Host Misskey instance under Windows using WSL

The Misskey Hub provides a guide to manually set up a self-host instance.

It is for native Linux distro, but, let’s try this on WSL!

Environment setup and discussion

1. The Host System:

   OS: Windows 11 22H2
   WSL: 1.0.0 from Microsoft Store
   Linux: Debian (Buster/stable) from Microsoft Store
   

2. The Service:

   NodeJS: 18.x
   Yarn: 1.22.19
   npm: 8.19.2
   PostgreSQL: 13.8
   Redis: Debian latest
   

   

Misskey Setup and Installation Guide

!!! Now, let’s follow the steps of the official guide, with modifications !!!

1. system prepartion:

   1. Follow official NodeJS Binary Distribution Guide
   2. Search for the “Node.js v18.x:” paragraph, follow the Debian part.
   3. Follow the terminal output to install Yarn package manager
   4. install build-essesntial: sudo apt install build-essential
   5. install other optional packages: sudo apt install postgresql-13 redis ffmpeg npm

2. setup misskey

    user$ sudo su - misskey
    misskey$ git clone --recursive https://github.com/misskey-dev/misskey.git
    misskey$ cd misskey
    misskey$ git checkout 12.119.0 # 12.119.0 is the latest stable version as of writing
    misskey$ rm yarn.lock
    misskey$ yarn install
   

3. edit .config/default.yml

   hints on what to edit:

   • The host domain
   • The user name
   • The db name and password
   • …read through the YAML and see what suits your need.

4. NODE_ENV=production yarn build

   !!! Errors occured. Mostly are complaining about missing typescript module.

   !!! Ignore them if scripts ended peacfully.!!!

5. Setup PostgreSQL

   !!!Follow steps here carefully!!!

   • We’re not going with what document says.
   • sudo -u postgres psql

   •  [psql] create database misskey with encoding = 'UTF8' template='template0';
      [psql] create user misskey;
      [psql] \password misskey
      [psql] grant all privileges on database misskey to misskey;
      [psql] \q
      ---
      use your own DB name, user name and password.
     

   • start services

      root# /etc/init.d/postgresql start
      root# /etc/init.d/redis-server start
     

   • initialize database

      misskey$ yarn run init
     

6. test run

    misskey$ cd misskey
    misskey$ NODE_ENV=production npm start
   

   

Wired to Outer Internet

(not going to explicitly explain following steps)

• setup nginx reverse port proxy, open 443 and/or 80
• unlock ports from Windows’ firewall, giving it Windows Defender, or other security applications.
• try to connect to the instance from other browser under same LAN.
• set up port forwarding from your router.
• try to connect to the public ip from mobile data.