custard — operating manual

Day-to-day use of a custard forge over Soft Serve. Replace your-host with your forge domain and you/tap with your tap namespace throughout.

The pieces

• Web forge: https://your-host — custard, behind Caddy (auto-TLS) on your server.
• Git server: Soft Serve on the server. An ssh soft alias → your-host:23231; remotes are soft:<repo>.
• Homebrew tap: a homebrew-tap repo → brew install straight from your host.

A handy ~/.ssh/config alias:

Host soft
    HostName your-host
    Port 23231
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Everyday git

# new repo
ssh soft repo create thing -d "what it is"
cd thing && git init && git add -A && git commit -m "init" && git branch -M main
git remote add origin soft:thing && git push -u origin main

# clone
git clone soft:thing                              # ssh
git clone https://your-host/git/thing.git         # public, read-only

# admin (run `ssh soft help` for everything)
ssh soft repo list | info <n> | description <n> "…" | private <n> true|false | webhook …

Privacy

ssh soft repo private thing true     # hide from the public forge
ssh soft repo private thing false    # publish

With --soft-serve-db set, only public repos appear on the forge; private/hidden → 404.

Versioning (git tags)

git tag -a v0.2.0 -m "release name"
git push origin v0.2.0

• Shows as a version pill in the header + index; the annotated message is labelled on the refs page.
• Highest semver wins. Bump anytime — tags are independent of commits, no code change needed.

Issues

backlog/tasks/*.md (Backlog.md) render at /r/<repo>/issues. Groups order in progress → paused → backlog → done. Manage with the backlog CLI.

Deploy a web app — the custard CLI

.custard.yaml:

ci:
  - npm test
deploy:
  # any command that prints a deployment URL (netlify/fly/rsync work too).
  # Vercel needs its project pinned — see "What's in the build" below.
  preview: VERCEL_ORG_ID=… VERCEL_PROJECT_ID=… vercel deploy --yes
  promote: VERCEL_ORG_ID=… VERCEL_PROJECT_ID=… vercel promote {{url}} --yes

custard check     # run ci on the working tree (fast loop)
custard preview   # build pushed commit → run ci → deploy preview → URL
custard promote   # promote the last preview → production

What's in the build

custard deploys the newest non-empty, pushed commit — a clean git archive of it, not your working tree. Two consequences:

• Pushed only. custard never runs git push; it deploys what's on the remote, so deployed == what's in the repo. Push first, then preview/promote. (Under jj, the working copy is an empty commit that normally sits on top after a push — custard skips it and deploys the described commit beneath, so you never ship an empty tree.)
• Gitignored + uncommitted files are ABSENT. The archive contains only committed, tracked files. So:
  • If ci uses npm ci, the package-lock.json must be committed (a gitignored lockfile → npm ci fails in the export). node_modules, .env, and build artifacts are likewise gone — your ci must regenerate whatever it needs.
  • Vercel: .vercel/project.json (gitignored) isn't present, so a bare vercel deploy creates a stray new project. Pin the target with VERCEL_ORG_ID=… VERCEL_PROJECT_ID=… vercel deploy --yes (IDs aren't secrets; auth still comes from your local vercel login). custard warns on an unpinned Vercel deploy, and surfaces the real *.vercel.app URL even though Vercel also prints API/inspect links.

Preview privacy: Vercel previews are often behind Deployment Protection — the preview URL redirects to an SSO login and is viewable only by your team. Production (your custom domain) is public. Toggle it in Project → Settings → Deployment Protection.

Release a CLI to Homebrew

.custard.yaml:

brew: { enabled: true, package: "." }   # or ./cmd/<name>

One-time per repo, register the webhook (secret = your WEBHOOK_SECRET):

ssh soft repo webhook create <name> https://your-host/hooks/release \
  -e branch_tag_create -c json -s "$WEBHOOK_SECRET"

Release + install:

custard release v0.2.0          # checks → tag → push → tap publishes
brew tap you/tap https://your-host/git/homebrew-tap.git
brew trust you/tap              # newer Homebrew gates third-party taps
brew install <name> ; brew upgrade <name>

Updating the forge

cp deploy/deploy.env.example deploy/deploy.env   # first time: fill REMOTE, DOMAIN, secrets…
deploy/deploy.sh                                  # build static binary, ship, restart

Automatic niceties

• README/markdown images with relative paths render; gifs sit embossed; click any image for a lightbox.
• Deploy badge (✓ in production / 👁 preview / ⚠ unverified) shows only for repos with a deploy: in .custard.yaml.
• README is its own tab; code is the file tree.

See MIGRATION.md to move a repo off GitHub.