hapi/docs/guide/deployment.md

Deployment

Run the hub and runner as persistent background services, and configure remote access tunnels.

Relay tunnel details

The default public relay (hapi hub --relay) works out of the box. This section covers how relay authentication works and how to tune it.

The hub automatically stores an individually revocable relay key in settings.json (relayAuthKey). If that persisted key is revoked or the relay rotates its signing secret, HAPI discards it after HTTP 403, requests one replacement, and restarts the tunnel. Relay issuance is limited per public IP; HTTP 429 is reported explicitly, which can affect users sharing a CGNAT or corporate egress address. Set HAPI_RELAY_AUTH only when an operator has provided a key manually; rejected environment keys are never overwritten automatically.

Tip: The relay uses UDP by default. If you experience connectivity issues, set HAPI_RELAY_FORCE_TCP=true to force TCP mode.

Other relay-related environment variables:

• HAPI_RELAY_API - Relay API domain (default: relay.hapi.run)
• HAPI_OFFICIAL_WEB_URL - Official web app origin allowed via CORS when the relay is enabled (default: https://app.hapi.run)

Self-hosted tunnels

If you prefer not to use the public relay (e.g., for lower latency or self-managed infrastructure), you can use these alternatives:

Cloudflare Tunnel

https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/connections/connect-networks/

Note: Cloudflare Quick Tunnels (TryCloudflare) are not supported because they do not support SSE, which HAPI uses for real-time updates. Use a Named Tunnel instead.

Named tunnel setup:

# Install cloudflared: https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/connections/connect-networks/downloads/

# Create and configure a named tunnel
cloudflared tunnel create hapi
cloudflared tunnel route dns hapi hapi.yourdomain.com

# Run the tunnel
cloudflared tunnel --protocol http2 run hapi

Tip: Use --protocol http2 instead of QUIC (the default) to avoid potential timeout issues with long-lived connections.

Tailscale

https://tailscale.com/download

sudo tailscale up
hapi hub

Access via your Tailscale IP:

http://100.x.x.x:3006

Public IP / Reverse Proxy

If the hub has a public IP, access directly via http://your-hub-ip:3006.

Use HTTPS (via Nginx, Caddy, etc.) for production.

Self-signed certificates (HTTPS)

If HAPI_API_URL is set to an https://... URL with a self-signed (or otherwise untrusted) certificate, the CLI may fail with:

Error: self signed certificate

Recommended fixes (in order):

1. Use a publicly trusted certificate (e.g., Let's Encrypt)
2. Trust your private CA (recommended for private networks)
3. Dev-only workaround: disable TLS verification (insecure)

# Preferred: trust your own CA
export NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS="/path/to/your-ca.pem"

# Dev-only workaround: disable TLS verification (INSECURE)
export NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0

If you use the dev-only workaround, assume MITM risk; do not use on public networks.

Background service deployment

Keep HAPI running persistently so it survives terminal closes, system restarts, and continues running in the background.

Quick: nohup

Simple one-liner for quick background runs:

# Hub
nohup hapi hub --relay > ~/.hapi/logs/hub.log 2>&1 &

# Runner
nohup hapi runner start-sync > ~/.hapi/logs/runner.log 2>&1 &

View logs:

tail -f ~/.hapi/logs/hub.log
tail -f ~/.hapi/logs/runner.log

Stop processes:

pkill -f "hapi hub"
pkill -f "hapi runner"

pm2 (recommended for Node.js users)

pm2 provides process management with auto-restart on crashes and system reboot.

# Install pm2
npm install -g pm2

# Start hub and runner
pm2 start "hapi hub --relay" --name hapi-hub
pm2 start "hapi runner start-sync" --name hapi-runner

# View status and logs
pm2 status
pm2 logs hapi-hub
pm2 logs hapi-runner

# Auto-restart on system reboot
pm2 startup    # Follow the printed instructions
pm2 save       # Save current process list

macOS: launchd

Create plist files for automatic startup on macOS.

Hub (~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.hapi.hub.plist):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.hapi.hub</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/local/bin/hapi</string>
        <string>hub</string>
        <string>--relay</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <true/>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/Users/YOUR_USERNAME/.hapi/logs/hub.log</string>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/Users/YOUR_USERNAME/.hapi/logs/hub.log</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Runner (~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.hapi.runner.plist):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.hapi.runner</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/local/bin/hapi</string>
        <string>runner</string>
        <string>start-sync</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <true/>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/Users/YOUR_USERNAME/.hapi/logs/runner.log</string>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/Users/YOUR_USERNAME/.hapi/logs/runner.log</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Load/unload services:

# Load (start)
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.hapi.hub.plist
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.hapi.runner.plist

# Unload (stop)
launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.hapi.hub.plist
launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.hapi.runner.plist

macOS sleep note: macOS may suspend background processes when the display sleeps. Use caffeinate to prevent this:

caffeinate -dimsu hapi hub --relay

Or run caffeinate -dimsu in a separate terminal while HAPI is running.

Linux: systemd

Create user-level systemd services for automatic startup.

Hub (~/.config/systemd/user/hapi-hub.service):

[Unit]
Description=HAPI Hub
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/hapi hub --relay
Restart=always
RestartSec=5

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Runner (~/.config/systemd/user/hapi-runner.service):

[Unit]
Description=HAPI Runner
After=network.target hapi-hub.service

[Service]
Type=simple
KillMode=process
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/hapi runner start-sync
Restart=always
RestartSec=5

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Why KillMode=process? The runner spawns each agent session as a detached child process (detached: true in cli/src/runner/run.ts) so that sessions stay alive when the runner exits. Without KillMode=process, systemd's default KillMode=control-group sends SIGTERM to every PID in the runner's cgroup when the unit stops, defeating the detach and forcibly archiving every running session. KillMode=process preserves the contract: stopping or restarting the runner only signals the runner itself; agent sessions stay alive, and a fresh runner re-establishes control via the existing socket.io reconnect path. This applies to runner upgrades, manual restarts, and any reboot in which the runner unit is stopped before agents have finished.

Enable and start:

# Reload systemd
systemctl --user daemon-reload

# Enable (auto-start on login)
systemctl --user enable hapi-hub
systemctl --user enable hapi-runner

# Start now
systemctl --user start hapi-hub
systemctl --user start hapi-runner

# View status/logs
systemctl --user status hapi-hub
journalctl --user -u hapi-hub -f

Persist after logout: To keep services running even when not logged in:

loginctl enable-linger $USER