bubble/docs/activation.md

Bubble Activation

The very first time Bubble runs it has a blank database, nothing has been defined.

If you load the Bubble webapp, you’ll see a screen like this one:

Activation Screen

This is a Bubble that is awaiting activation.

Activation defines the initial data required to run a Bubble launcher. This includes the initial admin password, cloud services, and DNS domains.

Cloud Accounts

In order to activate your Local Launcher, you’ll need accounts and/or API keys from several cloud providers.

Have these account credentials handy. Be prepared to sign up for new accounts where needed.

Activate via Web UI

The browser-based admin UI should be displaying an “Activate” screen, like the one shown above.

Review the “Activation Notes” below, then complete the information on this screen and press the “Activate” button to activate your Bubble Launcher.

Activate via command line

If you installed Bubble from a binary distribution or built it from source, you can also perform activation using the Bubble command line tools.

Make a copy of the config/activation.json file and edit the copy. There are comments in the file to guide you.

To activate your Local Launcher Bubble, run this command:

./bin/bactivate /path/to/activation.json

Activation Notes

Admin Email

For the initial admin user, choose an email address that only you have access to. Otherwise someone else with access to that email could change your password and lock you out of your account.

Required Clouds

You must define at least one cloud provider for each of these categories:

• DNS (Amazon Route53 or GoDaddy DNS)
• Email (SMTP, SendGrid or Mailgun)
• Compute (Vultr or DigitalOcean)
  • Note: Amazon EC2 support is incomplete, do not use for now

Initial Domain

The initial Domain you define during activation must be owned by you.

• For web-based activation, this is the Domain Name field near the bottom.
• For JSON-based activation, this is the domain.name JSON element.

The DNS provider for this domain must be specified.

• For web-based activation, this is the DNS for this Domain field at the bottom.
• For JSON-based activation, this is the domain.publicDns JSON element.

Behind the Scenes

After you activate your Bubble, it will build packer images for the compute cloud(s) defined during activation.

This process usually takes about 20 minutes but can take up to an hour, depending on how many compute clouds you have and how fast the internet is.

If you try to launch a Bubble before the required packer image is ready, your Bubble launcher will detect that the image is in the process of being built, and wait until it is ready before trying to use the image.

Learn more about Packer images.

Sign In to Admin Account

After performing activation, refresh the web page that opened when the server started.

You should see a Sign In screen, like the one below.

Sign In Screen

You can now login as the admin user using the email address and password you set during activation.

Launch Time

Activation is complete! Ready to launch a Bubble?