Bible Study App

A self-hosted Bible study tool with notes, projects, and user accounts.

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Requirements

• Node.js v18 or higher — nodejs.org
• npm (bundled with Node.js)
• GCC / make (only needed for production/server installs — required to build the better-sqlite3 native module)

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Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/nmemmert/study-bible-project.git
cd study-bible-project
bash setup.sh

setup.sh installs dependencies, builds the optimized frontend, and runs one production server (frontend + API) on http://localhost:5173. Set APP_PORT to use a different port. If the build fails, the previously running server is left untouched. bash restart.sh pulls the latest code and does the same.

Stop / logs:

kill $(cat .api.pid)
tail -f .api.log

Development mode (hot reload)

bash setup.sh --dev

Starts the API on http://localhost:3001 and the Vite dev server on http://localhost:5173. Dev mode is much slower, so don't use it for real users.

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Optional keys (set in .env or the environment)

Variable	What it turns on
SESSION_SECRET	A long random string that signs login cookies. Optional: if unset in production, the server makes one and keeps it in DATA_DIR/.session-secret.
ADMIN_EMAIL	The one admin account.
ESV_API_KEY, API_BIBLE_KEY	ESV, NLT, CSB and NASB in the Reader.
IQBIBLE_API_KEY	IQ Bible: more commentaries, lexicons (BDB, LSJ, Abbott-Smith), places, topics, people, textual notes, Gospel parallels, daily verse and Spurgeon devotional, plan calendar export, more audio narrations, and background for podcast prompts. Hidden when unset.
IQBIBLE_CACHE_HOURS	Leave unset unless IQ Bible has given written permission to cache non-verse data; only verse/chapter text is cached by default (24h), as their terms require.
BACKUP_KEEP, BACKUP_DISABLED=1	The server saves a snapshot of the whole database once a day to DATA_DIR/backups (default: keep 7). Restore with scripts/restore-data.sh.
ALLOW_PRIVATE_NTFY=1	Lets reading reminders use an ntfy server on your own network (blocked by default).

Production Install (Ubuntu / systemd)

Installs the app as a persistent systemd service under /opt/study-app.

# Install Node.js 20 (if not already installed)
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

# Install build tools (required for better-sqlite3)
sudo apt-get install -y build-essential python3

# Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/nmemmert/study-bible-project.git
cd study-bible-project
sudo bash deploy/install.sh

The installer will:

1. Install Node.js dependencies and build the frontend
2. Create a study-app system user
3. Register and start a systemd service

Useful commands after install:

systemctl status study-app          # Check service status
journalctl -u study-app -f          # Stream logs
systemctl restart study-app         # Restart after an update

Open the firewall port (if needed):

sudo ufw allow 3001/tcp
sudo ufw reload

The app listens on port 3001 by default. Set the PORT environment variable in the systemd unit to change it.

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Updating (Production)

cd /path/to/study-bible-project
git pull
sudo bash deploy/install.sh

The installer preserves the session secret across updates so logged-in users are not signed out.

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Migrating to a New Machine

On the old machine — create a backup:

npm run backup

This creates study-app-backup_<timestamp>.zip in the project root.

On the new machine — restore after cloning and installing:

Development:

npm run restore study-app-backup_<timestamp>.zip

Production (after sudo bash deploy/install.sh completes):

sudo bash scripts/restore-data.sh study-app-backup_<timestamp>.zip --production

See scripts/backup-data.sh and scripts/restore-data.sh for details.

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Project Structure

├── server/          # Express API + SQLite database
│   └── data/        # projects.db lives here (gitignored)
├── src/             # React frontend (Vite)
├── deploy/          # systemd service unit + install script
├── scripts/         # backup / restore helpers
└── setup.sh         # Development quick-start

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License

Private / personal use.

Development

npm run test:run   # all tests
npm run lint       # ESLint (errors fail; warnings are advice)

Who can sign up: the administrator (the ADMIN_EMAIL account) chooses Open, Invite only or Closed under Admin → Sign-ups, and makes single-use invite links there. The very first account can always be created.

Verse of the day push: with IQBIBLE_API_KEY set, each person can turn on a daily verse notification in Settings → Reading reminders (it goes to the same ntfy topic).

Forgotten passwords: the sign-in page's "Forgot your password?" sends a one-time code to the account's ntfy topic (the one used for reading reminders). Accounts without a topic still ask the administrator for a temporary password.