Deployment

The default username and password for Baby Buddy is admin/admin. For any deployment, log in and change the default password immediately.

Many of Baby Buddy's configuration settings can be controlled using environment variables - see Configuration for detailed information.

Docker

Baby Buddy relies on the LinuxServer.io community for a multi-architecture container with strong support. See linuxserver/docker-babybuddy for detailed information about the container or use the following Docker Compose configuration as a template to get started quickly:

version: "2.1"
services:
  babybuddy:
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/babybuddy
    container_name: babybuddy
    volumes:
      - /path/to/appdata:/config
    ports:
      - 8000:8000
    restart: unless-stopped

See Django's databases documentation for database requirements.

See HTTPS/SSL configuration for information on how to secure Baby Buddy.

Running commands

Run administrative commands with the /app/www/public/manage.py script. Set the environment variables DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE and SECRET_KEY before running commands. For example:

docker exec -it babybuddy /bin/bash
export DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE="babybuddy.settings.base"
export SECRET_KEY="$(cat /config/.secretkey)"
cd /app/www/public
python manage.py --help

Note: the container name (babybuddy) and secret key location (/config/.secretkey) may differ depending on the container configuration. Refer to the running containers configuration for these values.

Home Assistant

Home Assistant is an open source home automation tool that can be used to host and control Baby Buddy. An existing Home Assistant installation is required to use this method.

See the community-maintained Baby Buddy Home Assistant Addon for installation instructions and then review the community-maintained Baby Buddy Home Assistant integration for added integrations with the base Home Assistant system.

See also How to Setup Baby Buddy in Home Assistant from Smart Home Scene for more detailed installation and configuration instructions.

Digital Ocean

Info

The Digital Ocean deployment and link URLs include referal codes. All referral funds receieved are treated as donations to Baby Buddy.

There are two ways to deploy Baby Buddy to Digital Ocean -- as a droplet from a marketplace image or as an app.

The marketplace image is the cheaper option ($6/month), but may require more manual configuration depending on desired features and is limited to the latest release the marketplace image has been approved for.

The app can be de deployed from any tag or the main branch and can be managed in the Digital Ocean console via environment variables, but it costs at least $12/month.

Create droplet

Cost: $6+/month

Use the button below to create a new droplet using the Baby Buddy marketplace image.

Access and configuration instructions will be provided after the droplet has been started and configured by the image.

Create app

Cost: $12+/month

Use the button below to start a new deploy to Digital Ocean.

Modify the app environment variables during the build configuration and set the SECRET_KEY value to something random and unique. Digital Ocean's automatic secret generator does not work with Baby Buddy.

Clever Cloud

To deploy on Clever Cloud, log in to your Clever Cloud console, create a Python application, link it to a PostgreSQL addon and optionally a Cellar S3 Storage addon (only if you want file storage for child picture in particular). Then make sure to set the following environment variables in your Python application before pushing the babybuddy source code:

CC_PYTHON_BACKEND=uwsgi
CC_PYTHON_MANAGE_TASKS=migrate
CC_PYTHON_MODULE=babybuddy.wsgi:application
DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=babybuddy.settings.clever-cloud
SECRET_KEY=<CHANGE TO SOMETHING RANDOM>
AWS_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME=<DESIRED BUCKET NAME> # only if file storage is needed

See Configuration for other environment variables available for your instance of babybuddy.

After that, you just have to push babybuddy code repository to the Git deployment URL of your Clever Cloud Python application.

GCP Cloud Run

Baby Buddy can be hosted serverless in GCP Cloud Run using configuration provided at terraform/gcp-cloud-run. The configuration scales down to zero for cost-effectiveness. With this approach initial requests to the service after a long period will be slow but subsequent requests will be much faster. A billing account mut be configured in GCP to use the configuration.

The terraform code isn't production ready and is meant to be a good way of getting started. No state storage is configured. See storage options for information about how to configure persistent storage.

Run terraform init from the configuration directory to get started:

git clone https://github.com/babybuddy/babybuddy.git
cd babybuddy/terraform/gcp-cloud-run
terraform init
terraform apply -var project_id=<project-id> -var project_name=<project-name> -var billing_account=<billing-account-id>

Manual

There are many ways to deploy Baby Buddy manually to any server/VPS. The basic requirements are Python, a web server, an application server, and a database.

Requirements

Python 3.10+, pip, pipx, pipenv
Web server (nginx, Apache, etc.)
Application server (uwsgi, gunicorn, etc.)
Database (See Django's databases documentation).

Example deployment

This example assumes a 1 GB VPS instance with Ubuntu 24.04. It uses Python 3.12, nginx, uwsgi and sqlite. It should be sufficient for a few users (e.g., two parents and any number of children).

Install system packages

sudo apt-get install python3 python3-pip pipx nginx uwsgi uwsgi-plugin-python3 git libopenjp2-7-dev libpq-dev

Default python3 to python for this session

alias python=python3

Install pipenv

pipx ensurepath
pipx install pipenv

Set up directories and files

sudo mkdir /var/www/babybuddy
sudo chown $USER:$(id -gn $USER) /var/www/babybuddy
mkdir -p /var/www/babybuddy/data/media
git clone https://github.com/babybuddy/babybuddy.git /var/www/babybuddy/public

Move in to the application folder

cd /var/www/babybuddy/public

Initiate and enter a Python environment with Pipenv locally.

export PIPENV_VENV_IN_PROJECT=1
pipenv install
pipenv shell

Create a production settings file and set the SECRET_KEY and ALLOWED_HOSTS values

cp babybuddy/settings/production.example.py babybuddy/settings/production.py
editor babybuddy/settings/production.py

Initiate the application

export DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=babybuddy.settings.production
python manage.py migrate

Set appropriate permissions on the database and data folder

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/babybuddy/data
sudo chmod 640 /var/www/babybuddy/data/db.sqlite3
sudo chmod 750 /var/www/babybuddy/data

Create and configure the uwsgi app

sudo editor /etc/uwsgi/apps-available/babybuddy.ini

Example config:

[uwsgi]
plugins = python3
project = babybuddy
base_dir = /var/www/babybuddy

chdir = %(base_dir)/public
virtualenv = %(chdir)/.venv
module =  %(project).wsgi:application
env = DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=%(project).settings.production
master = True
vacuum = True

See the uWSGI documentation for more advanced configuration details.

See Subdirectory configuration for additional configuration required if Baby Buddy will be hosted in a subdirectory of another server.

Symlink config and restart uWSGI:

sudo ln -s /etc/uwsgi/apps-available/babybuddy.ini /etc/uwsgi/apps-enabled/babybuddy.ini
sudo service uwsgi restart

Create and configure the nginx server

sudo editor /etc/nginx/sites-available/babybuddy

Example config:

upstream babybuddy {
 server unix:///var/run/uwsgi/app/babybuddy/socket;
}

server {
 listen 80;
 server_name babybuddy.example.com;

 location / {
    uwsgi_pass babybuddy;
    include uwsgi_params;
 }

 location /media {
    alias /var/www/babybuddy/data/media;
 }
}

See the nginx documentation for more advanced configuration details.

See Subdirectory configuration for additional configuration required if Baby Buddy will be hosted in a subdirectory of another server.

Symlink config and restart NGINX:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/babybuddy /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/babybuddy
sudo service nginx restart

That's it (hopefully)!

See HTTPS/SSL configuration for information on how to secure Baby Buddy.