dashy/docs/getting-started.md

## Getting Started

### Deploy with Docker

The quickest way to get started on any system is with Docker, and Dashy is available though [Docker Hub](https://hub.docker.com/r/lissy93/dashy). You will need [Docker](https://docs.docker.com/get-docker/) installed on your system.

To test it out, just run: `docker run -p 8080:80 lissy93/dashy`, then open your browser and visit `http://localhost:8080`.

To configure Dashy with your own services, and customize it to your liking, you will need to write a config file, and pass it to the Docker container as a volume. 

```docker
docker run -d \
  -p 8080:80 \
  -v /root/my-local-conf.yml:/app/public/conf.yml \
  --name my-dashboard \
  --restart=always \
  lissy93/dashy:latest
```

Explanation of the above options:
- `-d` Detached mode (not running in the foreground of your terminal)
- `-p` The port that should be exposed, and the port it should be mapped to in your host system `[host-port][container-port]`
- `-v` Specify volumes, to pass data from your host system to the container, in the format of `[host-path]:[container-path]`
- `--name` Give your container a human-readable name
- `--restart=always` Spin up the container when the daemon starts, or after it has been stopped
- `lissy93/dashy:latest` This last option is the image the container should be built from

For all available options, and to learn more, see the [Docker Run Docs](https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/commandline/run/)

### Deploy from Source
If you do not want to use Docker, you can run Dashy directly on your host system. For this, you will need both [git](https://git-scm.com/downloads) and the latest or LTS version of [Node.js](https://nodejs.org/) installed.

1. Get Code: `git clone git@github.com:Lissy93/dashy.git` and `cd dashy`
2. Configuration: Fill in you're settings in `./public/conf.yml`
3. Install dependencies: `yarn`
4. Build: `yarn build`
5. Run: `yarn start`

### Providing Assets
Although not essential, you will most likely want to provide several assets to Dashy. All web assets can be found in the `/public` directory.

- `./public/conf.yml` - As mentioned, this is your main application config file
- `./public/item-icons` - If you're using your own icons, you can choose to store them locally for better load time, and this is the directory to put them in. You can also use sub-folders here to keep things organized. You then reference these assets relative this the direcroties path, for example: to use `./public/item-icons/networking/netdata.png` as an icon for one of your links, you would set `icon: networking/netdata.png`
- Also within `./public` you'll find standard website assets, including `favicon.ico`, `manifest.json`, `robots.txt`, etc. There's no need to modify these, but you can do so if you wish.

### Basic Commands

Now that you've got Dashy running, there are a few commands that you need to know.

The following commands are defined in the [`package.json`](https://github.com/Lissy93/dashy/blob/master/package.json#L5) file, and are run with `yarn`. If you prefer, you can use NPM, just replace instances of `yarn` with `npm run`. If you are using Docker, then you will need to precede each command with `docker exec -it [container-id]`, where container ID can be found by running `docker ps`. For example `docker exec -it 26c156c467b4 yarn build`

#### `yarn build`
In the interest of speed, the application is pre-compiled, this means that the config file is read during build-time, and therefore the app needs to rebuilt for any new changes to take effect. Luckily this is very straight forward. Just run `yarn build` or `docker exec -it [container-id] yarn build`.

#### `yarn validate-config`
If you have quite a long configuration file, you may wish to check that it's all good to go, before deploying the app. This can be done with `yarn validate-config` or `docker exec -it [container-id] yarn validate-config`. Your config file needs to be in `/public/conf.yml` (or within your Docker container at `/app/public/conf.yml`). This will first check that your YAML is valid, and then validates it against Dashy's [schema](https://github.com/Lissy93/dashy/blob/master/src/utils/ConfigSchema.js).