N Nightship
// guides

Guides

Practical guides for running Nightship, publishing builds to it, and operating it — from a one-click local demo to a hardened self-hosted server.

Getting started

Install the Nightship clientA per-user Windows install — no admin rights. Drydock: a full local Nightship in DockerA complete Nightship — server and storage — on your machine, in one click. Quick local server on WindowsRun the bundled server binary for a quick local test — no Docker. Join a server with an inviteRedeem an invite code and start syncing.

Running a server

Architecture overviewControl plane, data plane, and where builds actually live. Run nightshipd with DockerThe official image via Compose or Docker Desktop. Run nightshipd bare-metal (systemd)A plain binary under systemd on Linux. Bootstrap the first adminMint the first admin user and token, offline. Terminate TLS with a reverse proxy (Caddy)Put HTTPS in front of nightshipd.

Storage

Storage engines: Cargo vs TideWhole-file vs content-addressed delta — and when to use each. Serve builds from a plain file serverAny static HTTP server can serve the chunk store, read-only. Connect object storage for TidePoint Tide at Cloudflare R2, AWS S3, or a self-hosted store. The Tide delta engine, in depthChunking, manifests, and what actually transfers.

Publishing builds

Push a build from the command linePublish a build to a channel with the CLI. Publish from CIPush builds from your pipeline on every green run.

Administration

Users, roles, and groupsAccounts, permissions, and channel access. Channels: create, promote, visibilityCreate channels, choose Tide vs Cargo, publish public or private. Invites and onboardingBring people onto a server. Lost access to your serverGet back in as admin — Cloud and self-hosted. Single sign-on (OIDC)Entra ID, Okta, Keycloak: sign in with the company account. Licensing and the evaluation periodThe evaluation window and installing a license.

Operations

Back up and restoreProtect and recover your server’s data. Upgrade nightshipdMove to a new version safely. Security and hardeningLock down a production server.

Reference

HTTP API (OpenAPI)The REST API; live docs are served at /api/docs on any server. CLI referenceComing soonGenerated from --help.