Static

Note: this file is copied from the Daps static template’s README.md, located in <daps repository>/templates/static.

Daps Static Site Template

A template for serving static HTML files via nginx, managed by Daps.

No database, no build step, no secrets — just a folder of files and a web server.

Before you start: replace the placeholder name

This template uses mystaticsite as a placeholder throughout. There are two ways to set up a project from this template:

Option A: Use `dapsman init` (recommended)

From the Daps root folder:

dapsman init --template static --name yourprojectname --prod-url yourdomain.com

This copies the template, replaces all mystaticsite placeholders with your project name (in file contents and filenames), writes your production domain into _caddy_sites/yourprojectname.prod.caddy, and registers the project in daps.yaml automatically. --prod-url is optional — if omitted, edit the caddy file manually before deploying.

Option B: Manual setup

Do a find-and-replace across the whole folder:

Replace	With
`mystaticsite`	your project name (e.g. `janesdrum`)
`mystaticsite.localhost`	your local dev hostname (e.g. `janesdrum.localhost`)
`mystaticsite.example.com`	your real domain name (e.g. `janesdrum.com`)
`mystaticsite-prod`	your OpenStack server name (e.g. `janesdrum-prod`)

Files to update (rename the files too):

_docker/compose_mystaticsite.yaml
_docker/compose_mystaticsite.dev.yaml
_docker/compose_mystaticsite.prod.yaml
_docker/compose_daps_mystaticsite.dev.yaml
_caddy_sites/mystaticsite.dev.caddy
_caddy_sites/mystaticsite.prod.caddy

Then add an entry to the root daps.yaml:

projects:
  mystaticsite:           # <-- your project name
    path: ../mystaticsite # <-- path to this folder

Initial setup

1. Add your local hostname

Chrome and Firefox resolve *.localhost automatically without a hosts entry. For other tools (curl, etc.) add it manually:

# Windows: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts
# Mac/Linux: /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1  mystaticsite.localhost

2. Add your site content

Replace the placeholder public/index.html with your own files. The entire public/ directory is served by nginx — put your HTML, CSS, JS, and images there.

3. Start the local site

From the Daps root folder:

dapsman local build --project mystaticsite

Or run docker compose directly from this project folder:

docker compose -f _docker/compose_mystaticsite.yaml -f _docker/compose_mystaticsite.dev.yaml up -d

Your site will be available at https://mystaticsite.localhost (via Caddy) or http://localhost:8080 (direct).

Deploying to production

First deploy

Before deploying, confirm _caddy_sites/mystaticsite.prod.caddy names your real domain, not the mystaticsite.example.com placeholder, and read “DNS and HTTPS” in daps/docs/readme-deployment.md — whether you point DNS at the host before or after this step depends on whether the domain is already serving a live site.

dapsman prod deploy --project mystaticsite --provider <name>

This brings up the nginx container on the remote server and then rsyncs public/ to the remote — no separate content upload step needed.

Updating content

For routine content updates (editing a page, adding images) you don’t need a full redeploy:

dapsman prod sync-from-local --project mystaticsite --provider <name>

This rsyncs public/ to the remote server incrementally — only changed files are transferred.

Alternatively, you can run the sync script directly from the toolkit container:

docker exec -it daps-toolkit-1 bash -l
/srv/projects/mystaticsite/_scripts/sync-local-to-remote.toolkit.sh

Project structure

mystaticsite/
├── _caddy_sites/                           # Caddy reverse proxy configs (imported by Daps)
│   ├── mystaticsite.dev.caddy
│   └── mystaticsite.prod.caddy
├── _docker/                                # Docker Compose files
│   ├── compose_mystaticsite.yaml           # Base config (shared dev + prod)
│   ├── compose_mystaticsite.dev.yaml       # Dev overrides (port binding, volume mount)
│   ├── compose_mystaticsite.prod.yaml      # Prod overrides (volume path)
│   └── compose_daps_mystaticsite.dev.yaml  # Toolkit extension (mounts project into toolkit)
├── _scripts/                               # Utility scripts
│   ├── post-remote-deploy.toolkit.sh       # Auto-run after prod deploy: rsyncs public/
│   └── sync-local-to-remote.toolkit.sh     # Content-only sync: run manually from toolkit
└── public/                                 # Your site files — put everything here
    └── index.html

Services

Service	Dev port	Description
nginx	8080	nginx:1.31-alpine static file server

Upgrading nginx

The nginx version is pinned in _docker/compose_mystaticsite.yaml. To upgrade:

Update the image tag:

image: nginx:1.31-alpine  →  nginx:1.32-alpine

Test locally:

dapsman local build --project mystaticsite

Deploy:

dapsman prod deploy --project mystaticsite --provider <name>

No backup needed — your site files live in public/, not in the container, so they are unaffected by the image change.

Running multiple static sites

Multiple static sites can run alongside each other and alongside other project types (WordPress, etc.) on the same Daps instance:

Caddy routes to each site’s nginx container via a project-specific alias on daps_net, so there is no DNS collision.
Each project’s nginx container is independent — starting, stopping, or tearing down one has no effect on the others.

The one thing you must change manually for a second static project is the dev host port in _docker/compose_mystaticsite.dev.yaml, since each project uses a fixed port and only one project can bind a given host port at a time:

Service	Default port	Change to (example)
nginx	8080	8081

This port is only used for direct local access (http://localhost:8080). Traffic through https://mystaticsite.localhost goes via Caddy and is unaffected.