ass aims to be as **unopinionated** as possible. It allows nearly endless choice for users & hosts alike: Users can configure their upload settings directly from the ShareX interface (including embeds, webhooks, & more), while hosts are free to pick their preferred storage & data management methods.
By default, ass comes with a resource viewing page, which includes metadata about the resource as well as a download button & inline viewers for images, videos, & audio. It does **not** have a user dashboard or registration system: **this is intentional!** Developers are free to [create their own frontends] using the languages & tools they are most comfortable with. Writing & using these frontends is fully documented below, in the wiki, & in the source code.
| **[Zero-width spaces][ZWS]** | When pasted elsewhere, the URL appears to be *just* your domain name. Some browsers or sites may not recognize these URLs (Discord **does** support these)<br>![ZWS sample] |
| **Original** | The "basic" mode. URL matches the same filename as when the file was uploaded. This may be prone to conflicts with files of the same name. |
5. Run `npm start` to start the server. The first time you run it you will be shown your first authorization token; save this as you will need it to configure ShareX.
For HTTPS support, you must configure a reverse proxy. I recommend Caddy but any reverse proxy should work (such as Apache or Nginx). I also have a [tutorial on easily setting up Caddy][my tutorial] as a reverse proxy server.
<summary><em>Expand for steps to install with Docker & docker-compose</em></summary>
You may also install ass using [docker-compose](https://docs.docker.com/compose/). These steps assume you are already family with Docker, so if you're not, please [read the docs](https://docs.docker.com/). It also assumes that you have a working Docker installation with `docker-compose` installed.
### Install using docker-compose
1. Clone the ass repo using `git clone https://github.com/tycrek/ass.git && cd ass/`
- These scripts are identical using the equivalent commands in each OS.
3. Work through the setup process when prompted.
The upload token will be printed at the end of the setup script prompts. This is the token that you'll need to use to upload resources to ass. It may go by too quickly to copy it, so just scroll back up in your terminal after setup or run `cat auth.json`.
You should now be able to access the ass server at `http://localhost:40115/` (ass-docker will bind to host `0.0.0.0` to allow external access). You can configure a reverse proxy (for example, [Caddy]; also check out [my tutorial]) to make it accessible from the internet with automatic SSL.
It creates directories & files required for `docker-compose` to work. It then calls `docker-compose` to build the image & run ass. On first run, ass will detect an empty config file, so it will run the setup script in a headless terminal with no possible input. Luckily, you can use `docker-exec` to start your *own* terminal in which to run the setup script (the install scripts call this for you). After setup, the container is restarted & you are prompted to open logs so you can confirm that the setup was successful. Each install script also has comments for every step, so you can see what's going on.
-`docker-compose` exposes **five** volumes. These volumes let you edit the config, view the auth or data files, or view the `uploads/` folder from your host.
- I have personally tested running using these commands (migrating from an existing local deployment!) with Digital Ocean Spaces (S3 object-storage), a PostgreSQL database, & a custom frontend all on the same container. It should also work for you but feel free to let me know if you have any issues.
If you need to generate a new token at any time, run `npm run new-token <username>`. This will **automatically** load the new token so there is no need to restart ass. Username field is optional; if left blank, a random username will be created.
| **`X-Ass-Access`** | Override the generator used for the resource URI. Must be one of: `original`, `zws`, `gfycat`, or `random` ([see above](#access-types)) |
| **`X-Ass-OG-Color`** | Colour shown on the left side of the embed. Must be one of `&random`, `&vibrant`, or a hex colour value (for example: `#fe3c29`). Random is a randomly generated hex value & Vibrant is sourced from the image itself |
You may use Discord webhooks as an easy way to keep track of your uploads. The first step is to [create a new Webhook](https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/228383668-Intro-to-Webhooks). You only need to follow the first section, **Making a Webhook**. Once you are done that, click **Copy Webhook URL**. Next, paste your URL into a text editor. Extract these two values from the URL:
Webhooks will show the filename, mimetype, size, upload timestamp, thumbail, & a link to delete the file. To disable webhooks, simply remove the headers from your config.
ass is intended to provide a strong backend for developers to build their own frontends around. The easiest way to do this is with a [Git Submodule](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Tools-Submodules). Your submodule should be a **separate** git repo. Make sure you [adjust the `FRONTEND_NAME`](https://github.com/tycrek/ass/blob/d766bd15cf8ac851058c8abf37238f1608d8c305/ass.js#L24) to match your frontend. To make updates easier, it is recommended to make a new branch. Since submodules are their own dedicated projects, you are free to build the router however you wish, as long as it exports the required items detailed below.
Sample submodule entry file:
```js
const { name, version } = require('./package.json');
[StorageEngines](https://github.com/tycrek/ass-storage-engine) are responsible for managing your data. "Data" has two parts: an identifier & the actual data itself. With ass, the data is a JSON object representing the uploaded resource. The identifier is the unique ID in the URL returned to the user on upload.
| **JSON** | JSON-based data storage. On disk, data is stored in a JSON file. In memory, data is stored in a [Map](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Map). This is the default StorageEngine. | [GitHub](https://github.com/tycrek/ass-storage-engine/), [npm](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@tycrek/ass-storage-engine) |
| **PostgreSQL** | Data storage using a [PostgreSQL](https://www.postgresql.org/) database. [node-postgres](https://node-postgres.com/) is used for communicating with the database. | [GitHub](https://github.com/tycrek/ass-psql/), [npm](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@tycrek/ass-psql) |
An ass StorageEngine implements support for one type of database (or file, such as JSON or YAML). This lets ass server hosts pick their database of choice, because all they'll have to do is plugin the connection/authentication details, then ass will handle the rest, using the resource ID as the key.
The only StorageEngine ass comes with by default is **JSON**. If you find (or create!) a StorageEngine you like, you can use it by installing it with `npm i <package-name>` then changing the contents of [`data.js`](https://github.com/tycrek/ass/blob/master/data.js). The StorageEngines own README file should also instruct how to use it. At this time, a modified `data.js` might look like this:
Because I was dumb & didn't know what to call it, totally forgetting that "storage engine" would also imply a way to store *files*, not just *data*.
## npm scripts
ass has a number of pre-made npm scripts for you to use. **All** of these scripts should be run using `npm run <script-name>`.
| Script | Description |
| ------ | ----------- |
| **`start`** | Starts the ass server. This is the default script & is run with **`npm start`**. |
| `setup` | Starts the easy setup process. Should be run once after installing ass, & also after any updates that introduce new configuration options. |
| `metrics` | Runs the metrics script. This is a simple script that outputs basic resource statistics. |
| `new-token` | Generates a new API token. Accepts one parameter for specifying a username, like `npm run new-token <username>`. ass automatically detects the new token & reloads it, so there's no need to restart the server. |
| `update` | Runs update tasks. These will update ass to the latest version by first pulling changes with `git pull`, then running `npm i` to install any new dependencies. This is the recommended way to update ass. After updating, you will need to restart ass. |
| `update-full` | Runs the previous update script, followed by `npm run setup` to ensure that all the latest configuration options are set. The setup script uses your **existing** config for setting defaults to make updates much quicker. If any ass Release Notes say to use `update-full` instead of `update`, then use `update-full`. |
| `restart` | Restarts the ass server using `systemctl`. More info soon (should work fine if you have an existing `ass.service` file) |
| `engine-check` | Ensures your environment meets the minimum Node & npm version requirements. |
| `logs` | Uses the [tlog Socket plugin](https://github.com/tycrek/tlog#socket) to stream logs from the ass server to your terminal, with full colour support (Remember to set [`FORCE_COLOR`](https://nodejs.org/dist/latest-v14.x/docs/api/cli.html#cli_force_color_1_2_3) if you're using Systemd) |
Use [this script](https://github.com/tycrek/ass/blob/master/flameshot_example.sh) kindly provided by [@ToxicAven](https://github.com/ToxicAven). For the `KEY`, put your token.
