/sc-convex — Convex on Dokploy
Use this skill when the user wants to deploy, debug, or maintain a self-hosted Convex backend running on Dokploy. The repo lives at https://github.com/rahmanef63/si-coder-agent.
Connection-safe local execution
Credential-dependent local helper scripts must run through sc run -- ... when their Dokploy/Convex access lives in SI-Coder named connections. This lets one child process receive the selected provider connections without writing them to the parent shell. The command examples below show script arguments; prefix them with sc run -- unless the caller already provides the required environment.
NEVER ask the user to run Convex CLI by hand
For self-hosted Convex projects the Convex CLI (v1.27+) auto-detects the backend from .env.local (CONVEX_SELF_HOSTED_URL + CONVEX_SELF_HOSTED_ADMIN_KEY). The schema/function push happens automatically via the sc-git pre-push hook installed by /sc-all. Do not instruct the user to run npx convex deploy, pnpm convex:deploy, convex:push, or any Convex CLI command interactively. If the hook is not installed, install it yourself (node ~/.claude/skills/sc-git/scripts/hook.js install --repo <name>) instead of asking.
If the hook is genuinely unable to deploy (admin key invalid, backend unreachable), debug it with scripts/check-backend.js and fix root cause — do not punt the convex CLI call to the user.
Pre-requisites
DOKPLOY_API_URL,DOKPLOY_API_KEY— Dokploy adminCONVEX_ADMIN_KEY(or generated on the fly from the running container)- Optional
HOSTINGER_API_TOKENfor DNS A-record automation
If anything is missing, route the user to /sc-onboarding.
CORE MANDATES (LEARNED LESSONS)
- Self-Hosted Convex by default: never silently swap to Clerk. ALWAYS use
@convex-dev/authfor new projects unless the user explicitly asks for Clerk. convex/_generatedis checked in: never runnpx convex codegeninsideDockerfile. Generate locally withnpx convex dev --onceand commit the folder.- Admin Key Sync Rule: when generating or rotating the admin key, update BOTH the Dokploy Compose env (
CONVEX_ADMIN_KEY) and the repo's local env file in a single pass. Never leave them out-of-sync. - PEM via REST, not CLI:
npx convex env set JWT_PRIVATE_KEY "-----BEGIN..."breaks because--is parsed as a flag. Usescripts/set-auth-env.js(admin REST/api/update_environment_variables) instead. NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URLat build time:NEXT_PUBLIC_*is inlined atnext build. If the Dockerfile uses a dummy URL, the deployed JS connects to the wrong server — see## Dockerfile patternbelow.- No Scrypt/bcrypt password hashing: Dokploy proxy kills WebSocket at >60s. Use PBKDF2 (10k iter ≈ 50ms) via WebCrypto — see
## Password hashingbelow. - Route
auth:*actions via HTTP: WebSocket reconnect mid-flight aborts in-flight actions. Wrap the Convex client soauth:*goes viaConvexHttpClient— see## Frontend patternbelow.
Required env vars on the Convex backend
These live as Dokploy Compose env (NOT in .env.local):
| Variable | Format | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
JWT_PRIVATE_KEY |
PEM PKCS8 RSA | Signs JWT via importPKCS8() |
JWKS |
JSON {"keys":[{...}]} |
Served at /.well-known/jwks.json |
CONVEX_SITE_ORIGIN |
URL | Maps to process.env.CONVEX_SITE_URL |
CONVEX_CLOUD_ORIGIN |
URL | Maps to process.env.CONVEX_CLOUD_URL |
INSTANCE_SECRET |
hex | Preserve across redeploys |
INSTANCE_NAME |
string | App name |
Scripts
All scripts live in ~/.claude/skills/sc-convex/scripts/ (symlink from this repo).
deploy-convex.js
Deploy or update a Convex compose service on Dokploy. Idempotent — finds existing compose by name or deploys the Convex template, then sets api-/site-/dash- domains + INSTANCE_SECRET + auth env.
node scripts/deploy-convex.js \
--project <PROJECT_NAME> \
--app <APP_NAME> \
--domain <root-domain.tld> \
[--with-auth-keys] # also generate JWT_PRIVATE_KEY + JWKS
check-backend.js
Probe api-/site-/dash- subdomains + /version + /.well-known/jwks.json + admin-key validity. Prints a status table.
node scripts/check-backend.js --domain <root-domain.tld> [--admin-key "$CONVEX_ADMIN_KEY"] [--expect-auth]
--expect-auth makes a missing/non-200 JWKS (/.well-known/jwks.json) fatal; omit it and JWKS is advisory only (informational, non-fatal) — a backend deployed without @convex-dev/auth legitimately has no JWKS.
rotate-admin-key.js
Generate a fresh admin key from the running backend container, write to Dokploy Compose env, optionally update local .env.
node scripts/rotate-admin-key.js --compose-name <APP_NAME>-db [--env-file ./.env.local]
SC_DOCKER_SUDO—1force sudo for docker,0forbid, unset = auto-detect (used bydockerExec,lib/proc.js).
set-auth-env.js
Set JWT_PRIVATE_KEY and JWKS (and any extra vars) on a self-hosted backend via admin REST API. Avoids the CLI -- parsing bug.
node scripts/set-auth-env.js --domain <root-domain.tld> --admin-key "$CONVEX_ADMIN_KEY" [--generate]
--generate makes new RS256 keypair; omit to pull from JWT_PRIVATE_KEY / JWKS env.
Dockerfile pattern (NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL)
# ❌ WRONG — dummy URL inlined into JS
ENV NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL=https://dummy-for-build.convex.cloud
# ✅ CORRECT — ARG default + ENV; Dokploy build-arg overrides
ARG NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL=https://api-<appname>.<your-domain>
ENV NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL=$NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL
Frontend pattern (ConvexClientProvider.tsx)
"use client";
import { ConvexReactClient } from "convex/react";
import { ConvexHttpClient } from "convex/browser";
import { ConvexAuthProvider } from "@convex-dev/auth/react";
import { type ReactNode, useState } from "react";
export function ConvexClientProvider({ children }: { children: ReactNode }) {
const [convex] = useState(() => {
const client = new ConvexReactClient(process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL!);
const http = new ConvexHttpClient(process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL!);
const orig = client.action.bind(client);
(client as any).action = (ref: any, args?: any) => {
const name = (ref as any)?._name ?? String(ref);
if (typeof name === "string" && name.startsWith("auth:")) return http.action(ref as any, args);
return orig(ref, args);
};
return client;
});
return <ConvexAuthProvider client={convex}>{children}</ConvexAuthProvider>;
}
Password hashing (PBKDF2 via WebCrypto)
// convex/auth.ts — inside Password({ ... })
crypto: {
async hashSecret(password: string) {
const salt = crypto.getRandomValues(new Uint8Array(16));
const enc = new TextEncoder();
const km = await crypto.subtle.importKey("raw", enc.encode(password), "PBKDF2", false, ["deriveBits"]);
const hb = await crypto.subtle.deriveBits({ name: "PBKDF2", salt, iterations: 10000, hash: "SHA-256" }, km, 256);
const hex = (b: Uint8Array) => Array.from(b).map(x => x.toString(16).padStart(2, "0")).join("");
return `pbkdf2_${hex(salt)}_${hex(new Uint8Array(hb))}`;
},
async verifySecret(password: string, hash: string) {
if (hash.startsWith("pt_")) return hash === `pt_${password}`;
const parts = hash.split("_");
if (parts[0] !== "pbkdf2" || parts.length !== 3) return false;
const salt = new Uint8Array(parts[1].match(/.{2}/g)!.map(b => parseInt(b, 16)));
const enc = new TextEncoder();
const km = await crypto.subtle.importKey("raw", enc.encode(password), "PBKDF2", false, ["deriveBits"]);
const hb = await crypto.subtle.deriveBits({ name: "PBKDF2", salt, iterations: 10000, hash: "SHA-256" }, km, 256);
const hex = Array.from(new Uint8Array(hb)).map(b => b.toString(16).padStart(2, "0")).join("");
return hex === parts[2];
},
},
"Connection lost while action was in flight" — diagnosis
WebSocket reconnect during in-flight action. The server may have completed the work (user visible in dashboard!) but the client never got the response. Common causes for self-hosted Dokploy, in order of likelihood:
| Cause | Symptom | Fix |
|---|---|---|
NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL dummy at build |
Users in DB, browser errors | Fix Dockerfile (see above) |
Missing JWT_PRIVATE_KEY on backend |
Action crashes before creating user | scripts/set-auth-env.js --generate |
Missing JWKS on backend |
/.well-known/jwks.json returns 500 |
scripts/set-auth-env.js --generate |
| Dokploy idle WS timeout | Error only after sitting | Route auth:* via HTTP (see above) |
| Scrypt/bcrypt timeout | Action >60s, proxy kills WS | Use PBKDF2 pattern (see above) |