Keeping your server healthy
The short checklist for the person who runs it: after install, every month, when a release ships, and when you move to a new machine.
Last reviewed
Most of this is a few minutes a month. The one thing that must not slip is the backup.
Right after installing
- Confirm the address is
https://, so the app installs on phones and passkeys are offered. With Coolify this comes with the domain; with plain Docker, a reverse proxy gives it to you. Passkeys need an https base URL - Turn on scheduled backups to storage that is not on the same disk, with a passphrase if you like, and run Back up now once. Quick start
- Send yourself a test notification from Settings → Notifications on your phone, so you know reminders reach it. Check that it works
- Invite the people who will use it, one link each. Invite people to your server Invite someone new
- Pin a release line (
0.3) in your compose file rather thanlatest. Option A: Docker Compose
Every month
- Open Settings → Backups and check that the last run succeeded. Schedule and retention
- Glance at Settings → Activity → Audit log for sign-ins you do not recognise. Audit log
- Check What’s new for a release, and update if there is one. Update the server
Twice a year
- Restore a backup onto a spare machine or a throwaway container, and sign in there. A backup you have never restored is a hope, not a backup. Restore
- Make sure a second person could take over: where the server is, where the backups go, and that the restore command is written down. Recovering owner access
Moving to a new machine
- Take a backup, or stop the container and copy the data folder. Backup and restore
- Start OpenTodo on the new machine with the same
OPENTODO_BASE_URL, and restore the backup into it with the container stopped. Restore - Point the domain at the new machine. Passkeys are tied to the domain’s host, so keeping the domain keeps everyone’s passkeys. Passkeys need an https base URL
- Everyone’s installed apps keep working; they sync with the new server the next time they open. Offline and sync
When people ask you things
- “I forgot my password”: create a reset link in Settings → Administration → Users and send it. Managing users
- “I lost my phone with the two-factor codes”: reset their second factor from the same place. Managing users
- “I can’t install it” or “reminders don’t arrive”: the install pages and the reminders how-to walk them through it. Notifications