Agora Install

• a [[howto]].
  • These are instructions to [[run your own agora]]. If you are looking for instructions on how to join this Agora, please refer to: [[agora signup]], [[agora editor]].

Before you get started

As of the time of writing the [[Agora]] consists of three distinct repositories:

• The Agora proper, which contains the root of a tree plus instructions on how to grow it. This is defined by its configuration and its [[contract]].
  • -> [[go/agora]]
• The [[Agora Server]], a web interface to the Agora, mostly [[read only]]. It is the interface you’re reading this in if you’re in anagora.org.
  • -> [[go/agora-server]]
• [[Agora Bridge]], a repository that contains various means of writing to the Agora and more generally interfacing with it. This includes the process that interacts with the Agora’s configuration (in the first repository in the list) and runs fetch/update tasks; and a set of platform-specific bots.
  • -> [[go/agora-bridge]]

The following instructions assume you clone all repositories and run all services under the same user in a Unix-like system (anagora.org runs on Debian GNU/Linux). We suggest agora:

$ adduser agora  # follow prompts
$ sudo su - agora

To get all repositories:

$ git clone https://github.com/flancian/agora.git
$ git clone https://github.com/flancian/agora-server.git
$ git clone https://github.com/flancian/agora-bridge.git

You need to clone all three to run a fully functioning Agora. Because the first is configuration only, and the third encapsulates all mutating code, you technically only need to run [[agora server]] as a service to run an immutable Agora. These instructions assume you set up all three in order.

Agora

• gardens.yaml contains the list of sources for this Agora.
  • may be renamed sources.yaml
  • (if the agora is a filesystem, this is the [[fstab]])
  • [[gardens yaml]]
• CONTRACT.md contains the Agora system account’s public commitment to the ecosystem.

You need to edit gardens.yaml if you want to carry a different set of sources. The Agora comes with defaults.

If you edit the [[CONTRACT]], your Agora might become incompatible with the Agora you forked from. Conflict resolution is part of [[agora protocol]] but currently not specified.

[[Agora Server]]

• [[python]] backend, [[flask]] based.
• [[typescript]] frontend, no framework for now.

If you installed in non-standard paths (i.e. your repos are not in /home/<user>/<repo>), edit app/config.py.

You need to create a Python virtual environment, install packages from requirements.txt. run ./setup.sh and it’ll at least try to point you in the right direction :)

You can then ./run-dev.sh (for development) or ./run-prod.sh (if you want to serve to the outside world). If you do the latter, you may want to set up [[uwsgi]] in [[nginx]] and make it stick as a [[systemd service]] using agora-server.service as an example. Please refer to https://github.com/flancian/agora-server#to-develop for details.

You can add an nginx virtual host with [[certbot]]: certbot --nginx -d example.anagora.org. Then use the following as an example to forward traffic in that virtual host to Agora Server over UWSGI:

   location / {
        include uwsgi_params;
        # /home/agora/agora-server/run-prod.sh to run.
        uwsgi_pass unix:/tmp/agora-uwsgi.sock;
    }   

Agora Bridge

• [[python]]
  • [[gardens py]]
• [[yaml]]
  • [[gardens yaml]]
  • [[agora bot yaml]]
• [[typescript]] You need to create a Python virtual environment, install packages from requirements.txt. run ./setup.sh and it’ll at least try to point you in the right direction :)

Then run ./run-prod.sh either on a shell or as a [[systemd service]]. This will pull from all sources in the root repository’s gardens.yaml in a loop.

You can also optionally run a number of bots that will interact with people in supported platforms. See the bots directory and https://github.com/flancian/agora-bridge#install for more.

And now?

Now that you have a functioning Agora, consider what you will do with it.

Please consider [[agora protocol]], [[contract]] and [[goals]]. Reach out if you are interested in establishing other protocols for [[collaboration]].

A note on Docker support

There is currently no [[docker]] support, but it seems like it could be a great fit. We have this in our plan, but if you’re handy with Docker, this would be a great contribution for you! :)