Troubleshooting

Common issues and how to fix them.

Check Service Status

docker compose ps

Both silentsuite-postgres and silentsuite-server should show Up (healthy).

View Logs

# All services
docker compose logs

# Specific service
docker compose logs server
docker compose logs postgres

# Follow logs in real time
docker compose logs -f server

# Last 100 lines
docker compose logs --tail 100 server

Run the Verification Script

./verify.sh

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Common Issues

Services Fail to Start

Symptom: docker compose ps shows containers in a restart loop.

Fix: Check the logs for the failing service:

docker compose logs server
docker compose logs postgres

The most common cause is a misconfigured .env file (missing or incorrect passwords).

Server Returns 400 Bad Request

Symptom: Requests to your domain return 400 Bad Request or "Invalid HTTP_HOST header".

Fix: Your domain is not in ALLOWED_HOSTS. Edit .env and add it:

ALLOWED_HOSTS=sync.example.com,localhost

Then recreate the server container:

docker compose up -d --force-recreate server

TLS / Certificate Errors

Symptom: Browser shows certificate warnings when accessing your domain.

Causes:

• DNS not resolving: Verify with dig +short your-domain.com.
• Reverse proxy misconfigured: Make sure it forwards to localhost:3735.
• Ports blocked: If using Caddy or certbot, ports 80 and 443 must be open: sudo ufw status.
• Let's Encrypt rate limits: If you've hit them, wait before retrying.

Database Connection Errors

Symptom: Server logs show "connection refused" or authentication errors.

Fixes:

• Confirm PostgreSQL is healthy: docker compose ps postgres
• Confirm DATABASE_PASSWORD in .env matches what was used when the database was first initialized. If the database volume already exists, changing the password in .env alone won't update the database. You must either recreate the volume (docker compose down -v -- this deletes all data) or alter the password inside PostgreSQL.

Server Takes a Long Time to Start

Symptom: Server shows starting health status for over a minute.

Fix: On first start, the server runs database migrations and collects static files. This can take 30-60 seconds. Check progress with:

docker compose logs -f server

If it's still not healthy after 2 minutes, check the logs for errors.

"Permission Denied" Errors

Symptom: Container logs show file permission errors on the data volume.

Fixes:

• Recreating volumes usually resolves this: docker compose down -v && docker compose up -d (deletes all data).
• On SELinux-enabled systems, add the :z flag to volume mounts in docker-compose.yml.

Cannot Connect from the Web App

Symptom: app.silentsuite.io shows a connection error when you enter your server URL.

Fixes:

• Make sure the URL starts with https:// (not http://).
• Test from outside your server: curl -s https://your-domain.com/.
• Check that your reverse proxy is running and forwarding to port 3735.
• Check your firewall allows inbound traffic on port 443.

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Restart or Recreate a Service

# Restart a service (keeps same container)
docker compose restart server

# Recreate a service (picks up .env changes)
docker compose up -d --force-recreate server

Reset Everything

# WARNING: This deletes ALL data (users, encrypted sync data, everything)
docker compose down -v
./install.sh