Harsh Vardhan Pandey

Now You Know How to Self-Host Typesense Using Docker and Caddy — The Easy Way

Harsh Vardhan Pandey — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 17:25:11 GMT

Introduction

When I was assigned the task of migrating our search infrastructure from Algolia to Typesense, I took it as an opportunity to dive deep into self-hosting and managing search at scale. After exploring the setup, deployment, and optimization process, I successfully migrated everything to Typesense, a fast, open-source search engine that gives you full control without the hefty costs.

💡

Our bills for Algolia were around $200-300/Month. After self hosting it came down to mere $10 VPS Cost.

In this blog, I’ll walk you through how I set up and self-hosted Typesense, configured it with Caddy, and got the Dashboard running securely.

To make things smooth, I used Docker Compose to manage containers and Caddy as a reverse proxy for automatic SSL and routing. I also added the Typesense Dashboard a lightweight frontend UI that makes managing collections, documents, and search queries much easier.

Last but not the least I Love Containers.

What is Typesense?

Typesense is an open-source search engine optimized for instant, typo-tolerant, and developer-friendly search. It’s written in C++ and provides a clean RESTful API for indexing and querying data.

Some key features include:

Instant search with millisecond response times
Typo tolerance and relevance ranking
Simple JSON-based API
Built-in API key security
Open-source and easy to self-host

By self-hosting, you get complete control over configuration, scaling, and security without the recurring costs of managed search platforms.

Prerequisites

Before starting, make sure you have the following:

Docker installed on your vps
Caddy installed (for reverse proxy & HTTPS)
A domain name (optional but recommended for SSL)
Basic familiarity with command line and Docker

Tools used:

Docker Compose – to orchestrate the Typesense and dashboard containers
Caddy – to manage SSL and reverse proxy routes automatically
Typesense Dashboard – a frontend to visually manage your data
VPS ( EC2, AWS LightSail, Digital Ocean Droplet and Hetzner etc.)

Setting Up Self-Hosted Typesense with Docker and Caddy

Let’s now walk through the full setup step-by-step.
We’ll be creating three services Typesense, Dashboard, and Caddy all orchestrated using Docker Compose.

💡

The Env Config is in the Summary Section

Step: 1 - Setting Up Typesense with Docker Compose

We’ll start by running Typesense inside a Docker container.
This will be our core search engine backend.

  typesense:
    image: typesense/typesense:29.0
    restart: on-failure
    env_file:
      - .env
    expose:
      - "8108"
    volumes:
      - ./typesense-data:/data
    command: "--data-dir /data --api-key=${TYPESENSE_API_KEY} --enable-cors"
    networks:
      - typesense-network

Explanation:

image: typesense/typesense:29.0 — uses the official Typesense Docker image.
env_file — loads environment variables like TYPESENSE_API_KEY from your .env file.
volumes — mounts a local directory ./typesense-data to persist indexed data.
command — sets the data directory, enables CORS, and provides the API key.
expose: 8108 — exposes the internal port for the reverse proxy (not public).

After this step, Typesense will run internally and listen on port 8108 within the Docker network.

Step: 2 - Setting Up Typesense Dashboard Frontend

Next, we’ll set up the Typesense Dashboard a web-based interface to interact with your Typesense instance visually.

  dashboard:
    image: bfritscher/typesense-dashboard:2.1
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - dashboard_data:/srv
    expose:
      - "80"
    env_file:
      - .env
    depends_on:
      - typesense
    networks:
      - typesense-network

Explanation:

bfritscher/typesense-dashboard — lightweight open-source dashboard for Typesense(You can choose the latest version tag).
Uses the same .env file for configuration (so it knows which Typesense host and API key to connect to).
depends_on ensures the dashboard starts only after the Typesense service is ready.
dashboard_data is mounted as a volume to persist the dashboard’s static files.

After setup, the dashboard runs on port 80 internally, which we’ll expose securely through Caddy.

Step: 3 - Setting Up Caddy as a Reverse Proxy

Finally, we’ll use Caddy to serve both the Typesense API and the Dashboard over HTTPS with automatic SSL certificates from Let’s Encrypt.

  caddy:
    image: caddy:2.7-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - ./Caddyfile:/etc/caddy/Caddyfile:ro
      - caddy_data:/data
      - caddy_config:/config
      - dashboard_data:/srv:ro
    networks:
      - typesense-network
    depends_on:
      - typesense
      - dashboard

Explanation:

The Caddy container automatically handles HTTP → HTTPS redirection and SSL certificates.
The Caddyfile defines how traffic is routed to both services.
depends_on ensures Caddy starts only after both the backend and dashboard are ready.

Caddyfile Configuration

Create a Caddyfile in the root of your directory

Recommended Configuration

I recommend using a subdomain for your Typesense API, for example, typesense-api.yourdomain.com.

Here’s how you can adjust your Caddyfile to accomplish this:

Step: 1 - Update DNS

First, ensure you have DNS "A" records for both the dashboard and the API pointing to your VPS's IP address.

dashboard.yourdomain.com -> YOUR_VPS_IP
typesense-api.yourdomain.com -> YOUR_VPS_IP

Step: 2 - Update your Caddyfile

Replace the contents of your Caddyfile with something like this. This will configure Caddy to route traffic for the dashboard and the Typesense API to the correct containers.

Here’s your Caddyfile configuration:

# Caddyfile

# Route traffic for the dashboard
dashboard.yourdomain.com {
    # Proxy requests to the dashboard container on its internal port 80
    reverse_proxy dashboard:80
}

# Route traffic for the Typesense API
typesense-api.yourdomain.com {
    # Proxy requests to the typesense container on its internal port 8108
    reverse_proxy typesense:8108
}

💡

Remember to replace dashboard.yourdomain.com and typesense-api.yourdomain.com with your actual domains.

Caddy will automatically handle provisioning and renewing TLS certificates for both subdomains.

Step: 3 - Connect from the Dashboard

After you restart your services with docker compose up -d, you can now connect from the dashboard UI using:

Typesense Host: https://typesense-api.yourdomain.com
Port: 443
Protocol: https
API Key: Your TYPESENSE_API_KEY

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Leave the Path field empty just fill the all other fields and you’re good to go!

By default the API key is set to xyz, for generating your own api key use this curl command.

curl 'http://localhost:8108/keys' \
    -X POST \
    -H "X-TYPESENSE-API-KEY: ${TYPESENSE_API_KEY}" \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -d '{"description":"Admin key.","actions": ["*"], "collections": ["*"]}'

Deploying on Your VPS

If Docker isn’t already installed, run the following commands on your VPS:

Now that we’ve written our configuration files, it’s time to deploy everything on a VPS (Virtual Private Server).

Step: 1 - Install Docker and Docker Compose

If Docker isn’t already installed, run the following commands on your VPS:

# Update system packages
sudo apt update -y

# Install Docker
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
sudo sh get-docker.sh

# Install Docker Compose plugin
sudo apt install docker-compose-plugin -y

Once installed, verify everything is working:

docker --version
docker compose version

You should see version numbers printed that means Docker is ready to go.

Step: 2 - Clone Your Project

Next, clone your project repository that contains the docker-compose.yml and Caddyfile.

git clone https://github.com//.git
cd

💡

Make sure your .env file is also present in the root directory

Step: 3 - Running the Setup

Once everything is in place, just run:

sudo docker compose up -d

Docker will automatically pull the images for Typesense, Dashboard, and Caddy, and start all three services in the background.

You can check if everything is running with:

sudo docker ps

You should see three containers running one each for:

typesense
dashboard
caddy

Step: 4 - Access Your Setup

Once the setup is live:

Then open:

Dashboard: dashboard.yourdomain.com → to access the dashboard UI
API Endpoint: typesense-api.yourdomain.com/health → to check if Typesense is up ({"ok": true})

If everything’s configured correctly, Caddy will automatically issue SSL certificates, and you’ll have a fully functional, secure, and visual self-hosted Typesense setup.

Summary

Final Docker Compose File

services:
  caddy:
    image: caddy:2.7-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - ./Caddyfile:/etc/caddy/Caddyfile:ro
      - caddy_data:/data
      - caddy_config:/config
      - dashboard_data:/srv:ro
    networks:
      - typesense-network
    depends_on:
      - typesense
      - dashboard

  dashboard:
    image: bfritscher/typesense-dashboard:2.1
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - dashboard_data:/srv
    expose:
      - "80"
    env_file:
      - .env
    depends_on:
      - typesense
    networks:
      - typesense-network

  typesense:
    image: typesense/typesense:29.0
    restart: on-failure
    env_file:
      - .env
    expose:
      - "8108"
    volumes:
      - ./typesense-data:/data
    command: "--data-dir /data --api-key=${TYPESENSE_API_KEY} --enable-cors"
    networks:
      - typesense-network

networks:
  typesense-network:
    driver: bridge

volumes:
  caddy_data:
  caddy_config:
  dashboard_data:

Caddyfile

# Caddyfile

# Route traffic for the dashboard
dashboard.yourdomain.com {
    # Proxy requests to the dashboard container on its internal port 80
    reverse_proxy dashboard:80
}

# Route traffic for the Typesense API
typesense-api.yourdomain.com {
    # Proxy requests to the typesense container on its internal port 8108
    reverse_proxy typesense:8108
}

Env File

TYPESENSE_API_KEY=YOUR_KEY
PUBLIC_PATH=/dashboard
TYPESENSE_HOST=typesense
TYPESENSE_PORT=8108
TYPESENSE_PROTOCOL=http

💡

Replace the typesense api key with your generated admin api key or by default it is xyz.

Example Template Repository

Visit this link: https://github.com/geekyharsh05/typesense-self-hosted-example

Best Practices & Maintenance

A few things I learned while running this setup:

Use persistent volumes for /data so you don’t lose indexed data on container restart.
Keep your API key secret, especially if exposing it to the web.
Regularly update images to stay on the latest Typesense version.
Backup your data periodically by copying the /data directory.
Monitor logs via docker logs typesense for any indexing or query errors.

Conclusion

Self-hosting Typesense is surprisingly simple specially with Docker and Caddy.
In a few steps, you can have a fully functional, secure, and visually manageable search engine running on your own infrastructure.

It gives you complete control, scalability, and transparency without the high cost of managed search platforms.
If you’re building search into your product, Typesense is absolutely worth exploring.

Special Thanks to Boris Fritscher the creator of typesense dashboard.

If you found this guide helpful, follow me on X. for more developer insights and subscribe for future posts about self-hosted tools, open-source stacks, and dev workflows.

Zod parse vs safeParse: Key Differences and When to Use

Harsh Vardhan Pandey — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 09:48:41 GMT

Zod is a powerful schema validation library that offers two primary methods to validate data: .parse and .safeParse. Both can be used synchronously or asynchronously (.parseAsync and .safeParseAsync), depending on your needs.

Define A Schema:

We’ll create a schema for a product, which includes a name, price, stock quantity, and a category.

import { z } from 'zod';

const productSchema = z.object({
  name: z.string(),
  price: z.number().positive(),
  stock: z.number().int().nonnegative(),
  category: z.enum(['Electronics', 'Books', 'Clothing', 'Toys']),
});

Zod Parse:

`.parse`: Immediate Error Throwing

The .parse method is straightforward—it throws an error if the data doesn’t match the schema. This is useful when you want the program to halt immediately upon invalid input, such as when validating input in middleware or inside a try-catch block

try {
  const productData = productSchema.parse({
    name: "Laptop",
    price: -1200, // Invalid: price should be positive
    stock: 10,
    category: "Electronics",
  });
  console.log("Validated Product:", productData);
} catch (error) {
  console.error("Error:", error.errors);
}

Output:

Error: [
  {
    "message": "Number must be greater than 0",
    "path": ["price"],
    "code": "too_small"
  }
]

In this example, the price field is invalid because it's negative, so .parse throws an error and halts the execution. This is helpful if you're validating data at an API endpoint and want to reject the request immediately if it's invalid.

Zod safeParse:

`.safeParse`: Graceful Error Handling

const result = productSchema.safeParse({
  name: "Laptop",
  price: -1200, // Invalid: price should be positive
  stock: 10,
  category: "Electronics",
});

if (!result.success) {
  console.error("Validation failed:", result.error.errors);
} else {
  console.log("Validated Product:", result.data);
}

Output:

Validation failed: [
  {
    "message": "Number must be greater than 0",
    "path": ["price"],
    "code": "too_small"
  }
]

In this case, .safeParse doesn’t throw an error, but it returns an object indicating whether validation succeeded. The rest of your code can continue running even when validation fails.

Conclusion:

.parse: Useful for strict validation where you need to throw an error and stop execution when the data is invalid, such as in API requests.
.safeParse: Provides a non-throwing validation method, ideal for cases where you want to handle errors gracefully, like in form validation or non-blocking flows.

Creating an EC2 Instance on AWS: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners

Harsh Vardhan Pandey — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 11:03:20 GMT

What is AWS?

AWS is Amazon’s Cloud Service.

It let’s you

Rent servers
Upload objects (mp4 files, jpegs, mp3s …)
Autoscale servers
Create k8s clusters

The offering we will be focusing on today is Renting servers.

Prerequisites: Before we dive in, ensure you have the following:

An AWS account.
SSH key pair for accessing your EC2 instance.

What is an EC2 instance?

Virtual Machines on AWS are called EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud).

Elastic: As the name suggests, we can increase/decrease the size of the machine.
Compute: It is a machine.

You can fire up a new EC2 instance from the AWS dashboard.

Creating a new EC2 instance

Click on Launch Instances.

Give a name to your instance.

Select an Operating System (OS).

Select Size

Create a new key pair.

Now create a new key pair by providing a name, then click on create key pair.

Now it'll download a test101.pem file.

Select Storage Size

Allow traffic on http/https.

Launch the instance

Connection using SSH into instance

First open your terminal and then navigate to the folder where your test101.pem has been downloaded.

cd Downloads

Give SSH Key Permissions.

chmod 700 test101.pem

SSH into machine

Copy the IP address of the instance.

ssh -i test101.pem ubuntu@54.89.21.166

It's Done!

As you can see our Linux server is running.

Congratulations! You've successfully created your first EC2 instance on AWS. You can now start using it for various purposes such as hosting websites, running applications, or conducting experiments in a sandbox environment.

Conclusion

Creating an EC2 instance on AWS is a straightforward process, especially with this step-by-step guide for beginners. By following these steps, you can quickly set up your own virtual server in the cloud and start exploring the vast possibilities of cloud computing with AWS. So, what are you waiting for? Dive in and start building your cloud infrastructure today!

Cloud Computing 101: A Beginner's Roadmap

Harsh Vardhan Pandey — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 14:10:07 GMT

“Computing Can be sold as a Utility, like Water and Electricity.” - John McCarthy

In today's digital landscape, cloud computing has become a cornerstone of modern technology. From fledgling startups to global enterprises, organizations of all sizes are harnessing its power. For newcomers to the tech world, understanding cloud computing can feel like navigating uncharted territory. Assume you're a small business owner eager to streamline your operations. Instead of investing in expensive on-site servers and IT infrastructure, you opt for cloud computing.

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud Computing is a means of storing and accessing programs and data through the internet, rather than using your own computer hard drives.

Cloud Computing is based on the "Pay-as-you-go" model.

Why To Use Cloud Computing? What Are the Benefits of Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing offers numerous benefits to individuals and businesses, some of which are listed below:

Cost-effective – Reduce the cost of software, equipment, and technology services by utilizing a cloud provider’s hardware infrastructure.
Rapidly Scalable – Scale your business up or down as needed by using the computing power and storage of the cloud provider.
Always Accessible – You can access your data if your internet connection works.
Collaboration – Work in real-time on shared files and documents with team members.
Security – Cloud providers employ various security measures to prevent data breaches and protect user privacy.

What are the Types?

There are four main types of cloud computing:

Public Cloud – Data storage and computing resources are shared between multiple clients on the provider’s cloud.
Private Cloud – Data storage and computing resources are completely exclusive to a single client.
Hybrid Cloud – A mix of using both private and public cloud resources.
Community Cloud - Tailored collaboration for specific industries.

Top Cloud Computing Platforms

The top cloud computing platforms include:

Top Cloud Computing Services

The cloud computing services offered differ across platforms but majorly consist of Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), Platform as a service (PaaS), and Software as a service (SaaS).

IaaS focuses on delivering computing infrastructure, such as servers, storage, networking, and operating systems, to businesses. Some top examples of IaaS include Amazon EC2, Google Compute Engine and Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines.
PaaS provides pre-built tools and applications to developers, enabling them to create customized software. Some examples of PaaS include Vercel, Netlify, and Google App Engine.
SaaS delivers on-demand software applications to end-users over the internet. Some examples of SaaS include Salesforce, Zoom and Google Workspace.

Getting Started with Cloud Computing

Choose a Cloud Service Provider: Research different providers and their offerings to find the one that best suits your needs and budget.
Explore Documentation and Tutorials: Most cloud providers offer extensive documentation, tutorials, and training resources to help you get started.
Hands-On Practice: Dive into hands-on exercises and projects to solidify your understanding of cloud concepts and services.
Stay Updated: Cloud computing is a rapidly evolving field, so stay informed about the latest trends, technologies, and best practices.

Real-World Examples and Use Cases

Cloud computing has numerous practical applications, such as:

Video streaming services like Netflix and Hotstar.
E-commerce websites such as Amazon and Flipkart.

Conclusion

As technology continues to advance, cloud computing will undoubtedly play an increasingly vital role in shaping the future of IT. By mastering the basics of cloud computing, you'll not only expand your skill set but also position yourself for success in an ever-changing digital landscape. So, embrace the cloud, explore its possibilities, and unleash your potential in the world of computing. Happy cloud computing!

Harsh Vardhan Pandey

Now You Know How to Self-Host Typesense Using Docker and Caddy — The Easy Way

Introduction

What is Typesense?

Prerequisites

Setting Up Self-Hosted Typesense with Docker and Caddy

Step: 1 - Setting Up Typesense with Docker Compose

Step: 2 - Setting Up Typesense Dashboard Frontend

Step: 3 - Setting Up Caddy as a Reverse Proxy

Caddyfile Configuration

Recommended Configuration

Step: 1 - Update DNS

Step: 2 - Update your Caddyfile

Step: 3 - Connect from the Dashboard

Deploying on Your VPS

Step: 1 - Install Docker and Docker Compose

Step: 2 - Clone Your Project

Step: 3 - Running the Setup

Step: 4 - Access Your Setup

Summary

Final Docker Compose File

Caddyfile

Env File

Example Template Repository

Best Practices & Maintenance

Conclusion

Zod parse vs safeParse: Key Differences and When to Use

Define A Schema:

Zod Parse:

.parse: Immediate Error Throwing

Output:

Zod safeParse:

.safeParse: Graceful Error Handling

Output:

Conclusion:

Creating an EC2 Instance on AWS: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners

What is AWS?

What is an EC2 instance?

Creating a new EC2 instance

Connection using SSH into instance

Conclusion

Cloud Computing 101: A Beginner's Roadmap

What is Cloud Computing?

Why To Use Cloud Computing? What Are the Benefits of Cloud Computing?

What are the Types?

Top Cloud Computing Platforms

Top Cloud Computing Services

Getting Started with Cloud Computing

Real-World Examples and Use Cases

Conclusion

`.parse`: Immediate Error Throwing

`.safeParse`: Graceful Error Handling