SSL and Domain Setup

Securing your LearnHouse instance with SSL is strongly recommended for production deployments. This guide covers domain configuration and SSL setup options.

Domain Configuration

Set your domain in the .env file:

LEARNHOUSE_DOMAIN=learn.example.com
LEARNHOUSE_SSL=true
LEARNHOUSE_COOKIE_DOMAIN=.example.com

Make sure your DNS records point to the server running LearnHouse before enabling SSL.

Using a Reverse Proxy

The recommended approach for SSL termination is to place a reverse proxy in front of LearnHouse. This gives you flexibility in certificate management and allows you to serve other applications on the same server.

Caddy

Caddy automatically obtains and renews Let’s Encrypt certificates. Create a Caddyfile:

learn.example.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:80
}

Nginx

An example nginx configuration with Let’s Encrypt (via Certbot):

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name learn.example.com;
 
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/learn.example.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/learn.example.com/privkey.pem;
 
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:80;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}
 
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name learn.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

Traefik

If you use Traefik as your reverse proxy, you can configure it to route traffic to LearnHouse and handle Let’s Encrypt certificates automatically through its built-in ACME support.

Let’s Encrypt

For free, automated SSL certificates, use Let’s Encrypt with one of the reverse proxy options above:

• Caddy handles Let’s Encrypt automatically with zero configuration.
• Nginx works with Certbot  for automated certificate issuance and renewal.
• Traefik has built-in ACME/Let’s Encrypt support.

Cookie Domain

The LEARNHOUSE_COOKIE_DOMAIN variable controls which domain cookies are scoped to. This is important for authentication to work correctly.

• For a single domain like learn.example.com, set it to .example.com
• Using a leading dot (.example.com) allows cookies to work across subdomains, which is required if you use multi-organization mode with subdomains