BetterFrame/deploy

BetterFrame deployment

Recommended: Docker services + native kiosk

Run server, Angie/nginx, and Node-RED in Docker Compose. Only Angie publishes a host port. The BetterFrame backend ports and Node-RED are internal to the Docker network, which forces /nrdp/, /in/kiosk/, and admin traffic through the proxy auth rules.

cd /opt/betterframe
docker compose -f deploy/docker/docker-compose.yml up -d --build

Published:

• 80 -> Angie/nginx public edge

Internal only:

• 18080 -> admin service
• 18081 -> kiosk API service
• 18082 -> kiosk WebSocket service
• 1880 -> Node-RED

Access first-run setup at:

http://<pi-ip>/setup

Node-RED is reachable only through:

http://<pi-ip>/nrdp/

Node-RED HTTP-in routes have two public base URLs:

• Public webhook/user actions: http://<pi-ip>/in/public/<node-red-path>
• Kiosk-authenticated ingress: http://<pi-ip>/in/kiosk/<node-red-path>

For example, a Node-RED http in node at /test1 is called as http://<pi-ip>/in/public/test1 for public traffic, or http://<pi-ip>/in/kiosk/test1 for kiosk-authenticated traffic.

Do not publish 18080, 18081, 18082, or 1880 on the host.

If migrating from an older native install, stop the old host daemons first:

sudo systemctl disable --now betterframe-server betterframe-nodered angie nginx 2>/dev/null || true

Kiosk

The kiosk still runs natively on the Pi because it needs Wayland/HDMI, GTK, GStreamer, display power control, and local hardware access.

sudo apt install -y libgtk-4-dev libgstreamer1.0-dev \
    libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-dev gstreamer1.0-plugins-good \
    gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad gstreamer1.0-libav \
    gstreamer1.0-gtk4 libwebkitgtk-6.0-dev libssl-dev

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
source ~/.cargo/env

cd /opt/betterframe/kiosk
cargo build --release
sudo install -Dm755 target/release/betterframe-kiosk /opt/betterframe/kiosk/betterframe-kiosk

mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user
cp /opt/betterframe/deploy/systemd/betterframe-kiosk.service ~/.config/systemd/user/
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable --now betterframe-kiosk

Kiosks should point at the proxy URL, not direct backend ports:

BETTERFRAME_SERVER=http://<pi-ip> /opt/betterframe/kiosk/betterframe-kiosk

Native server mode

Native server mode is for development only. Run it manually when debugging; do not install host daemons for BetterFrame server, Angie, or Node-RED in production. The Docker stack owns those services.