log

A minimal self-hosted blog. Markdown editor, image uploads, dark/light theme, RSS feed, and a clean public reading experience.

Built with Go, HTMX, and TailwindCSS. Single binary, SQLite database, zero runtime dependencies.

Features

• Markdown editor with live preview and image upload
• Post separator (---more---) — shows a teaser on the list and the full text on the post page
• Infinite scroll on both the public list and the admin list
• Admin search
• Light / dark theme (follows system preference, manual toggle)
• RSS feed at /rss
• Admin behind a simple username + password login

Requirements

Development

• Go 1.22+
• Node.js (for recompiling TailwindCSS when editing templates)
• Task (task CLI)

Production

• Just the compiled binary — no runtime dependencies

Environment variables

Variable	Default	Description
LOG_TITLE	log	Site title shown in the header, browser tab, and RSS feed
LOG_SUBTITLE	(none)	Optional tagline shown below the title in the header. Markdown is supported (e.g. *italic*, links)
LOG_USER	admin	Admin username
LOG_PASSWORD	password	Admin password
LOG_DB	./log.db	Path to the SQLite database file
LOG_PORT	8080	Port the server listens on
LOG_BASE_URL	http://localhost:8080	Public base URL (used in RSS links)
LOG_UPLOADS_DIR	./uploads	Directory where uploaded images are stored
LOG_SECRET	(random)	HMAC secret for signing session cookies. Set this in production — without it sessions are lost on restart

Copy .env.example to .env and edit before starting.

Development

# 1. Install Node dependencies (Tailwind)
npm install

# 2. Start the server (compiles CSS, then runs with go run)
LOG_USER=admin LOG_PASSWORD=secret task dev

The server starts on http://localhost:8080. Admin is at http://localhost:8080/admin.

If you edit templates and add new Tailwind classes, recompile CSS separately in a second terminal:

task css-watch

Production build

# Compile CSS + build a static binary
task build

# Run
LOG_USER=admin \
LOG_PASSWORD=yourpassword \
LOG_SECRET=a-long-random-string \
LOG_BASE_URL=https://yourdomain.example.com \
./log

The uploads/ directory and the database file (log.db) are created automatically on first start. Back these up — everything else is in the binary.

Docker

# Build image and start
docker compose up -d

# Logs
docker compose logs -f

# Stop
docker compose down

Configure the instance by editing the environment section in docker-compose.yml before the first start, or by creating a .env file alongside it (Docker Compose picks it up automatically).

Data is persisted in a named volume (log_data) that holds both the SQLite database and the uploads directory.