Reverse Proxy (Caddy)

TriviaFlow uses Caddy as its production web server. It acts as a Reverse Proxy that sits in front of the application containers.

We chose Caddy for two specific reasons:

1. Automatic HTTPS: It automatically obtains and renews SSL certificates from Let's Encrypt.
2. Performance: It serves static files (Images, CSS, JS) directly, relieving the Python application from this task.

The Caddyfile

The configuration is located in the Caddyfile at the root of your project. This file maps your domains to the internal Docker services.

Action Required

You must edit this file and replace the placeholder domains with your actual domain names before starting the server.

Open the file:

nano Caddyfile

1. Main Application Block

This block controls the main game interface.

quiz.your-domain.com {
    
    # 1. Static Files (Performance)
    # Serves CSS/JS directly from the disk, bypassing Python.
    handle_path /static/* {
        root * /srv/static
        file_server
    }

    # 2. Media Uploads (Images)
    # Serves uploaded quiz images.
    handle_path /media/* {
        root * /srv/media
        file_server
    }

    # 3. Application Proxy
    # Forwards all other requests (WebSockets, HTML) to Django.
    reverse_proxy web:8000
}

What you need to do:

• Replace quiz.your-domain.com with your actual game domain (e.g., play.super-quiz.com).

2. Database Admin Block (Optional)

If you want to use a graphical interface to manage your database (phpMyAdmin), uncomment this block.

# db.your-domain.com {
#    reverse_proxy phpmyadmin:80
# }

What you need to do:

• Remove the # hashtags to uncomment the lines.
• Replace db.your-domain.com with your database subdomain.
• Ensure you have created the DNS A-Record for this subdomain.
• Security Tip: It is recommended to keep this disabled or protected when not in use.

How It Works

Automatic HTTPS (SSL)

When you start the container, Caddy will attempt to contact Let's Encrypt to generate a certificate for the domains listed in the Caddyfile.

• Requirement: Your DNS records must point to the server before you start Caddy.
• Storage: Certificates are stored in a Docker volume (caddy_data), so they persist even if you restart the container.

Static File Serving

In a production Django environment, the application server (Daphne/Gunicorn) should not serve static files.

1. When you run the container, python manage.py collectstatic runs automatically.
2. It copies all CSS/JS files to a shared volume (static_volume).
3. Caddy mounts this volume and serves files starting with /static/ directly to the user.

Troubleshooting

If your site is not reachable via HTTPS, check the Caddy logs:

docker compose logs caddy

Common Errors:

• "Challenge failed": Usually means your DNS A-Record is incorrect or hasn't propagated yet.
• "Connection refused": The Python container (web) might be crashing. Check docker compose logs web.