NextChair
Booking app as an alternative to Booksy
VPS deployment (multi-business)
One-time setup on a fresh VPS with Docker and the Compose plugin already installed. Run everything from the repo's checkout directory.
# 1. Clone the repo at the path you intend to keep it at — STACKS_DIR
# below must be this exact absolute path, since containers shell
# `docker compose` back out to the HOST's dockerd via a mounted
# socket (see stacks/infra/compose.yaml and manager/README.md for why).
git clone <your-repo-url> /opt/nextchair
cd /opt/nextchair
# 2. Shared Docker network every stack attaches to.
docker network create next-chair-edge
# 3. Shared infrastructure: MySQL, Caddy (reverse proxy + automatic TLS),
# Dockge (stack management UI, http://<vps-ip>:5001).
cp .env.infra.example stacks/infra/.env
# edit stacks/infra/.env — MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD, ACME_EMAIL, and set
# STACKS_DIR to this exact clone path, e.g. /opt/nextchair/stacks
docker compose -f stacks/infra/compose.yaml --env-file stacks/infra/.env up -d
# 4. Build the shared business image (re-run this after every code
# update — see stacks/blake-heritage/compose.yaml's own note).
docker build -t nextchair-app:latest .
# 5. The management UI (manager/) — this is what you'll use to add
# businesses from here on, not the by-hand steps in stacks/infra/
# compose.yaml's header (those exist only as a fallback/reference).
cp manager/.env.example stacks/manager/.env
# edit stacks/manager/.env — MANAGER_EMAIL/PASSWORD_HASH, MANAGER_SESSION_SECRET,
# MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD (same value as step 3), and STACKS_DIR (same as step 3)
docker compose -f stacks/manager/compose.yaml --env-file stacks/manager/.env up -d --build
Then, per business, point its domain's DNS at the VPS and use the
management UI (https://<your-manager-domain> — add a Caddy site for it
the same way as any business, see stacks/infra/sites/.gitkeep) to add
it: name, slug, domain — it creates the database, generates secrets,
starts the container, and runs migrations for you. Finish setup by
visiting https://<business-domain>/install.
To ship a code update to every business: git pull, rebuild the image
(step 4), then use each business's Update button in the management UI
(or docker compose up -d --force-recreate in its stacks/<slug>/
directory) to recreate it against the new image.