Install & Deployment Guide Weather Activity Planning Tool

Table of Contents

Quick Start

# 0) SSH in as the deploy user (e.g., birdseye)
ssh USER@your-domain

# 1) Create project + venv
mkdir -p ~/burn-tool && cd ~/burn-tool
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install flask gunicorn requests

# 2) Add app.py (and optional windCompass.png), then test:
python app.py
# Visit http://127.0.0.1:8000/ via SSH tunnel if needed (Ctrl+C to stop)

# 3) Gunicorn as a user service
mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user
nano ~/.config/systemd/user/gunicorn-burn.service

# (paste the service from the section below), then:
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable gunicorn-burn
systemctl --user start  gunicorn-burn
journalctl --user -u gunicorn-burn -f

# 4) Apache proxy for https://your-domain/planningTool/
# Create .htaccess with rewrite rules (see section below)

# 5) Verify
curl http://127.0.0.1:8020/health

Prerequisites

• DreamHost VPS/Dedicated with SSH access.
• Python 3.9+ and pip available (python3 --version).
• systemd user services enabled (systemctl --user works).
• Domain/subpath to host the tool (e.g., https://your-domain.com/planningTool/).

If python3 -m venv is missing ensurepip, install the OS package or use a managed Python from your provider.

Create Project & Virtualenv

mkdir -p ~/burn-tool
cd ~/burn-tool
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install flask gunicorn requests

Place Application Files

Copy your working app.py into ~/burn-tool/. If you show an icon, place windCompass.png here as well.

# Optional: quick syntax check
python3 -m py_compile app.py

# Optional: run Flask dev server to sanity-check
python app.py  # then Ctrl+C to stop

Create Gunicorn systemd User Service

Create ~/.config/systemd/user/gunicorn-burn.service:

[Unit]
Description=Gunicorn for Burn Tool
After=network.target

[Service]
User=%u
WorkingDirectory=/home/%u/burn-tool
ExecStart=/home/%u/burn-tool/venv/bin/gunicorn -b 127.0.0.1:8020 app:app
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Enable and start:

systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable gunicorn-burn
systemctl --user start  gunicorn-burn
systemctl --user status gunicorn-burn --no-pager
journalctl --user -u gunicorn-burn -f

Configure Apache Proxy (.htaccess)

To serve the app at https://your-domain.com/planningTool/, create a .htaccess with:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /planningTool/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://127.0.0.1:8020/$1 [P,L]

• Make sure the file is in the correct directory for your site’s document root or for that subpath.
• Adjust RewriteBase if you use a different path.

Health Checks

# Local (Gunicorn)
curl http://127.0.0.1:8020/health
# → {"ok": true}

# Public (through Apache)
https://your-domain.com/planningTool/health

Auto-Restart Watchdog (cron)

Systemd will restart on crash, but a watchdog ensures recovery if anything external kills the process.

crontab -e

Add:

* * * * * systemctl --user is-active --quiet gunicorn-burn || systemctl --user restart gunicorn-burn

Updating the App

cd ~/burn-tool
# edit app.py or pull from git
systemctl --user restart gunicorn-burn

Troubleshooting