Rallly

Rallly is a Next.js application in a pnpm and Turborepo monorepo, with Prisma on PostgreSQL. Upstream ships a Docker image and an installer script, so the steps here follow apps/web/Dockerfile and scripts/docker-start.sh. Rallly signs users in with one-time codes sent by email, so an SMTP provider is required.

Requirements

Create a PostgreSQL database from the Databases tab and keep the variable named DATABASE_URL. You also need SMTP credentials from a transactional email provider. S3-compatible storage is optional and only used for uploads such as avatars.

Building the Next.js app comfortably needs 2 GB of RAM or more.

Repository

Fork the upstream repository, add the script below, and deploy the fork:

https://github.com/lukevella/rallly.git

Upstream publishes tagged releases (v4.15.3 at the time of writing) and main moves between them, so create a branch in your fork from the latest vX.Y.Z tag, commit the script there, and set that branch on the app. Node 24 (.nvmrc) and pnpm (packageManager) are installed automatically; Hatchbox runs pnpm install.

Environment Variables

NEXT_PUBLIC_SELF_HOSTED=true
NEXT_PUBLIC_BASE_URL=https://rallly.example.com
AUTH_URL=https://rallly.example.com
SECRET_PASSWORD=<openssl rand -base64 32>
SUPPORT_EMAIL=you@example.com
INITIAL_ADMIN_EMAIL=you@example.com
SMTP_HOST=smtp.example.com
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_SECURE=false
SMTP_USER=<username>
SMTP_PWD=<password>

NEXT_PUBLIC_SELF_HOSTED=true turns off the paywall and billing and must be present at build time, which it is because build scripts receive the app's environment. NEXT_PUBLIC_BASE_URL is also read at build time, so set it before the first deploy and redeploy if it changes. AUTH_URL mirrors NEXT_PUBLIC_BASE_URL; the Docker start script derives it the same way. SECRET_PASSWORD must be at least 32 characters. DATABASE_URL comes from the attached database. Add S3_ENDPOINT, S3_BUCKET_NAME, S3_REGION, S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID and S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY for uploads.

Do not set NODE_ENV=production in the Environment tab; pnpm would skip the dev dependencies the build needs.

Build Scripts

.hatchbox/post-build

This generates the Prisma client, builds the standalone Next.js output, copies the static assets next to it as the Dockerfile does, and runs migrations on the cron server:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -e

pnpm db:generate
SKIP_ENV_VALIDATION=1 pnpm build

cp -r apps/web/.next/static apps/web/.next/standalone/apps/web/.next/static
cp -r apps/web/public apps/web/.next/standalone/apps/web/public

if [ "$CRON" = "true" ]; then
  pnpm db:deploy
fi

Processes

1. web, web servers: node apps/web/.next/standalone/apps/web/server.js

The standalone server listens on the PORT variable Hatchbox provides.

First Login

Open your domain and sign in with the email set in INITIAL_ADMIN_EMAIL; a 6-digit verification code is sent over SMTP. Then visit /control-panel and click "Make me an admin" to claim the admin role.

Notes

Rallly keeps no files on local disk, so it can run on several web servers behind the same database. Upgrade by merging the next release tag into your branch and deploying; migrations run in the post-build script.