Deploy PowerSync Service on Coolify

Integration guide for deploying the PowerSync Service on Coolify

Coolify is an open-source, self-hosted platform that simplifies the deployment and management of applications, databases, and services on your own infrastructure. Think of it as a self-hosted alternative to platforms like Heroku or Netlify.

Before following this guide, you should:

• Read through the PowerSync Service Setup guide to understand the requirements and configuration options. This guide assumes you have already done so, and will only cover the Coolify specific setup.
• Have Coolify installed and running.

Background

For the PowerSync Service to function correctly, you will need:

• A database,
• Authentication service, and
• Data upload service.

The easiest way to get started is to use Supabase as it provides all three. However, you can also use a different database, and custom authentication and data upload services.

Steps

Step 1: Create Docker Compose Empty resource

Add the Compose file as a Docker Compose Empty resource to your project.

Step 2: Update environment variables and config files

Update the environment variables and config files.

Instructions for each can be found in the Configuration options section.

Step 3: Deploy the PowerSync Service

Click on the Deploy button to deploy the PowerSync Service.

The PowerSync Service will now be available at

• http://localhost:8080 if default config was used, or
• http://{your_coolify_domain}:{PS_PORT} if a custom domain or port was specified.

To check the health of the PowerSync Service, see Healthchecks.

Configuration options

The following configuration options should be updated:

• Environment variables
• sync_rules.yaml file (according to your data requirements)
• powersync.yaml file

Supabase

Environment variables

Environment Variable	Value
PS_DATABASE_TYPE	postgresql
PS_DATABASE_URI	Connection string obtained from Supabase See step 5 in Connect PowerSync to Your Supabase
PS_PORT	Keep default value (8080)
PS_MONGO_URI	mongodb://mongo:27017
PS_JWKS_URL	Keep default value

Environment Variable	Value
PS_DATABASE_TYPE	postgresql
PS_DATABASE_URI	Connection string obtained from Supabase See step 5 in Connect PowerSync to Your Supabase
PS_PORT	Keep default value (8080)
PS_MONGO_URI	mongodb://mongo:27017
PS_JWKS_URL	Keep default value

...
# Client (application end user) authentication settings
client_auth:
    # Enable this if using Supabase Auth
    supabase: true
...

Custom

Environment variables

Environment Variable	Value
PS_DATABASE_TYPE	postgresql OR mongodb OR mysql
PS_DATABASE_URI	The database connection URI (according to your database type) where your data is stored.
PS_PORT	Default value (8080) You can change this if you want the PowerSync Service to be available on a different port.
PS_MONGO_URI	mongodb://mongo:27017
PS_JWKS_URL	The URL of the JWKS endpoint of your authentication service.

Environment Variable	Value
PS_DATABASE_TYPE	postgresql OR mongodb OR mysql
PS_DATABASE_URI	The database connection URI (according to your database type) where your data is stored.
PS_PORT	Default value (8080) You can change this if you want the PowerSync Service to be available on a different port.
PS_MONGO_URI	mongodb://mongo:27017
PS_JWKS_URL	The URL of the JWKS endpoint of your authentication service.

...
# Client (application end user) authentication settings
client_auth:
    # Enable this if using Supabase Auth
    supabase: false

    # JWKS URIs can be specified here
    jwks_uri: !env PS_JWKS_URL

    # Optional static collection of public keys for JWT verification
    jwks:
        keys:
            - kty: 'oct'
              k: 'use_a_better_token_in_production'
              alg: 'HS256'

    # JWKS audience
    audience: ["powersync-dev", "powersync", "http://localhost:8080"]

api:
    tokens:
        # These tokens are used for local admin API route authentication
        - use_a_better_token_in_production

Base Compose file

The following Compose file serves as a universal starting point for deploying the PowerSync Service on Coolify.

Compose file

services:
mongo:
    image: mongo:7.0
    command: --replSet rs0 --bind_ip_all --quiet
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
    - 27017:27017
    volumes:
    - mongo_storage:/data/db

# Initializes the MongoDB replica set. This service will not usually be actively running
mongo-rs-init:
    image: mongo:7.0
    depends_on:
    - mongo
    restart: on-failure
    entrypoint:
    - bash
    - -c
    - 'mongosh --host mongo:27017 --eval ''try{rs.status().ok && quit(0)} catch {} rs.initiate({_id: "rs0", version: 1, members: [{ _id: 0, host : "mongo:27017" }]})'''

# PowerSync Service
powersync:
    image: journeyapps/powersync-service:latest
    container_name: powersync
    depends_on:
    - mongo-rs-init
    command: [ "start", "-r", "unified"]
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
    - NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=1000"
    - POWERSYNC_CONFIG_PATH=/home/config/powersync.yaml
    - PS_DATABASE_TYPE=${PS_DEMO_BACKEND_DATABASE_TYPE:-postgresql}
    - PS_DATABASE_URI=${PS_DATABASE_URI:-postgresql://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/postgres}
    - PS_PORT=${PS_PORT:-8080}
    - PS_MONGO_URI=${PS_MONGO_URI:-mongodb://mongo:27017}
    - PS_SUPABASE_AUTH=${USE_SUPABASE_AUTH:-false}
    - PS_JWKS_URL=${PS_JWKS_URL:-http://localhost:6060/api/auth/keys}
    ports:
    - ${PS_PORT}:${PS_PORT}
    volumes:
    - ./volumes/config:/home/config
    - type: bind
        source: ./volumes/config/sync_rules.yaml
        target: /home/config/sync_rules.yaml
        content: |
        bucket_definitions:
            user_lists:
            # Separate bucket per To-Do list
            parameters: select id as list_id from lists where owner_id = request.user_id()
            data:
                - select * from lists where id = bucket.list_id
                - select * from todos where list_id = bucket.list_id
    - type: bind
        source: ./volumes/config/powersync.yaml
        target: /home/config/powersync.yaml
        content: |
        # yaml-language-server: $schema=../schema/schema.json
        # Note that this example uses YAML custom tags for environment variable substitution.
        # Using `!env [variable name]` will substitute the value of the environment variable named
        # [variable name].
        
        # migrations:
        #   # Migrations run automatically by default.
        #   # Setting this to true will skip automatic migrations.
        #   # Migrations can be triggered externally by altering the container `command`.
        #   disable_auto_migration: true
        
        # Settings for telemetry reporting
        # See https://docs.powersync.com/self-hosting/telemetry
        telemetry:
            # Opt out of reporting anonymized usage metrics to PowerSync telemetry service
            disable_telemetry_sharing: false
        
        # Settings for source database replication
        replication:
            # Specify database connection details
            # Note only 1 connection is currently supported
            # Multiple connection support is on the roadmap
            connections:
            - type: !env PS_DATABASE_TYPE
                # The PowerSync server container can access the Postgres DB via the DB's service name.
                # In this case the hostname is pg-db
        
                # The connection URI or individual parameters can be specified.
                # Individual params take precedence over URI params
                uri: !env PS_BACKEND_DATABASE_URI
        
                # Or use individual params
        
                # hostname: pg-db # From the Docker Compose service name
                # port: 5432
                # database: postgres
                # username: postgres
                # password: mypassword
        
                # SSL settings
                sslmode: disable # 'verify-full' (default) or 'verify-ca' or 'disable'
                # 'disable' is OK for local/private networks, not for public networks
        
                # Required for verify-ca, optional for verify-full
                # This should be the certificate(s) content in PEM format
                # cacert: !env PS_PG_CA_CERT
        
                # Include a certificate here for HTTPs
                # This should be the certificate content in PEM format
                # client_certificate: !env PS_PG_CLIENT_CERT
                # This should be the key content in PEM format
                # client_private_key: !env PS_PG_CLIENT_PRIVATE_KEY
        
        # This is valid if using the `mongo` service defined in `ps-mongo.yaml`
        
        # Connection settings for sync bucket storage
        storage:
            type: mongodb
            uri: !env PS_MONGO_URI
            # Use these if authentication is required. The user should have `readWrite` and `dbAdmin` roles
            # username: my-mongo-user
            # password: my-password
        
        # The port which the PowerSync API server will listen on
        port: !env PS_PORT
        
        # Specify sync rules
        sync_rules:
            path: /home/config/sync_rules.yaml
        
        # Client (application end user) authentication settings
        client_auth:
            # Enable this if using Supabase Auth
            supabase: true
        
            # JWKS URIs can be specified here
            jwks_uri: !env PS_JWKS_URL
        
            # Optional static collection of public keys for JWT verification
            # jwks:
            #   keys:
            #     - kty: 'RSA'
            #       n: !env PS_JWK_N
            #       e: !env PS_JWK_E
            #       alg: 'RS256'
            #       kid: !env PS_JWK_KID
        
            # JWKS audience
            audience: ["powersync-dev", "powersync"]
        
        api:
            tokens:
            # These tokens are used for local admin API route authentication
            - use_a_better_token_in_production