podman builds an OCI image by default and drops the Dockerfile's HEALTHCHECK instruction, so the first deploy failed at "Wait for the container healthcheck to pass" with "container ... has no defined healthcheck" even though the app was up and healthy. - Declare the same check on the greatbear.container unit (HealthCmd plus interval, timeout, retries, start period), the convention hops and menu-admin already use. - Flush handlers right after starting, before the gate: the unit template's restart handler otherwise runs at the end of the play, so a run that changes only the unit would test the stale container. Mirrors hops 7366596, so the two deployments keep the same shape.
The Great Bear — Microbrewery Website
Full-stack site for The Great Bear microbrewery (SCO 32, Sector 26, Chandigarh), built from the Stitch "Industrial Hospitality" design.
| Layer | Tech |
|---|---|
| Frontend | TanStack Start (React 19, Vite 8, Tailwind CSS 4, SSR) |
| Backend | PocketBase v0.40 — CMS content, form intake, admin UI |
| Runtime | Single image running both services, as a rootless Podman Quadlet unit |
| Proxy | Caddy (automatic HTTPS), also a rootless Podman Quadlet unit |
| Deploys | deploy.sh [tag] (Podman build + push) → Ansible playbook |
Pages
/— hero, stats, featured brews, experiences, testimonials, quick table booking/our-brews— flagship banner, core lineup, seasonal releases, tasting-flight builder/menu— filterable gastropub menu with beer pairings/visit— reservation form, contact info, map
All structured content (brews, menu, testimonials, stats, contact info) is served from PocketBase and editable in the admin UI. If PocketBase is unreachable, the site falls back to bundled seed content so it never renders empty.
Repository layout
app/ TanStack Start application
src/routes/ Pages (/, /our-brews, /menu, /visit)
src/components/ Shared UI + client forms
src/lib/ Server functions & PocketBase client
src/data/content.json Single source of truth for seed + fallback content
public/images/ Design assets (downloaded from the Stitch export)
pb/migrations/ PocketBase schema (snapshot migration, auto-applied)
scripts/
seed.mjs Idempotent content seeder (create-if-missing by uid)
create-collections.sh Dev helper used to build the schema migration
ansible/ Deployment playbook (roles: register, greatbear, caddy)
Makefile Podman build targets (build-production / build-check)
Dockerfile Multi-stage image build (deps → builder → pb-downloader → runner)
docker-entrypoint.sh Container supervisor: PocketBase + site server
deploy.sh Build & push image, then run the Ansible deploy
.containerignore Build-context excludes (Podman/Buildah; .dockerignore fallback)
Local development
Frontend only (renders from bundled seed content; forms return errors):
cd app
npm install
npm run dev # http://localhost:3000
Full stack with PocketBase (recommended — from the repo root):
# Terminal 1 — PocketBase on :8090 (data in ./pb_data, schema auto-applied
# from pb/migrations on first boot)
./.tmp-pb/pocketbase serve --http=127.0.0.1:8090 --dir=./pb_data --migrationsDir=./pb/migrations
# Terminal 2 — one-time setup: create a local admin and seed the content
./.tmp-pb/pocketbase superuser upsert dev@greatbear.in devpass12345 --dir=./pb_data --migrationsDir=./pb/migrations
PB_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8090 PB_SUPERUSER_EMAIL=dev@greatbear.in PB_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD=devpass12345 \
node scripts/seed.mjs
# Terminal 2 — the site (talks to PocketBase on 127.0.0.1:8090 automatically)
cd app && npm run dev
- PocketBase admin UI:
http://127.0.0.1:8090/_/(dev@greatbear.in) — edits show up on the site on the next page load - Dev data lives in
./pb_data(git-ignored); delete it for a factory reset - The PB binary in
.tmp-pb/was fetched during setup — if it's missing, grab a release from https://github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/releases (or run PocketBase however you like; only the port matters)
npm run build produces .output/server/index.mjs, started with npm start. To run the
production image locally instead:
podman build -t localhost/greatbear:dev .
podman run --rm -p 3000:3000 -p 8090:8090 \
-e PB_SUPERUSER_EMAIL=dev@greatbear.in -e PB_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD=devpass12345 \
-v greatbear_dev_data:/app/pb_data localhost/greatbear:dev
Deploying
The image is built with Podman/Buildah (not Docker) from the committed tree
(git archive HEAD) and tagged with its commit id, so what runs on the host
is exactly what git knows about. deploy.sh pushes the commit first, refuses a
dirty tracked tree and requires HEAD == origin/main. Log in to the registry
once per machine: podman login registry.tanshu.com.
./deploy.sh # push, build <commit>, deploy it to emily
./deploy.sh --no-push # skip the push (you already pushed)
./deploy.sh --force # skip the guards
Or run the pieces yourself:
make build-production # podman build HEAD, push :<commit> + :latest
make build-check # compile check from HEAD, no push
cd ansible && ansible-playbook -u tanshu playbook.yml -e "image_tag=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)"
The image is built for linux/arm64 by default because emily is aarch64.
Podman has no built-in QEMU, so cross-building from an x86_64 controller needs
binfmt there (qemu-user-binfmt, already installed on this machine); override
with PLATFORM=linux/amd64.
Ansible deployment
Requirements on the controller: ansible (no collections — the play uses
built-in modules plus the podman / systemctl --user CLI). The target host
must already run the fleet's shared Caddy rootless Quadlet setup: the
caddy/playbook.yml from the ansible-playbooks repo owns the Caddy unit, the
rootless prerequisites (Podman, loginctl enable-linger, the low-port sysctl)
and the Caddyfile this play appends to.
The play targets the inventory host emily (present in /etc/ansible/hosts),
connects as the unprivileged container user and does not become: the
Quadlet units belong to that user, and the SSH connection's PAM session is what
makes systemctl --user work.
cd ansible
ansible-playbook -u tanshu playbook.yml -e "image_tag=<commit>"
All deployment variables live in ansible/vars/default.yml (registry, image
tag, domains, PocketBase admin credentials). The play:
-
Writes
~/.config/containers/systemd/greatbear.network(NetworkName=greatbear_net) and a drop-in that attaches the shared Caddy unit to it, so Caddy can resolvegreatbearby container name. -
Logs in to the private registry, pulls
registry.tanshu.com/tanshu/greatbear:{image_tag}(rollback is the same play with an older commit), writes~/podman-data/greatbear/.env, installs~/.config/containers/systemd/greatbear.container, starts it as a systemd user service and waits for the image's healthcheck (PocketBase/api/health+ the site). -
Appends the site blocks to the shared Caddyfile (
~/podman-data/caddy/conf/Caddyfile) and reloads Caddy:www.greatbear.in(+ apexgreatbear.in) — frontend on port 3000, PocketBase API/admin proxied under/api/*and/_/*admin.greatbear.in— redirects to the PocketBase admin UI
Nothing is published on the host; Caddy reaches the container over
greatbear_net. The container runs as uid 0, so the unit maps it onto the podman
user with UserNS=keep-id:uid=0,gid=0: ~/podman-data/greatbear stays owned by
tanshu, and PocketBase's files need no podman unshare to inspect or back up.
DNS records for all three hosts must point at the server; Caddy obtains TLS certificates automatically on first request.
PocketBase admin
- URL:
https://admin.greatbear.in/_/ - First container start bootstraps the superuser from
PB_SUPERUSER_EMAIL/PB_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD(templated frompb_admin_email/pb_admin_passwordinansible/vars/default.yml, idempotent).
Content collections: brews, menu_categories, menu_items, experiences, testimonials,
stats, pairings, settings. Reservation/contact submissions land in reservations
(public create only — readable by admins).
The seed only creates records that are missing (matched by uid), so edits made in the admin
are never overwritten by redeploys. Schema changes belong in pb/migrations/.
Updating the food menu
The food menu is managed in code: app/src/data/menu-data.mjs (11 categories, ~137 items,
single source for the PocketBase sync and the site's offline fallback).
# 1. Edit app/src/data/menu-data.mjs, commit & push, deploy (if the image changed)
# 2. Sync the menu into PocketBase — from anywhere with admin credentials:
PB_URL=https://admin.greatbear.in \
PB_SUPERUSER_EMAIL=admin@greatbear.in \
PB_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD=... \
node scripts/update-menu.mjs
The script replaces all menu_categories / ingredients / menu_items records (deletes
old, inserts new; item ingredient uids are mapped to the fresh ingredient record ids) and
touches nothing else.
menu_items schema (POS-oriented)
uid— stable slug identitycategory— slug →menu_categoriesname/variant— variants are separate products whenever their price differs ("Penne Arrabiata" + variant "Veg" ₹589 / "Chicken" ₹639); the POS can group bynamedescriptionprice— number, rupees with optional paise after the decimal point (449 = ₹449, 449.5 = ₹449.50)ingredients— many-to-many relation to theingredientscollection (Nuts, Dairy, Gluten, Soy, Mushroom, Egg, Chicken, Fish, Prawns, Pork, Mutton). Each ingredient has a name, an emojiicon(rendered as chips on menu cards) and adiet_class(veg/nonveg); an item's green/red FSSAI badge is derived — it shows non-veg when any linked ingredient is non-vegdiet— select:veg/nonveg/mixed(a bool can't be null in PocketBase, so mixed items like Caesar Salad usemixed; the site renders no badge for it)pairing— optional beer pairingtag— badge chip; also carries same-price choice lists (e.g. "Malai / Angara")image— optional URLsku— unique POS code,GB-<CAT>-<NNN>(e.g. GB-MNC-014)available— false hides the item from the site (86'd) without deleting ittax_category— defaultfood-5-gst; adjust per item for POS GST mapping
Admin edits to menu records are overwritten by the next sync — treat menu-data.mjs as the
menu's source of truth.
Local development (IDE)
.vscode/launch.json has run configurations for VS Code / Antigravity:
- GreatBear (full stack) — compound: PocketBase (:8091) + Vite dev server (:3000)
PocketBase (dev, :8091)— serves./pb_datawith./pb/migrationsSite (Vite dev, :3000)— the website against the local PocketBaseSite (production build + preview)— builds.outputand previews itSync menu into PocketBase— runsscripts/update-menu.mjsagainst the local PB
Dev PocketBase runs on 8091 (8090 is occupied by another service on this machine).
First-time setup is in the comments at the top of launch.json.
Container environment
| Variable | Default | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
PORT |
3000 |
Site server port |
HOST |
0.0.0.0 |
Site server bind address |
PB_URL |
http://127.0.0.1:8090 |
PocketBase URL used by the site server |
PB_DATA_DIR |
/app/pb_data |
PocketBase data directory (volume) |
PB_SUPERUSER_EMAIL |
— | Initial admin (bootstrapped at start) |
PB_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD |
— | Initial admin password |