fix(docker): generate the broker credentials a self-host install needs - #1754
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The v0.75.0 NATS hardening made NATS_USERNAME and NATS_PASSWORD required in compose, but nothing in the blessed install supplies them: setup.sh never generated them, so every Compose command in a fresh install stops at "required variable NATS_USERNAME is missing a value" — the release smoke test on both architectures included. setup.sh now generates both alongside the database password and the other internal secrets, and the compose-validation job renders the stack from setup.sh's output instead of hand-filling the generated values, so the next required variable the installer forgets fails on the pull request rather than in a release job. The generated values carry a letter prefix: the broker interpolates them into its own config file unquoted and its parser reads an all-digit credential as a number and exits before it listens. Verified by running setup.sh and rendering docker/self-host with a stub release lock (previously the reported interpolation error, now clean), booting nats-server on the rendered config with the generated credentials, and pnpm run format && pnpm run check. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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📝 WalkthroughWalkthroughChangesThe self-host setup now generates Self-hosted broker credentials
Estimated code review effort: 2 (Simple) | ~10 minutes Merge Risk: 🔵 Low · up to The PR fixes self-hosted broker setup, but the installation guide still omits one generated encryption key; an operator could miss it and make encrypted values unreadable when changing configuration. The PR is mergeable with explicit documentation follow-up. Sequence Diagram(s)sequenceDiagram
participant Operator
participant setup.sh
participant EnvFile as .env
participant NATS
Operator->>setup.sh: run self-host setup
setup.sh->>EnvFile: generate missing NATS credentials
setup.sh->>EnvFile: preserve existing credentials
EnvFile->>NATS: provide NATS_USERNAME and NATS_PASSWORD
NATS-->>Operator: start with broker credentials
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Inline comments:
In `@docs/admin/install.mdx`:
- Line 90: Update the credential-encryption key list in the installation
documentation to include both HEPHAESTUS_SECURITY_CREDENTIAL_ENCRYPTION_KEY and
HEPHAESTUS_SECURITY_ENCRYPTION_KEY, while preserving the existing OAuth,
webhook, and message-broker entries.
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.changeset/self-host-broker-credentials.md.github/workflows/ci-compose-validate.ymldocker/.env.exampledocker/self-host/.env.exampledocker/self-host/setup.shdocs/admin/configuration-readiness.mdxdocs/admin/install.mdxscripts/self-host-setup.test.ts
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The list named only the credential key, so an operator could rotate HEPHAESTUS_SECURITY_ENCRYPTION_KEY believing it was theirs to set and lose everything encrypted under it. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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What changed and why
The NATS hardening in #1661 made
NATS_USERNAMEandNATS_PASSWORDrequired incompose.core.yamland
compose.app.yaml, but nothing in the blessed install supplies them:setup.shgenerates thedatabase password, the two encryption keys, the state-cookie key and the webhook secret, and stops
there. A self-hoster who follows
docs/admin/install.mdxto the letter therefore getsfrom every
docker composecommand, includingup. This is what failsHost smoke (amd64)and(arm64)in the v0.75.0 release run — the smoke test runs the same install a person runs.The broker credentials are internal to the stack: the bundled broker is the only thing that reads
them and they are never entered anywhere else, so they belong with the other values the installer
generates rather than in the operator's hands.
setup.shnow generates both, on the same"never replace a value you already set" rule as everything else it manages, so a first install and an
upgrade both come out configured.
deploy-locked-compose.ymlalready renders the maintainers'NATS_USERNAME/NATS_PASSWORDenvironment secrets (#1672 added that class of fix for the credentialencryption key), so the reference deployment needs nothing here and Compose keeps failing closed for
both.
The generated values carry a
hephprefix rather than being plain hex. The broker interpolates theminto its own config file unquoted, and its parser reads an all-digit token as a number and exits
before it listens:
Quoting in the config file is not an alternative — the broker then treats
"$NATS_USERNAME"as theliteral credential, which fails authentication instead of failing to boot. Both
.env.examplefilesnow state the constraint for anyone setting the pair by hand.
Two things beyond the immediate fix, both aimed at the reason this reached a release job:
ci-compose-validate.ymlrendered the self-hosted stack from.env.examplewith the generatedsecrets hand-filled by
sed, includingNATS_USERNAME=ci— so it rendered a stack no installproduces and could not see the installer's omission. It now runs
./setup.shand supplies only thevalues step 2 of the install guide asks the operator for. The next required variable the installer
forgets fails on the pull request that adds it.
docs/admin/configuration-readiness.mdxsaid the reference deployment requires the pair, whichis how the self-hosted stack came to be overlooked. Every deployment requires it.
I checked the rest of the class:
${VAR:?}acrosscompose.proxy.yaml,compose.core.yaml,compose.app.yamlandcompose.single-host.yamlisAPP_HOSTNAME,ACME_EMAIL, theHEPHAESTUS_IMAGE_*set,POSTGRES_PASSWORDand the two NATS variables. The image variables comefrom the verified release lock, the first two are the operator values the guide asks for, and
POSTGRES_PASSWORDis generated — so the NATS pair was the only gap.How to test
On
mainthis prints the interpolation error above; here it renders. I also extracted the renderednats-server.confand bootednats:2.14.6-alpineon it with the generated credentials ("Server isready"), and ran
node --test scripts/self-host-setup.test.ts,pnpm run formatandpnpm run check.Release impact
.changeset/self-host-broker-credentials.md(patch). No operator action: the fix removes one. Anexisting installation picks the credentials up by rerunning
docker/self-host/setup.sh, which leavesevery value already set untouched — and an operator who already set the pair by hand, as the v0.75.0
migration entry asks, keeps their values.
Notes for reviewers
The
hephprefix on the generated values is load-bearing;scripts/self-host-setup.test.tspins itwith the reason.
MIGRATION.md's v0.75.0 entry still tells self-hosters to generate the pair by hand. It is not wrong —
setup.sh will not overwrite what they set — but the shorter path is now "rerun setup.sh", and a
feature PR may not edit that file. Worth folding into the entry if you touch it while the release is
still unpublished.
Model: Claude Fable 5. Harness: Claude Code.
Summary by CodeRabbit
New Features
Bug Fixes
Documentation