# solid-server in Node [![](https://img.shields.io/badge/project-Solid-7C4DFF.svg?style=flat-square)](https://github.com/solid/solid) [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/solid/node-solid-server.svg?branch=master&style=flat-square)](https://travis-ci.org/solid/node-solid-server) [![NPM Version](https://img.shields.io/npm/v/solid-server.svg?style=flat-square)](https://npm.im/solid-server) [![Gitter chat](https://img.shields.io/badge/gitter-join%20chat%20%E2%86%92-brightgreen.svg?style=flat-square)](http://gitter.im/solid/node-solid-server) > [Solid](https://github.com/solid) server in [NodeJS](https://nodejs.org/) `solid-server` lets you run a Solid server on top of the file-system. You can use it as a [command-line tool](https://github.com/solid/node-solid-server/blob/master/README.md#command-line-usage) (easy) or as a [library](https://github.com/solid/node-solid-server/blob/master/README.md#library-usage) (advanced). ## Solid Features supported - [x] [Linked Data Platform](http://www.w3.org/TR/ldp/) - [x] [Web Access Control](http://www.w3.org/wiki/WebAccessControl) - [x] [WebID+TLS Authentication](https://www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/webid/spec/tls/) - [x] [Real-time live updates](https://github.com/solid/solid-spec#subscribing) (using WebSockets) - [x] Identity provider for WebID - [x] Proxy for cross-site data access - [ ] Group members in ACL - [x] Email account recovery ## Command Line Usage ### Install To install, first install [Node](https://nodejs.org/en/) and then run the following ```bash $ npm install -g solid-server ``` ### Run a single-user server (beginner) The easiest way to setup `solid-server` is by running the wizard. This will create a `config.json` in your current folder ```bash $ solid init ``` **Note**: If prompted for an SSL key and certificate, follow the instructions below. To run your server, simply run `solid start`: ```bash $ solid start # Solid server (solid v0.2.24) running on https://localhost:8443/ ``` If you prefer to use flags instead, the following would be the equivalent ```bash $ solid start --port 8443 --ssl-key path/to/ssl-key.pem --ssl-cert path/to/ssl-cert.pem # Solid server (solid v0.2.24) running on https://localhost:8443/ ``` If you want to run `solid` on a particular folder (different from the one you are in, e.g. `path/to/folder`): ```bash $ solid start --root path/to/folder --port 8443 --ssl-key path/to/ssl-key.pem --ssl-cert path/to/ssl-cert.pem # Solid server (solid v0.2.24) running on https://localhost:8443/ ``` ##### How do I get an SSL key and certificate? You need an SSL certificate you get this from your domain provider or for free from [Let's Encrypt!](https://letsencrypt.org/getting-started/). If you don't have one yet, or you just want to test `solid`, generate a certificate (**DO NOT USE IN PRODUCTION**): ``` $ openssl genrsa 2048 > ../localhost.key $ openssl req -new -x509 -nodes -sha256 -days 3650 -key ../localhost.key -subj '/CN=*.localhost' > ../localhost.cert ``` ### Run multi-user server (intermediate) You can run `solid` so that new users can sign up, in other words, get their WebIDs _username.yourdomain.com_. Pre-requisites: - Get a [Wildcard Certificate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcard_certificate) - Add a Wildcard DNS record in your DNS zone (e.g.`*.yourdomain.com`) - (If you are running locally) Add the line `127.0.0.1 *.localhost` to `/etc/hosts` ```bash $ solid init .. ? Allow users to register their WebID (y/N) # write `y` here .. $ solid start ``` Otherwise, if you want to use flags, this would be the equivalent ```bash $ solid --idp --port 8443 --cert /path/to/cert --key /path/to/key --root ./accounts ``` Your users will have a dedicated folder under `./accounts`. Also, your root domain's website will be in `./accounts/yourdomain.tld`. New users can create accounts on `/api/accounts/new` and create new certificates on `/api/accounts/cert`. An easy-to-use sign-up tool is found on `/api/accounts`. ##### How can send emails to my users with my Gmail? > To use Gmail you may need to configure ["Allow Less Secure Apps"](https://www.google.com/settings/security/lesssecureapps) in your Gmail account unless you are using 2FA in which case you would have to create an [Application Specific](https://security.google.com/settings/security/apppasswords) password. You also may need to unlock your account with ["Allow access to your Google account"](https://accounts.google.com/DisplayUnlockCaptcha) to use SMTP. ### Run the Linked Data Platform (intermediate) If you don't want WebID Authentication and Web Access Control, you can run a simple Linked Data Platform. ```bash # over HTTP $ solid start --port 8080 --no-webid # over HTTPS $ solid start --port 8080 --ssl-key key.pem --ssl-cert cert.pem --no-webid ``` **Note:** if you want to run on HTTP, do not pass the `--ssl-*` flags, but keep `--no-webid` ### Extra flags (expert) The command line tool has the following options ``` $ solid Usage: solid [options] [command] Commands: init [options] create solid server configurations start [options] run the Solid server Options: -h, --help output usage information -V, --version output the version number $ solid init --help Usage: init [options] Create solid server configurations Options: -h, --help output usage information --advanced Ask for all the settings $ solid start --help Usage: start [options] run the Solid server Options: -h, --help output usage information --root [value] Root folder to serve (defaut: './') --port [value] Port to use --webid Enable WebID+TLS authentication (use `--no-webid` for HTTP instead of HTTPS) --owner [value] Set the owner of the storage --ssl-key [value] Path to the SSL private key in PEM format --ssl-cert [value] Path to the SSL certificate key in PEM format --idp Allow users to register their WebID --proxy [value] Serve proxy on path --file-browser [value] App to browse files --data-browser Enable viewing RDF resources using a default data browser application (e.g. mashlib) --suffix-acl [value] Suffix for acl files --suffix-meta [value] Suffix for metadata files --secret [value] Secret used to sign the session ID cookie (e.g. "your secret phrase") --error-pages [value] Folder from which to look for custom error pages files (files must be named .html -- eg. 500.html) --mount [value] Serve on a specific URL path (default: '/') --force-user [value] Force a WebID to always be logged in (useful when offline) --strict-origin Enforce same origin policy in the ACL -v, --verbose Print the logs to console ``` ## Library Usage ### Install Dependencies ``` npm install ``` ### Library Usage The library provides two APIs: - `solid.createServer(settings)`: starts a ready to use [Express](http://expressjs.com) app. - `lnode(settings)`: creates an [Express](http://expressjs.com) that you can mount in your existing express app. In case the `settings` is not passed, then it will start with the following default settings. ```javascript { cache: 0, // Set cache time (in seconds), 0 for no cache live: true, // Enable live support through WebSockets root: './', // Root location on the filesystem to serve resources secret: 'node-ldp', // Express Session secret key cert: false, // Path to the ssl cert key: false, // Path to the ssl key mount: '/', // Where to mount Linked Data Platform webid: false, // Enable WebID+TLS authentication suffixAcl: '.acl', // Suffix for acl files proxy: false, // Where to mount the proxy errorHandler: false, // function(err, req, res, next) to have a custom error handler errorPages: false // specify a path where the error pages are } ``` Have a look at the following examples or in the [`examples/`](https://github.com/solid/node-solid-server/tree/master/examples) folder for more complex ones ##### Simple Example You can create an `solid` server ready to use using `solid.createServer(opts)` ```javascript var solid = require('solid-server') var ldp = solid.createServer({ key: '/path/to/sslKey.pem', cert: '/path/to/sslCert.pem', webid: true }) ldp.listen(3000, function() { // Started Linked Data Platform }) ``` ##### Advanced Example You can integrate `solid` in your existing [Express](https://expressjs.org) app, by mounting the `solid` app on a specific path using `lnode(opts)`. ```javascript var solid = require('solid-server') var app = require('express')() app.use('/test', solid(yourSettings)) app.listen(3000, function() { // Started Express app with ldp on '/test' }) ... ``` ##### Logging Run your app with the `DEBUG` variable set: ```bash $ DEBUG="solid:*" node app.js ``` ## Testing `solid` Locally #### Pre-Requisites In order to really get a feel for the Solid platform, and to test out `solid`, you will need the following: 1. A WebID profile and browser certificate from one of the Solid-compliant identity providers, such as [databox.me](https://databox.me). 2. A server-side SSL certificate for `solid` to use (see the section below on creating a self-signed certificate for testing). While these steps are technically optional (since you could launch it in HTTP/LDP-only mode), you will not be able to use any actual Solid features without them. #### Creating a certificate for local testing When deploying `solid` in production, we recommend that you go the usual Certificate Authority route to generate your SSL certificate (as you would with any website that supports HTTPS). However, for testing it locally, you can easily generate a self-signed certificate for whatever domain you're working with. For example, here is how to generate a self-signed certificate for `localhost` using the `openssl` library: ```bash solid --webid --port 8443 --cert ../localhost.cert --key ../localhost.key -v ``` Note that this example creates the `localhost.cert` and `localhost.key` files in a directory one level higher from the current, so that you don't accidentally commit your certificates to `solid` while you're developing. #### Accessing your server If you started your `solid` server locally on port 8443 as in the example above, you would then be able to visit `https://localhost:8443` in the browser (ignoring the Untrusted Connection browser warnings as usual), where your `solid` server would redirect you to the default viewer app (see the `--file-browser` server config parameter), which is usually the [github.io/warp](https://linkeddata.github.io/warp/#/list/) file browser. Accessing most Solid apps (such as Warp) will prompt you to select your browser side certificate which contains a WebID from a Solid storage provider (see the [pre-requisites](#pre-requisites) discussion above). #### Editing your local `/etc/hosts` To test certificates and account creation on subdomains, `solid`'s test suite uses the following localhost domains: `nic.localhost`, `tim.localhost`, and `nicola.localhost`. You will need to create host file entries for these, in order for the tests to pass. Edit your `/etc/hosts` file, and append: ``` # Used for unit testing solid 127.0.0.1 nic.localhost, tim.localhost, nicola.localhost ``` #### Running the Unit Tests ```bash $ npm test # running the tests with logs $ DEBUG="solid:*" npm test ``` In order to test a single component, you can run ```javascript npm run test-(acl|formats|params|patch) ``` ## Contributing `solid` is only possible due to the excellent work of the following contributors:
Tim Berners-Lee GitHub/timbl Twitter/@timberners_lee webid
Nicola Greco GitHub/nicola Twitter/@nicolagreco webid
Martin Martinez Rivera GitHub/martinmr
Andrei Sambra GitHub/deiu Twitter/@deiu webid
#### Do you want to contribute? - [Join us in Gitter](https://gitter.im/solid/chat) to help with development or to hang out with us :) - [Create a new issue](https://github.com/solid/node-solid-server/issues/new) to report bugs - [Fix an issue](https://github.com/solid/node-solid-server/issues) Have a look at [CONTRIBUTING.md](https://github.com/solid/node-solid-server/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md). ## License MIT