# Deploying LambdaMail on Coolify This is the order things have to happen in. Several steps depend on DNS propagation or on your provider, so read the whole page before starting — a couple of them are worth kicking off early. ## Before anything else Three prerequisites are not automatable, and without them the deployment will come up but mail will not work. Start them now, because two involve waiting on somebody else. ### 1. Outbound port 25 Most providers block it by default — AWS, GCP, Azure, Oracle, Vultr, and DigitalOcean on newer accounts. Open a support ticket asking for outbound SMTP to be unblocked, and say what the host is for. If the answer is no, LambdaMail can still send through a relay: set `RELAY_HOST` and friends, and the relay is added to the published SPF record automatically. Receiving is unaffected either way. ### 2. Reverse DNS (PTR) The PTR for your public IPv4 must resolve to `PRIMARY_MAIL_HOST`, and that name must resolve back to the same address. This is called FCrDNS, and Gmail and Outlook will refuse or spam-folder mail without it. **The PTR is set by whoever owns the IP block — your VPS provider, not Cloudflare.** It is usually a field in the server's control panel. ```bash dig -x 203.0.113.10 +short # must print mail.example.com. dig mail.example.com +short # must print 203.0.113.10 ``` ### 3. DNSSEC — only if you want DANE Signing the zone is a prerequisite for DANE. It is enabled in the Cloudflare dashboard and needs a DS record published at your registrar, which is manual. Skip this for a first deployment. DANE stays off under `TLS_MODE=traefik` anyway, and turning it on without understanding the rollover is the single most effective way to make every validating MTA reject your mail permanently. ### IPv6 Either configure it properly — AAAA record, matching PTR, and covered by SPF — or leave `PUBLIC_IPV6` empty. Half-configured IPv6 is a common cause of rejection, and empty is a safe answer. --- ## Step 1 — Point DNS at the host Two records must exist before the first deploy, because Coolify's proxy needs them to obtain certificates: | Type | Name | Value | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | `A` | `mail` | your public IPv4, **DNS only, not proxied** | | `A`/`CNAME` | `mta-sts` | the same host (may be proxied) | The `mail` record must not be behind Cloudflare's proxy. SMTP is not HTTP; proxying it breaks the mail ports and hides your real address from the certificate challenge. The rest of the 13 records are created by the service once you give it a Cloudflare token, or you can add them by hand later. ## Step 2 — Create the application in Coolify 1. **New Resource → Docker Compose**, pointed at this repository. It lives on Gitea: choose **Private Repository (with Deploy Key)** and use `git@git.lucasrguerra.dev.br:lucasrguerra/LambdaMail.git` with a key that is registered in Gitea. An application that was created from a GitHub source keeps cloning from GitHub until its source is changed in the Coolify UI; the API cannot change it. 2. Coolify will read `docker-compose.yaml`. Leave the compose file alone; all configuration is environment. 3. Create the environment on your own machine, then paste it into **Environment Variables**: ```bash scripts/init-env.sh --production # writes .env with random secrets ``` The script lists every value that is still at a development default (`MAIL_DOMAIN`, `PRIMARY_MAIL_HOST`, `WEBMAIL_HOST`, `PUBLIC_IPV4`, `IMAGE_TAG`); set those in `.env`, then paste. Every variable is explained inline in [`.env.example`](../.env.example). `POSTGRES_PASSWORD` and `REDIS_PASSWORD` are generated as hex on purpose: they go inside connection URIs, and the `/` and `+` of base64 break them. `LAMBDAMAIL_MASTER_KEY` deserves particular care. It encrypts every DKIM private key, TOTP secret and provider token in the database. **Store a copy somewhere other than the database backup.** If you lose it, those secrets are unrecoverable and you will be reissuing DKIM keys and re-enrolling every user's two-factor. ### Ports Coolify does not map mail ports for you. In the service settings, make sure the host publishes: ``` 25, 465, 587 SMTP 143, 993 IMAP 110, 995 POP3 4190 ManageSieve ``` These are already declared in `docker-compose.yaml`; what matters is that the VPS firewall allows them inbound. ### The proxy network The compose file joins Coolify's proxy network, named `coolify` by default. If yours differs, set `COOLIFY_PROXY_NETWORK`. ## Step 3 — Deploy and check the preflight Deploy, then run the diagnostics from the host: ```bash docker compose run --rm --entrypoint /app/lambdamail-protocols protocols preflight ``` It reports outbound port 25, PTR and FCrDNS, whether your IP is on Spamhaus, SpamCop or SORBS, the Cloudflare token's scope, and whether a certificate exists for the mail host. Fix anything it flags before going further — particularly an RBL listing, which will not fix itself. ## Step 4 — Create the first administrator Nothing else creates a mailbox, so without this there is no way into the console: ```bash make create-admin EMAIL=you@example.com PASSWORD='a long passphrase' ``` This creates the domain if needed, the mailbox as `SUPER_ADMIN`, its standard folders, and the four system aliases (`postmaster@`, `abuse@`, `dmarc@`, `tlsrpt@`) that the published DNS records point at. Then sign in at `https:///`, which opens the mail client. An account that may administer the server gets an **Admin console** link in the webmail sidebar. Following it asks for the password and second factor again, because the console is a separate audience — being signed in to webmail is never enough on its own. If the account has no second factor yet, the admin sign-in enrols one on the spot: it shows a QR code to scan, takes the first code back, and hands over the recovery codes. There is no need to visit another screen first, and no way to end up locked out of the console for want of a factor you could not reach. Leaving the console needs nothing — the webmail session was never given up. ## Step 5 — DNS records With a Cloudflare token set, the service reconciles the zone on start and every six hours after that. Watch it: ```bash docker compose logs -f protocols | grep "DNS reconcile" ``` It is idempotent, and it never deletes records it did not create — anything unexpected is reported as a conflict rather than overwritten. Without a token, add the records by hand. The admin console's Domains page lists what is expected. ## Step 6 — Verify Send mail to a Gmail address and check the headers show `spf=pass`, `dkim=pass`, `dmarc=pass`. Then run a round trip through [mail-tester.com](https://www.mail-tester.com) and read every point it deducts. A first deployment will usually be short a few points until the DNS records have propagated and the IP has some sending history. --- ## Upgrading Images are published to the Gitea container registry for `linux/amd64` and `linux/arm64` on every merge to `main`, and again under the version number when a `v*` tag is pushed (see [RELEASING.md](RELEASING.md)). ```bash docker compose pull docker compose up -d ``` Deploys pull the images CI published rather than building on the server; `docker-compose.build.yaml` is the overlay local development uses to build from source instead. Migrations run automatically on start, before the services that depend on them. **Pin `IMAGE_TAG` to a release (`1.0.0`) or a `sha-` tag rather than leaving it on `latest`.** Not only for rollback: `docker compose up` does not re-pull a tag it already has locally, so a deployment left on `latest` will happily keep running the image it pulled the first time while reporting success. An immutable tag changes on every release, which is what forces the pull. IMAGE_TAG=sha- The tags are published by `release.yml`; `docker buildx imagetools inspect git.lucasrguerra.dev.br//lambdamail/webmail:latest` shows what `latest` currently points at. **Pinning has a second edge: bump it on every release.** A pinned tag is an instruction to run *that* image, so a deploy triggered without changing it re-pulls the same old build and succeeds — the UI simply does not change. Redeploying with "ignore cache" does not help, because that clears the *build* cache and nothing here is built on the server; the tag being requested is still the old one. The two failure modes are mirror images: `latest` never updates because Docker already has it, and a stale pin never updates because you asked for it by name. So a release is two steps, not one: ```bash # 1. point the tag at the new commit IMAGE_TAG=sha-$(git rev-parse HEAD) # 2. then deploy ``` On Coolify the two steps are two API calls, and the order matters: set the variable, then deploy, and only after the **Release workflow has finished green** (a deploy while it is still running pulls the previous images): ```bash # 1. point the tag at the commit that was released curl -X PATCH "$COOLIFY_URL/api/v1/applications/$APP_UUID/envs" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \ -d "{\"key\":\"IMAGE_TAG\",\"value\":\"sha-$(git rev-parse HEAD)\"}" # 2. then deploy (a POST; a GET answers 405) curl -X POST "$COOLIFY_URL/api/v1/deploy?uuid=$APP_UUID" -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" ``` Confirm which one is actually serving before believing a green deployment: ```bash curl -s https:///user/login | grep -o '/_next/static/css/[a-z0-9]*\.css' ``` The asset fingerprint changes with every build. If it did not move, the old image is still running whatever the deployment log said. A route that exists only in the new version is a surer check: an unauthenticated request to `/api/v1/mail/threads` answers `401` on a version that has conversations and `404` on one that does not. ### Upgrading to sessions, accounts, trusted senders and conversations Three migrations run on the first start (the `migrate` service runs them before anything that needs them): | | Adds | | :--- | :--- | | `0016` | `trusted_senders` | | `0017` | The SQL subject helpers and a one-time grouping of older mail into conversations, by subject and only where a reply exists; an index for the conversation list | | `0018` | `mailboxes.conversation_view` (on by default) | They are additive and idempotent in effect; on a large mailbox `0017`'s grouping reads the whole `email_messages` table once. Nothing needs configuring. What people will notice the first time: - Sessions opened before the upgrade keep their old 8-hour expiry and are replaced by 30-day ones at the next sign-in. A session that began before accounts existed is added to the account switcher automatically. - Trusted-sender choices a person made in a browser are moved to the server the first time the webmail loads there. - Right after a deploy, while the proxy is swapping containers, one page load can meet a script from the other version. This was seen once, as a React hydration error in the browser console on the sign-in page, and did not come back on the next loads. If a page misbehaves in the first minute, reload it. Nothing about the upgrade needs new environment variables or ports. The webmail now serves `/manifest.webmanifest`, `/icon.svg`, `/favicon.ico` and `/icons/*`; they are public, like the sign-in page, and need no proxy rule beyond the one already sending the host to the web service. Installing the webmail as an app needs HTTPS, which the deployment already has. ## Troubleshooting **The web UI is up but nothing can log in.** The auth service refuses to start without a `JWT_SECRET` of at least 32 characters. `docker compose logs auth` will say so. **Mail is accepted but never arrives.** Check `docker compose logs -f protocols` for the delivery worker. A `4.7.5` deferral means the destination published a TLS policy that could not be satisfied — that is deliberate; the message is retried rather than sent in the clear. **"Delivery Delay Notification" with `dial tcp …:25: i/o timeout`.** This is step 1 of the prerequisites, and it is the single most common reason a new deployment cannot send anywhere: ``` Reason: dial tcp alt4.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com:25: dial tcp 192.178.213.26:25: i/o timeout ``` A *timeout* rather than a refusal is the signature of a provider block — nothing is answering because the packets never leave. Receiving still works, and the queued messages keep retrying, so nothing is lost while you sort it out. Two ways forward: 1. Ask the provider to unblock outbound port 25 for the host. 2. Send through a relay, which needs no cooperation from them: ```bash RELAY_HOST=smtp.your-provider.example RELAY_PORT=587 RELAY_USER=... RELAY_PASS=... ``` Delivery then goes to the relay for every destination, and the relay is added to the published SPF record automatically — without that the relay's IP is not authorised for your domain and everything it forwards fails SPF. Credentials are only ever sent over STARTTLS; if the relay does not offer it, the message is deferred rather than the password sent in the clear. Watch the backlog drain on the admin console's outbound queue screen, or with `make preflight` for the port check itself. **`/health` returns `X-LambdaMail-Health: degraded`.** The stack is running but a certificate needs attention: usually no certificate exists for `PRIMARY_MAIL_HOST` because no router was declared for it, or one is expiring within 24 hours. The body says which. **Everything is fine but Gmail still spam-folders you.** That is reputation, not configuration. A new IP has none. Send low volumes to engaged recipients first and watch the DMARC reports in the admin console.