Tipeline Server — Bare-Metal Linux Deployment

Running the stack directly on Linux (Ubuntu 22.04+) with systemd, no Docker.

Two long-running Node.js processes talk to each other over a Unix socket:

• tipeline-core — task execution engine
• tipeline-server — HTTP/WebSocket API, backed by PostgreSQL via Knex (see Docker setup — there's no SQLite/file-based fallback; Postgres is required in every environment, including local dev)

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1. Install Node.js 24

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_24.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs
node -v   # v24.x.x

2. Install PostgreSQL

sudo apt install -y postgresql postgresql-contrib
sudo systemctl enable --now postgresql

sudo -u postgres psql <<'SQL'
CREATE USER tipeline WITH PASSWORD 'a-strong-db-password';
CREATE DATABASE tipeline_server OWNER tipeline;
SQL

3. Create a dedicated system user

sudo useradd --system --no-create-home --shell /usr/sbin/nologin tipeline

4. Deploy the code

sudo mkdir -p /opt/tipeline
sudo git clone <your-repo-url> /opt/tipeline
sudo chown -R tipeline:tipeline /opt/tipeline

5. Install dependencies and build

cd /opt/tipeline
sudo -u tipeline npm install
sudo -u tipeline npm run build

Compiles the shared packages in dependency order, then apps/core, apps/cli and apps/server.

6. Create data directories

sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/tipeline /tmp/tipeline
sudo chown tipeline:tipeline /var/lib/tipeline /tmp/tipeline

• /var/lib/tipeline — Core's persistent SQLite database (Core itself still uses SQLite locally; only the server's data lives in Postgres)
• /tmp/tipeline — IPC socket, ephemeral, recreated on boot

7. Create the environment file

sudo mkdir -p /etc/tipeline
sudo tee /etc/tipeline/server.env > /dev/null <<EOF
TIPELINE_IPC_SOCKET_ROOT=/tmp/tipeline/
TIPELINE_SERVER_PORT=4001
TIPELINE_DB_CLIENT=pg
TIPELINE_DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
TIPELINE_DB_PORT=5432
TIPELINE_DB_NAME=tipeline_server
TIPELINE_DB_USER=tipeline
TIPELINE_DB_PASSWORD=a-strong-db-password
TIPELINE_ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@yourdomain.com
TIPELINE_ADMIN_PASSWORD=a-strong-password
EOF
sudo chmod 600 /etc/tipeline/server.env

8. Create systemd service files

Core — /etc/systemd/system/tipeline-core.service:

[Unit]
Description=Tipeline Core Engine
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=tipeline
WorkingDirectory=/opt/tipeline
Environment=TIPELINE_IPC_SOCKET_ROOT=/tmp/tipeline/
ExecStartPre=/bin/mkdir -p /tmp/tipeline
ExecStart=/usr/bin/node apps/core/dist/engine/Server.js
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5
StandardOutput=journal
StandardError=journal

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Server — /etc/systemd/system/tipeline-server.service:

[Unit]
Description=Tipeline HTTP Server
After=tipeline-core.service postgresql.service
Requires=tipeline-core.service

[Service]
Type=simple
User=tipeline
WorkingDirectory=/opt/tipeline
EnvironmentFile=/etc/tipeline/server.env
ExecStart=/usr/bin/node apps/server/dist/index.js
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5
StandardOutput=journal
StandardError=journal

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

9. Enable and start

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now tipeline-core tipeline-server
sudo systemctl status tipeline-core tipeline-server
sudo journalctl -u tipeline-core -u tipeline-server -f

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Nginx + TLS

Same reverse-proxy config as the Docker setup — see Docker setup §8. Install via apt install -y nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx instead of a container.

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Deploying updates

cd /opt/tipeline
sudo -u tipeline git pull
sudo -u tipeline npm install
sudo -u tipeline npm run build
sudo systemctl restart tipeline-core tipeline-server

Migrations run automatically on tipeline-server startup. Remember: editing an already-applied migration file does nothing — a new schema change always needs a new migration file, since Knex tracks completion by filename, not content.

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Data locations

Path	Contents
PostgreSQL tipeline_server	Users, tokens, webhooks, task ownership, audit log
~/Tipeline/.database/tipeline.db (as the tipeline user)	Core's own database and task state
/tmp/tipeline/	IPC socket — ephemeral

Backups

# /etc/cron.daily/tipeline-backup
#!/bin/bash
sudo -u postgres pg_dump tipeline_server > /backups/server-$(date +%F).sql

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Comparison with Docker

	Docker	Bare metal
Process management	Restart policy	systemd
Isolation	Container filesystem	Dedicated system user
Updates	docker compose up --build	git pull && npm run build && systemctl restart
Logs	docker compose logs	journalctl
IPC socket	Shared volume	/tmp/tipeline/ on the host