The mountpoint directory exists whether or not the encrypted volume is mounted, so a boot where the unlock failed would start Petal against an empty unencrypted directory and serve a blank database -- the failure mode that looks like data loss. .volume-ok lives on the encrypted filesystem and is bind-mounted with create_host_path:false, so its absence is a container start failure instead of a silent empty DB.
🌸 Petal
A self-hosted, privacy-first writing editor with warm bubbly design, auto-save, and
local-LLM grammar/ESL suggestions. See petal-spec.md for the full
design spec and BUILD_PLAN.md for build progress.
Stack
Go + chi backend · SQLite (modernc, pure Go) · React + Vite + Tiptap + Tailwind v4 frontend ·
local vLLM/Ollama for AI suggestions. Single-binary deployment (frontend embedded via go:embed).
Local development
Two processes during development:
# 1. Backend (serves /api on :8080)
go run ./cmd/server
# 2. Frontend dev server (HMR on :5173, proxies /api → :8080)
cd web && npm install && npm run dev
Open http://localhost:5173 while developing.
Production build (single binary)
cd web && npm run build # emits web/dist (embedded by the Go binary)
cd .. && go build -o petal ./cmd/server
./petal # serves UI + API on :8080
Configuration is via environment variables — copy .env.example to .env.
Deployment
docker compose up -d --build # petal + the two Piper read-aloud sidecars
Behind Traefik on the parodia.dev VPS; vLLM stays on millenia over headscale.
Full runbook — first deploy, the LLM link, backups and restore — in
deploy/README.md.
Status
Early build, multi-session. Auth (Authentik OIDC) is next; Copyleaks plagiarism is
still parked — see BUILD_PLAN.md.