the database, like me, but you need special users. Go to website, create a user. If you want to make a user admin, connect to the lichess db with mongo lichess and run

docker exec -it lila_db mongo lichess db.user4.update({ _id: "your_id" }, {$set: {roles: ["ROLE_SUPER_ADMIN"]}})

With your_id being the username in lowercase.

You can also run docker container Mongo Express for edit database.

docker run -it --rm \
    --name mongo-express \
    --network lichess_default \
    -p 8081:8081 \
    -e ME_CONFIG_OPTIONS_EDITORTHEME="ambiance" \
    -e ME_CONFIG_BASICAUTH_USERNAME="user_for_web_authentication" \
    -e ME_CONFIG_BASICAUTH_PASSWORD="user_password_for_web_authentication" \
    -e ME_CONFIG_MONGODB_URL="mongodb://db:27017/lichess" \
    mongo-express

Useful commands

• Stop and remove all the Compose containers: docker compose down

• Start all the Compose containers: docker compose up -d

• View container logs: docker logs lila

• Stop the Docker container: docker stop lila

• Open a shell in the running container: docker exec -it lila bash

• Attach to the Docker container (main process): docker attach lila

• Open a shell as root in the running container: docker exec -u 0 -it lila bash

In the above commands, lila is replaceable by lila_redis, lila_db, lila-ws, lila-fishnet, lila-fishnet-client and lila-stockfish-analysis.