# ![CatAsk icon](./static/icons/catask-32.png) CatAsk

a work-in-progress minimal single-user q&a software

> [!NOTE]
> CatAsk is alpha software, therefore bugs are expected to happen

## Prerequisites
- MySQL/MariaDB  
- Python 3.10+ (3.12+ recommended)  

## Install
Clone this repository: `git clone https://git.gay/mst/catask.git`

### VPS-specific
Go into the cloned repository, create a virtual environment and activate it:

#### Linux
```python -m venv venv && . venv/bin/activate```

#### Windows (PowerShell)
```python -m venv venv; .\venv\Scripts\activate```

---

After that, install required packages:  
```pip install -r requirements.txt```

### Shared hosting-specific
If your shared hosting provider supports [WSGI](https://w.wiki/_vTN2), [FastCGI](https://w.wiki/9EeQ), or something similar, use it (technically any CGI protocol could work)

## Post-install

## Configuration

First, rename `.env.example` to `.env` and `config.example.json` to `config.json`, then configure all the values below:

### .env
`DB_HOST` - database host (usually 127.0.0.1)  
`DB_NAME` - database name  
`DB_USER` - database user  
`DB_PASS` - database password  
`DB_PORT` - database port (usually 3306)  
`ADMIN_PASSWORD` - password to access admin panel  
`APP_SECRET` - application secret, generate one with this command: `python3 -c 'import secrets; print(secrets.token_hex())'`  

### config.json
Configure in Admin panel after installing (located at `https://yourdomain.tld/admin/`)

---

After you're done configuring CatAsk, init the database: `flask init-db`  
If that doesn't work (e.g. tables are missing), try importing schema.sql into the created database manually

## Usage

Start CatAsk with this command:
```
gunicorn -w 4 app:app
```
If you want CatAsk to be accessible on a specific host address, specify a `--bind` option to `gunicorn -w 4 app:app` (e.g. `--bind 127.0.0.1:5000`)  
For debugging, run `flask run --debug`  

Admin login page is located at `https://example.com/admin/login/`  
Runs on `127.0.0.1:8000` by default  

### Caddy
This repository contains an example Caddyfile that runs CatAsk on catask.localhost by reverse proxying it to 127.0.0.1:5000, you can modify it as needed
## Updating
For instructions with updating from one version to another, check [UPDATE.md](https://git.gay/mst/catask/src/branch/main/UPDATE.md) file  
Check [CHANGELOG.md](https://git.gay/mst/catask/src/branch/main/CHANGELOG.md) file for release notes