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original_url: "https://jace.pro/blog/setting-up-writebook-on-coolify/"
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Setting Up Writebook on Coolify# Setting Up Writebook on Coolify

April 8, 2026 [coolify ](/tags/coolify/)[self-hosting ](/tags/self-hosting/)[basecamp ](/tags/basecamp/)[writebook ](/tags/writebook/)[docker](/tags/docker/)

  Enable AI Animation[Basecamp](https://basecamp.com) (37signals) recently released [Writebook](https://once.com/writebook) - a simple, self-hosted application for publishing books on the web. It’s a Rails app distributed as a Docker image, and I wanted to run it on my [Coolify](https://coolify.io) server. Should be straightforward, right? Well, almost.

## [What is Writebook?](#what-is-writebook)

Writebook lets you publish content in Markdown, with support for picture pages, chapters, and title pages. Books can be public or private, and everything is searchable. It’s a nice alternative to throwing your documentation into yet another wiki or Confluence instance.

The official install uses their [ONCE](https://once.com) installer, but since I’m already running Coolify for my other apps, I wanted to deploy it there instead.

## [The Setup](#the-setup)

I created a new application in Coolify using the Docker image: `ghcr.io/basecamp/writebook:latest`

Mapped the domain to `books.jace.pro`, added a persistent volume at `/rails/storage`, and hit deploy. That’s when the fun started.

## [Gotcha #1: SSL Conflict](#gotcha-1-ssl-conflict)

Writebook tries to handle SSL internally by default. Since Coolify uses Traefik at the edge to terminate SSL, this creates a conflict.

**The fix:** Add an environment variable:

`DISABLE_SSL=true`This tells Writebook to serve plain HTTP on port 80 and let Traefik handle the certificates.

## [Gotcha #2: Missing SECRET_KEY_BASE](#gotcha-2-missing-secret_key_base)

Rails apps need a secret key base for production. The container kept crashing with:

`ArgumentError: Missing `secret_key_base` for 'production' environment`**The fix:** Generate a key and add it as an environment variable:

`openssl rand -hex 64`Then add `SECRET_KEY_BASE` with that value to your Coolify environment variables.

## [Gotcha #3: Permission Denied on Storage](#gotcha-3-permission-denied-on-storage)

The container started but immediately crashed with:

`Errno::EACCES: Permission denied @ dir_s_mkdir - /rails/storage/db`Coolify creates persistent storage directories as root, but Writebook runs as a non-root user (UID 1000). The Rails user couldn’t write to the storage volume.

**The fix:** SSH into your server and fix the ownership:

`chown -R 1000:1000 /data/coolify/storage/books.jace.pro`After that, a quick restart and the app came right up.

## [The Result](#the-result)

Writebook is now running at [books.jace.pro](https://books.jace.pro). It’s a clean, simple interface for publishing content - exactly what you’d expect from the Basecamp team.

## [Coolify + Self-Hosting](#coolify-self-hosting)

I’ve been running Coolify for a while now and it’s been solid. Having everything in one place - my blog, various side projects, and now Writebook - makes management easier. Sure, there are occasional hiccups like permission issues, but that’s just part of self-hosting.

The lesson here: always check your storage permissions, and remember that Docker containers often run as non-root users even when you’re deploying as root.

If you’re running Coolify and want to self-host your own book publishing platform, Writebook is worth a look. Just remember those three environment variables and the permission fix.

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[View this page on GitHub](https://github.com/jacebenson/jace.pro/tree/main/./src/posts/2026/2026-04-08-setting-up-writebook-on-coolify.md).

[Setting Up Writebook on Coolify](https://jace.pro/blog/setting-up-writebook-on-coolify/) [Jace Benson](https://jace.pro) ![Jace Benson](https://jace.pro/icon-512x512.png)

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*This content is from Jace Benson's ServiceNow and tech blog at jace.pro*
*Original post: https://jace.pro/blog/setting-up-writebook-on-coolify/*