self-hosting.md

Hosting Static Content Using Soul

You can host static content using Soul by utilizing its extensions feature. This allows you to expose your static application through Soul, enabling users to access your content without hosting multiple applications.

Here are diagrams showing how to access Soul APIs when running standalone and how to expose a static client via extensions.

Accessing Soul APIs

Accessing a React Admin Application via Soul

Steps

In this guide, we will demonstrate how to host a static React Admin application.

1. Create an _extensions folder and add an api.js file to it.:

     mkdir _extensions && touch _extensions/api.js

2. Add the following code to the api.js file:

   const reactAdminApp = {
     method: "GET",
     path: "/api/client",
     handler: (req, res, db) => {
       const clientPath = path.join(__dirname, "../dist", "index.html");
       res.app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, "../dist")));
       res.sendFile(clientPath);
     },
   };

3. Build your React Admin client:

      npm run build

4. Copy the dist folder from your React Admin project to the _extensions folder:

    cp -r dist <path/to/_extensions>

5. Run your Soul application:

    soul -d foobar.db --extensions /path/to/_extensions/

6. To verify that the app is working, open the following URL in your browser:

    http://localhost:<port>/api/client