Server runtime for the Canvas project
! Use the dev branch for now
On every iteration(refactor) of this project, I actually loose(as in - BREAK -) functionality!
We already had tab management implemented(great showcase for the bitmap-based context tree index), with named sessions and working browser extensions. I decided to slightly refactor the context? or workspace manager? don't even remember(git history would show) - 6 months later we still have no working runtime and using AI actually makes things worse!
(as we are now in an attention-based economy(creds for coining the term for me to @TechLead, I'll rant about it in some "coding-canvas" live stream session @idnc.streams soon))
Sooo
New approach: "Do The Simplest Thing That Could Possibly Work(tm)"
- No federation support
- No remote workspaces*
- Contexts bound to the canvas-server instance
Sorry Universe for the delay..
$ git clone https://github.com/canvas-ai/canvas-server /path/to/canvas-server
$ cd /path/to/canvas-server
$ npm run update-submodules
$ npm install
$ npm run dev # or
$ npm run start$ git clone https://github.com/canvas-ai/canvas-server /path/to/canvas-server
$ cd /path/to/canvas-server
$ CANVAS_SERVER_HOME=~/.canvas docker-compose up --build
# or, to ensure you are running the latest and greatest
# $ docker-compose build --no-cache
# $ docker-compose up --force-recreate
# Cleanup
$ docker-compose down --rmi allSupported ENV vars with their defaults:
NODE_ENV: ${NODE_ENV:-production}
LOG_LEVEL: ${LOG_LEVEL:-info}
CANVAS_SERVER_MODE: ${CANVAS_SERVER_MODE:-standalone}
CANVAS_SERVER_HOME: ${CANVAS_SERVER_HOME:-/opt/canvas-server/server}
CANVAS_USER_HOME: ${CANVAS_USER_HOME:-/opt/canvas-server/users}
CANVAS_ADMIN_EMAIL: ${CANVAS_ADMIN_EMAIL:-admin@canvas.local}
CANVAS_ADMIN_PASSWORD: ${CANVAS_ADMIN_PASSWORD:-$(openssl rand -base64 16)}
CANVAS_ADMIN_RESET: ${CANVAS_ADMIN_RESET:-false}
CANVAS_DISABLE_API: ${CANVAS_DISABLE_API:-false}
CANVAS_API_PORT: ${CANVAS_API_PORT:-8001}
CANVAS_API_HOST: ${CANVAS_API_HOST:-0.0.0.0}
CANVAS_DISABLE_WEB: ${CANVAS_DISABLE_WEB:-false}
CANVAS_WEB_PORT: ${CANVAS_WEB_PORT:-8001}
CANVAS_WEB_HOST: ${CANVAS_WEB_HOST:-0.0.0.0}
CANVAS_JWT_SECRET: ${CANVAS_JWT_SECRET:-$(openssl rand -base64 32)}
CANVAS_JWT_TOKEN_EXPIRY: ${CANVAS_JWT_TOKEN_EXPIRY:-7d}When the Canvas server starts for the first time, it can automatically create an initial admin user if no users exist in the database. This is controlled by environment variables:
- Set
CANVAS_ADMIN_EMAILto the desired admin email (defaults to 'admin@canvas.local') - Set
CANVAS_ADMIN_PASSWORDto the desired admin password (required if admin creation is enabled)
Example:
# In .env file or environment variables
CANVAS_ADMIN_EMAIL=your-email@example.com
CANVAS_ADMIN_PASSWORD=securepassword
CANVAS_ADMIN_RESET=false # Reset admin pass$ cd /path/to/canvas-server
# Stop the canvas server
$ npm run stop # or npm run pm2:stop
$ rm -rf ./node_modules # Ensure we have a clean slate
# Fetch the latest version of canvas-server from Github
$ git pull origin main # or dev if you are feeling adventurous
$ npm run update-submodules
$ npm install
$ npm start # or npm run pm2:start# Copy the .env.example file
$ cp /path/to/canvas-server/src/ui/.env.example /path/to/canvas-server/src/ui/.env
# Edit as needed, for a local setup you'd want to use your machines hostname or FQDN(if resolvable) or its local IP
# Rebuild the web ui
$ npm run build
# Restart the serverbuild-portable-image.sh: Builds a Docker image for the Canvas Server with a portable configuration.
install-ubuntu.sh: Installs and sets up the Canvas Server on an Ubuntu system. It installs Node.js, clones the Canvas Server repository, and sets up the service.
update-git.sh: Script updates the Canvas Server by pulling the latest changes from the git repository and restarting the service.
update-submodules.sh: Pushes git submodule changes to a remote git repository
Canvas Server supports two types of authentication:
- JWT Token Authentication: Used for web UI login and normal user sessions, see
- API Token Authentication: Used for programmatic access (CLI, Electron, browser extensions, curl-based scripts)
- Canvas Server API Reference - Complete REST API and WebSocket documentation