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Installing FreshRSS (for Free)

· 3 min read
circlesac
circlesac
Admin @ Circles

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While developing Circles Reader, the most obvious choice for a Google Reader API compatible server was FreshRSS. Not only is it highly functional as an RSS aggregator, but it also includes a built-in web reader, making it useful for testing. Of course, the best part is that it is free.

Here's how to run FreshRSS (almost) for free on your own computer.

Prerequisites​

Before you begin, make sure you have the following:

  • Docker installed on your computer.
  • A Cloudflare account. You can sign up for free.
  • A domain name. If you don't have one, you can purchase it from providers like GoDaddy, Namecheap, etc.

Create a Local Tunnel Using cloudflared CLI​

Refer to Create a locally-managed tunnel (CLI) for detailed instructions.

Cloudflare Tunnel allows you to securely expose your local server to the internet. Follow these steps:

  1. Download and install cloudflared
  2. Log in using your Cloudflare account 
    cloudflared tunnel login
  3. Create a tunnel 
    cloudflared tunnel create <NAME>
    <NAME> can be something like freshrss.
  4. Confirm that the tunnel has been created 
    cloudflared tunnel list
  5. Configure the tunnel to route traffic 
    cloudflared tunnel route dns <UUID> <hostname>
    You can get the <UUID> from the previous list and replace <hostname> with the subdomain you want to use.

Once you are done with all this, you'll probably have the <UUID>.json file in your .cloudflared directory under your home directory.

Create config.yml​

  1. Create a directory for FreshRSS Docker, such as freshrss, somewhere on your computer and copy the <UUID>.json file there. 
    mkdir ~/freshrss
    cd ~/freshrss
    cp ~/.cloudflared/<UUID>.json .
  2. Create a file called config.yml and put the following content. 
    url: http://freshrss
    tunnel: <UUID>
    credentials-file: /etc/cloudflared/<UUID>.json

Configure Docker​

Refer to Deploy FreshRSS with Docker for detailed instructions.

  1. Create .env and replace variables with your own 
    ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@example.net
    ADMIN_PASSWORD=freshrss
    ADMIN_API_PASSWORD=freshrss
    PUBLISHED_PORT=8000

    DB_HOST=db
    DB_BASE=freshrss
    DB_PASSWORD=freshrss
    DB_USER=freshrss
  2. Create docker-compose.yml 
    services:
      # freshrss
      freshrss:
        image: freshrss/freshrss:latest
        restart: unless-stopped
        ports:
          - 8088:80
        logging:
          options:
            max-size: 10m
        volumes:
          - data:/var/www/FreshRSS/data
          - extensions:/var/www/FreshRSS/extensions
        environment:
          TZ: Asia/Seoul
          CRON_MIN: '3,33'
          DB_HOST: db
          FRESHRSS_INSTALL: |-
            --api_enabled
            --db-base ${DB_BASE}
            --db-host ${DB_HOST}
            --db-password ${DB_PASSWORD}
            --db-type pgsql
            --db-user ${DB_USER}
            --default_user admin
            --language en
          FRESHRSS_USER: |-
            --api_password ${ADMIN_API_PASSWORD}
            --email ${ADMIN_EMAIL}
            --language en
            --password ${ADMIN_PASSWORD}
            --user admin
      # common
      db:
        image: postgres:16
        restart: unless-stopped
        logging:
          options:
            max-size: 10m
        volumes:
          - db:/var/lib/postgresql/data
        environment:
          POSTGRES_DB: ${DB_BASE:-freshrss}
          POSTGRES_USER: ${DB_USER:-freshrss}
          POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD:-freshrss}
        command:
          - -c
          - shared_buffers=1GB
          - -c
          - work_mem=32MB
      cloudflared:
        image: cloudflare/cloudflared:latest
        restart: unless-stopped
        command: tunnel --no-autoupdate --config /etc/cloudflared/config.yml run
        volumes:
          - ./config.yml:/etc/cloudflared/config.yml
          - ./<UUID>.json:/etc/cloudflared/<UUID>.json

    volumes:
      data:
      extensions:
      db:

Run FreshRSS using Docker Compose​

You should probably have 4 files by now.

  • .env
  • <UUID>.json
  • config.yml
  • docker-compose.yml

Run using docker compose

docker compose up -d

Once the server is up, you can connect to FreshRSS locally using http://localhost:8080 and remotely using https://<hostname>.