baserow: placed directories, the database password from a file, and the build ace runs

The module named /var/lib/baserow and /services/baserow/data, a layout no
definition may carry (ADR 0112). State and data are now placed directories;
bindings and the grant's secret live in the placed state.

The all-in-one image's entrypoint honours DATABASE_PASSWORD_FILE (file_env
in /baserow.sh), so the grant's password is mounted rather than put in an
env-file, and "secrets-in-environment" is gone (ADR 0086). SECRET_KEY is no
longer minted: the image keeps it, and its JWT signing key, in the data
directory (.secret, .jwt_signing_key) and imports them on start, so a moved
data directory carries the keys its sessions and tokens were made with.
DISABLE_EMBEDDED_PSQL makes a missing grant fail loudly instead of starting
an empty embedded database.

BASEROW_PUBLIC_URL was http://localhost. Baserow answers only the host of
that URL - any other Host is looked up as a published builder site and gets
404, /api/_health/ included - so it is now https://${bound:route:name}
(depends on mesh-controller #149).

The runtime's tools could never have worked: its config was "{}", and the
client's Host override was silently dropped by Node's fetch, so calls by
container name would 404 even with credentials. The client now uses
node:http (which sends the Host it is given, with a Content-Length -
Baserow reads a chunked body as empty) and re-authenticates once when a
cached JWT is refused (access tokens last minutes, the runtime weeks). The
password is the accepted `admin` secret; the email is an assignment
setting merged into the same file, the host is the route's name.

Image pinned to the develop-latest build ace runs today (Baserow 2.3.4,
built 2026-09-18). The old pin (built 2026-09-04) is older than ace's data.

Verified: catalogue tests with MESH_CATALOGUE set; tsc -p tsconfig.json in
the mesh-tools build image. In throwaway containers of the pinned image: a
fresh embedded-PG instance with a user, workspace and 5-row table; stopped,
copied, dumped from the copy (start-only-db); restored with --no-owner
--role into a grant-shaped database on the pgvector image the postgres
module pins (PG17); started with this shape (root 0600 password file,
embedded PSQL disabled, copied data dir without postgres/): health 200,
the user logs in, the 5 rows are there, SECRET_KEY and the JWT key are
imported from the data dir. The patched client lists applications and rows
through the container name with the public Host, and recovers from a
refused token. Test containers and data removed.
This commit is contained in:
2026-09-30 12:16:04 +02:00
parent 8064e5da8f
commit ac8556c590
2 changed files with 70 additions and 40 deletions
+55 -24
View File
@@ -2,12 +2,15 @@
// module's tools and anything else baserow-specific import it; nothing outside baserow does.
//
// Baserow authenticates a person with email + password, exchanged for a JWT at /api/user/token-auth/.
// Those credentials are the mesh's own: a person signs up in Baserow (the standard image creates no
// admin from env), and the credential is placed in the runtime config file the mesh mounts. Until
// that happens fromEnv throws and the module simply exposes no tools — the same dormant-until-
// configured shape gitea uses for its token.
// The standard image creates no admin from env, so the account is one a person made in Baserow: its
// password is the module's `admin` secret, accepted from the operator, and its email and the public
// host Baserow answers to reach the runtime config file the mesh mounts (the email from the
// assignment's settings). Until both are there fromEnv throws and the module exposes no tools — the
// same dormant-until-configured shape gitea uses for its token.
import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
import { request as httpRequest } from "node:http";
import { request as httpsRequest } from "node:https";
export interface BaserowApplication {
id: number;
@@ -68,35 +71,63 @@ export class BaserowClient {
return h;
}
/** Exchange email + password for a JWT, caching it for the client's lifetime. Handles both the
/**
* One HTTP exchange. Not `fetch`: Node's fetch drops a caller's Host header and sends the URL's
* own, and Baserow answers only the host of its BASEROW_PUBLIC_URL — any other Host is looked up
* as a published builder site and gets 404, `/api/_health/` included. A co-located caller reaching
* it by container name must present the public host, so the request is made with node:http, which
* sends the Host it is given.
*/
private send(path: string, method: string, headers: Record<string, string>, body?: string): Promise<{ status: number; text: string }> {
const url = new URL(`${this.baseUrl}${path}`);
const request = url.protocol === "https:" ? httpsRequest : httpRequest;
// A length, never chunked: Baserow's server reads a chunked body as empty.
const sent = body === undefined ? headers : { ...headers, "Content-Length": String(Buffer.byteLength(body)) };
return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
const req = request(url, { method, headers: sent }, (res) => {
let text = "";
res.setEncoding("utf8");
res.on("data", (chunk: string) => (text += chunk));
res.on("end", () => resolve({ status: res.statusCode ?? 0, text }));
res.on("error", reject);
});
req.on("error", reject);
if (body !== undefined) req.write(body);
req.end();
});
}
/** Exchange email + password for a JWT, caching it until Baserow refuses it. Handles both the
* older `{ token }` and the newer `{ access_token }` response shapes. */
async authenticate(): Promise<string> {
if (this.token) return this.token;
const res = await fetch(`${this.baseUrl}/api/user/token-auth/`, {
method: "POST",
headers: this.headers(),
body: JSON.stringify({ email: this.email, password: this.password }),
});
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`baserow auth failed: ${res.status} ${await res.text()}`);
const data = (await res.json()) as { token?: string; access_token?: string };
const res = await this.send(
"/api/user/token-auth/",
"POST",
this.headers(),
JSON.stringify({ email: this.email, password: this.password }),
);
if (res.status < 200 || res.status >= 300) throw new Error(`baserow auth failed: ${res.status} ${res.text}`);
const data = JSON.parse(res.text) as { token?: string; access_token?: string };
const token = data.access_token ?? data.token;
if (!token) throw new Error("baserow auth returned no token");
this.token = token;
return token;
}
private async authed<T>(path: string, options: RequestInit = {}): Promise<T> {
const token = await this.authenticate();
const res = await fetch(`${this.baseUrl}${path}`, {
...options,
headers: this.headers({
Authorization: `JWT ${token}`,
...(options.headers as Record<string, string> | undefined),
}),
});
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`baserow ${path}: ${res.status} ${await res.text()}`);
const text = await res.text();
return (text ? JSON.parse(text) : null) as T;
/** An authenticated GET. A refused token is dropped and the call made once more with a fresh one:
* Baserow's access tokens expire after minutes, and the runtime lives for weeks. */
private async authed<T>(path: string): Promise<T> {
for (let attempt = 0; ; attempt++) {
const token = await this.authenticate();
const res = await this.send(path, "GET", this.headers({ Authorization: `JWT ${token}` }));
if (res.status === 401 && attempt === 0) {
this.token = null;
continue;
}
if (res.status < 200 || res.status >= 300) throw new Error(`baserow ${path}: ${res.status} ${res.text}`);
return (res.text ? JSON.parse(res.text) : null) as T;
}
}
/** The applications (databases) the account can see, across all its workspaces. */