HAPI

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Deployment ​

Run the hub and runner as persistent background services, and configure remote access tunnels.

Native iOS / Android apps connect to the same hub as the web app. Provide an HTTPS hub origin for pairing; Android rejects cleartext URLs. The push relay used for native notifications is a separate service from the network tunnels described here.

Relay tunnel details ​

The default public relay (hapi hub --relay) works out of the box. This section covers how relay authentication works and how to tune it.

The hub automatically stores an individually revocable relay key in settings.json (relayAuthKey). If that persisted key is revoked or the relay rotates its signing secret, HAPI discards it after HTTP 403, requests one replacement, and restarts the tunnel. Relay issuance is limited per public IP; HTTP 429 is reported explicitly, which can affect users sharing a CGNAT or corporate egress address. Set HAPI_RELAY_AUTH only when an operator has provided a key manually; rejected environment keys are never overwritten automatically.

Tip: The relay uses UDP by default. If you experience connectivity issues, set HAPI_RELAY_FORCE_TCP=true to force TCP mode.

Other relay-related environment variables:

  • HAPI_RELAY_API - Relay API domain (default: relay.hapi.run)
  • HAPI_OFFICIAL_WEB_URL - Official web app origin allowed via CORS when the relay is enabled (default: https://app.hapi.run)

Self-hosted tunnels ​

If you prefer not to use the public relay (e.g., for lower latency or self-managed infrastructure), you can use these alternatives:

Cloudflare Tunnel

https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/connections/connect-networks/

Note: Cloudflare Quick Tunnels (TryCloudflare) are not supported because they do not support SSE, which HAPI uses for real-time updates. Use a Named Tunnel instead.

Named tunnel setup:

bash
# Install cloudflared: https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/connections/connect-networks/downloads/

# Create and configure a named tunnel
cloudflared tunnel create hapi
cloudflared tunnel route dns hapi hapi.yourdomain.com

# Run the tunnel
cloudflared tunnel --protocol http2 run hapi

Tip: Use --protocol http2 instead of QUIC (the default) to avoid potential timeout issues with long-lived connections.

Tailscale

https://tailscale.com/download

bash
sudo tailscale up

The default hub listens only on loopback. For browser access directly via your Tailscale IP, start it with:

bash
HAPI_LISTEN_HOST=0.0.0.0 hapi hub

Restrict inbound access to the trusted network with your firewall, then open:

http://100.x.x.x:3006

For native apps and HTTPS-only browser features, use an HTTPS endpoint (for example, Tailscale Serve forwarding to the loopback hub) instead.

Public IP / Reverse Proxy

Keep the hub on its default 127.0.0.1:3006 and put an HTTPS reverse proxy (Nginx, Caddy, etc.) in front of it. A public IP alone does not make the loopback listener remotely accessible. Set HAPI_LISTEN_HOST only when you need another bind address, and restrict direct access with your firewall.

Self-signed certificates (HTTPS)

If HAPI_API_URL is set to an https://... URL with a self-signed (or otherwise untrusted) certificate, the CLI may fail with:

Error: self signed certificate

Recommended fixes (in order):

  1. Use a publicly trusted certificate (e.g., Let's Encrypt)
  2. Trust your private CA (recommended for private networks)
  3. Dev-only workaround: disable TLS verification (insecure)
bash
# Preferred: trust your own CA
export NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS="/path/to/your-ca.pem"

# Dev-only workaround: disable TLS verification (INSECURE)
export NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0

If you use the dev-only workaround, assume MITM risk; do not use on public networks.

Background service deployment ​

Keep HAPI running persistently so it survives terminal closes, system restarts, and continues running in the background.

Quick: nohup

Simple one-liner for quick background runs:

bash
# Hub
mkdir -p ~/.hapi/logs
nohup hapi hub --relay > ~/.hapi/logs/hub.log 2>&1 &

# Runner
nohup hapi runner start-sync > ~/.hapi/logs/runner.log 2>&1 &

View logs:

bash
tail -f ~/.hapi/logs/hub.log
tail -f ~/.hapi/logs/runner.log

Stop processes:

bash
pkill -f "hapi hub"
pkill -f "hapi runner"
pm2 (recommended for Node.js users)

pm2 provides process management with auto-restart on crashes and system reboot.

bash
# Install pm2
npm install -g pm2

# Start hub and runner
pm2 start "hapi hub --relay" --name hapi-hub
# HAPI_RUNNER_SUPERVISED=1 lets the web Restart button stop the runner knowing
# pm2 will cold-start it again (unsupervised stop would leave the host offline).
HAPI_RUNNER_SUPERVISED=1 pm2 start "hapi runner start-sync" --name hapi-runner

# View status and logs
pm2 status
pm2 logs hapi-hub
pm2 logs hapi-runner

# Auto-restart on system reboot
pm2 startup    # Follow the printed instructions
pm2 save       # Save current process list
macOS: launchd

Create plist files for automatic startup on macOS.

Hub (~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.hapi.hub.plist):

xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.hapi.hub</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/local/bin/hapi</string>
        <string>hub</string>
        <string>--relay</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <true/>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/Users/YOUR_USERNAME/.hapi/logs/hub.log</string>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/Users/YOUR_USERNAME/.hapi/logs/hub.log</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Runner (~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.hapi.runner.plist):

xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.hapi.runner</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/local/bin/hapi</string>
        <string>runner</string>
        <string>start-sync</string>
    </array>
    <key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
    <dict>
        <key>HAPI_RUNNER_SUPERVISED</key>
        <string>1</string>
    </dict>
    <key>SoftResourceLimits</key>
    <dict>
        <key>NumberOfFiles</key>
        <integer>65536</integer>
    </dict>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <true/>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/Users/YOUR_USERNAME/.hapi/logs/runner.log</string>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/Users/YOUR_USERNAME/.hapi/logs/runner.log</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Load/unload services:

bash
# Load (start)
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.hapi.hub.plist
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.hapi.runner.plist

# Unload (stop)
launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.hapi.hub.plist
launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.hapi.runner.plist

macOS sleep note: macOS may suspend background processes when the display sleeps. Use caffeinate to prevent this:

bash
caffeinate -dimsu hapi hub --relay

Or run caffeinate -dimsu in a separate terminal while HAPI is running.

Linux: systemd

Create user-level systemd services for automatic startup.

Hub (~/.config/systemd/user/hapi-hub.service):

ini
[Unit]
Description=HAPI Hub
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/hapi hub --relay
Restart=always
RestartSec=5

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Runner (~/.config/systemd/user/hapi-runner.service):

ini
[Unit]
Description=HAPI Runner
After=network.target hapi-hub.service

[Service]
Type=simple
KillMode=process
# Advertise supervisedRestart so the web UI Restart button may stop-runner
# knowing systemd will cold-start the unit again.
Environment=HAPI_RUNNER_SUPERVISED=1
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/hapi runner start-sync
Restart=always
RestartSec=5

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Why KillMode=process? Agent sessions are detached from the runner. The default KillMode=control-group would terminate them when the runner service stops; KillMode=process preserves them during runner restarts and upgrades. It does not keep processes running through an operating-system shutdown or sleep.

Enable and start:

bash
# Reload systemd
systemctl --user daemon-reload

# Enable (auto-start on login)
systemctl --user enable hapi-hub
systemctl --user enable hapi-runner

# Start now
systemctl --user start hapi-hub
systemctl --user start hapi-runner

# View status/logs
systemctl --user status hapi-hub
journalctl --user -u hapi-hub -f

Persist after logout: To keep services running even when not logged in:

bash
loginctl enable-linger $USER

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