carousell-monitor/docs/QUICKSTART-PORTAINER.md

Quick start on Portainer (click-by-click)

For a fresh machine, no shell needed. Portainer runs the same compose file as the CLI flow — see the README for that version.

Before you start: Portainer must already be up and connected to a Docker endpoint, and Portainer's own container needs access to the Docker socket (the standard install does). NocoDB will need one free host port — 8080 by default.

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1. Create the NocoDB container first

Because you cannot paste the base id and token until NocoDB exists, do this in two deploys.

1. Stacks → Add stack

2. Name: carousell-monitor

3. Build method: Web editor

4. Paste the first service only for now — the nocodb: block from docker-compose.allinone.yml plus the closing volumes: / networks: sections:

   services:
     nocodb:
       image: nocodb/nocodb:2026.09.0
       container_name: carousell-nocodb
       restart: unless-stopped
       environment:
         PORT: "8080"
         NC_AUTH_JWT_SECRET: <paste output of: openssl rand -hex 32>
         NC_DISABLE_TELE: "true"
         NC_ALLOW_LOCAL_HOOKS: "false"
       volumes:
         - nocodb-data:/usr/app/data
       ports:
         - "8080:8080"
       healthcheck:
         test: ["CMD-SHELL", "wget -qO- http://127.0.0.1:8080/api/v1/health >/dev/null 2>&1 || exit 1"]
         interval: 30s
         timeout: 10s
         retries: 5
         start_period: 60s
       networks:
         - carousell
   
   volumes:
     nocodb-data:
   
   networks:
     carousell:
   

5. Deploy the stack. Wait for carousell-nocodb to show as running/healthy.

2. Create the base and collect the two values

Open http://<your-host>:8080:

1. Create the admin account.
2. Create a base (+ New Base) — call it Carousell.
3. Copy the base id from the URL (…/nc/base/<BASE_ID>/…).
4. Avatar (bottom-left) → Account Settings → Tokens → Create token, and copy the nc_pat_… value. It is shown once.

3. Add the monitor to the same stack

1. Get the Telegram values first (docs/TELEGRAM-SETUP.md) — bot token from @BotFather, chat id from @userinfobot.

2. Back in Portainer: Stacks → carousell-monitor → Editor tab.

3. Replace the whole file with the content of docker-compose.allinone.yml, with the real values written in directly instead of ${...} placeholders:

       environment:
         NOCODB_URL: http://nocodb:8080
         NOCODB_TOKEN: nc_pat_your_token_here
         NOCODB_BASE_ID: your_base_id_here
         TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN: 8123456789:AAF...
         TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID: 123456789
   

   and the same for NC_AUTH_JWT_SECRET / NC_DISABLE_TELE in the nocodb service.

   Why inline values instead of Portainer's environment panel? Portainer CE masks secret-looking values that are entered through the UI and stores the mask with the stack. On the next stack update the container receives *** and silently stops authenticating. Editing the YAML keeps the real value on your Portainer host, which is where a stack file's secrets live anyway.

4. Update the stack. Portainer recreates the services that changed and adds carousell-monitor.

5. Containers → carousell-monitor → Logs: expect one line starting with ready: listings=… settings=… seen=0.

4. Start using it

In NocoDB, open the base — four tables are now present. Add your first watch to Settings (see docs/NOCODB-SETUP.md) and give it a minute. Then untick notified on any Listings row to force a test alert.

5. Everyday maintenance in Portainer

Task	Where
Change a search / filters	NocoDB UI — nothing to redeploy
Change credentials or tuning	Stacks → carousell-monitor → Editor → edit YAML → Update the stack
See why it is unhealthy	Containers → carousell-monitor → Logs, then the Listings/Settings tables for real progress
Restart	Containers → carousell-monitor → Restart (state is in NocoDB, nothing is lost)
Update this project	pull the new code on the host, then Editor → Update the stack with Re-pull image/rebuild enabled, or docker compose up -d --build on the CLI
Back up	Volumes → nocodb-data (all data) — or NocoDB's own base export

6. Optional: deploy from the repository instead

Stacks → Add stack → Repository, with:

Field	Value
Repository URL	https://github.com/hoelee/carousell-monitor
Reference	refs/heads/main
Compose path	docker-compose.allinone.yml

Set NOCODB_BASE_ID / NOCODB_TOKEN / TELEGRAM_* / NC_AUTH_JWT_SECRET in the environment panel for this one (they are not in git). Be aware of the masking caveat above, and that Portainer clones the repository on every deploy.