From 9163c0a64e2e490addfaeea5321b0e71767c060c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: redshiftltd <b@fotiu.com>
Date: Fri, 3 Jan 2025 07:20:30 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] Update local.md - Adding Linux systemd unit file instructions
 (#489)

I wrote some steps on how to automate non-Dockerized Actual starting up
with Linux systems using systemd. I'm using this on my server and so far
so good.

If this is too much for this page please consider putting it on its own
page. I think it's useful info for anyone who wants to do self-hosted on
a VPS with a non-Docker instance.

---------

Co-authored-by: Brandon Fotiu <bfotiu@bgsu.edu>
---
 .github/actions/spelling/expect.txt |  1 +
 docs/install/local.md               | 41 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 42 insertions(+)

diff --git a/.github/actions/spelling/expect.txt b/.github/actions/spelling/expect.txt
index ce99b637a4..949e0c965c 100644
--- a/.github/actions/spelling/expect.txt
+++ b/.github/actions/spelling/expect.txt
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ SVGR
 swc
 SWEDBANK
 Synology
+systemctl
 tada
 templating
 ubuntu
diff --git a/docs/install/local.md b/docs/install/local.md
index 8cf4877bfe..ab9ec623b9 100644
--- a/docs/install/local.md
+++ b/docs/install/local.md
@@ -40,6 +40,47 @@ yarn start
 ```
 Note that if you restart your computer, you’ll have to run this command again to start the server.
 
+### Linux systemd Setup
+On Linux systems you can configure a systemd unit file to have Actual run on system startup. This needs to be done as the root user (open a root terminal session or preface each command with sudo to run the commands below)
+1. Create the file /etc/systemd/service/actual-server.service with the contents below using your text editor of choice (ex. ``` vi /etc/systemd/service/actual-server.service ```). Note the WorkingDirectory= parameter needs to be set to your Actual install folder
+```
+[Unit]
+Description=Actual-Server (https://actualbudget.org)
+After=network.target
+
+[Service]
+WorkingDirectory=[Link to your actual-server install directory, ex. /var/www/html/actual]
+ExecStart=/usr/bin/yarn start
+Restart=on-watchdog
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=multi-user.target
+```
+2. Have systemd rescan for the unit file you created -> ``` systemctl daemon-reload ```
+3. Install and start the systemd unit file -> ``` systemctl enable --now /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/actual-server.service ```
+4. Confirm that the Actual server is running -> ``` systemctl status actual-server ```
+```
+root@server:/etc/systemd/system# systemctl status actual-server
+● actual-server.service - Actual-Server (https://actualbudget.org)
+     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/actual-server.service; enabled; vendor pres>
+     Active: active (running) since Mon 2024-11-18 14:58:29 EST; 23h ago
+   Main PID: 842857 (node)
+      Tasks: 33 (limit: 38316)
+     Memory: 45.9M
+        CPU: 1.995s
+     CGroup: /system.slice/actual-server.service
+             ├─842857 node /usr/bin/yarn start
+             ├─842870 /usr/bin/node /var/www/html/actual-server/.yarn/releases/yarn->
+             └─842881 /usr/bin/node app 
+```
+5. You should see output similar to below. The main thing to check for is the "Active: active (running)" section. From here you can consider [Setting up a Reverse Proxy](https://actualbudget.org/docs/config/reverse-proxies) and [Activating HTTPS](https://actualbudget.org/docs/config/https)
+6. To stop / start / restart the server use the commands
+   - ```systemctl stop actual-server```
+   - ```systemctl start actual-server```
+   - ```systemctl restart actual-server```
+7. To see the system log showing status or errors use the command from before. This can be helpful for troubleshooting.
+   - ```systemctl status actual-server```
+  
 ## Accessing Actual
 
 After the server has been started, you can access Actual using your browser at [http://localhost:5006](http://localhost:5006).