Steem Faucet

A web application for Steem account registration and management.

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 20
• pnpm (package manager)
• MySQL database
• SMTP server (for email sending)
• Twilio account (for SMS verification, Deprecated)

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/steemit/faucet.git
cd faucet

2. Install dependencies:

pnpm install

Database Setup

Initialize Database

Set up and run migrations using Sequelize CLI:

pnpm run db:migrate

The migration command uses the DATABASE_URL environment variable from your .env file.

Note: If your local database server does not support SSL, you can modify the ssl option in db/config/config.json to set rejectUnauthorized: false for the local environment.

Seed Database

To seed the database with initial data:

env $(tr "\\n" " " < .env) sequelize-cli db:seed:all --config db/config/config.json --migrations-path db/migrations --seeders-path db/seeders --models-path db/models

Seed data can be added at: db/seeders/

Reset Database

To start fresh (⚠️ Warning: This will delete all data):

env $(tr "\\n" " " < .env) sequelize-cli db:migrate:undo:all --config db/config/config.json --migrations-path db/migrations --seeders-path db/seeders --models-path db/models

Example One-liner

Reset and reinitialize the database:

env $(tr "\\n" " " < .env) sequelize-cli db:migrate:undo:all --config db/config/config.json --migrations-path db/migrations --seeders-path db/seeders --models-path db/models && pnpm run db:migrate && env $(tr "\\n" " " < .env) sequelize-cli db:seed:all --config db/config/config.json --migrations-path db/migrations --seeders-path db/seeders --models-path db/models

Configuration

1. Copy .env.example to .env:

cp .env.example .env

2. Edit .env with your configuration values. See Environment Variables section below for details.

Environment Variables

Database Configuration

• DATABASE_URL (required)

  • MySQL connection string
  • Format: mysql://username:password@hostname:port/database
  • Example: mysql://root:password@localhost:3306/faucet

• DATABASE_EXPIRY (optional, default: 60)

  • Number of days to keep database records before cleanup
  • Used for automatic cleanup of old actions and users

SMTP Configuration

The following environment variables are required for email sending functionality:

Required SMTP Variables

• SMTP_HOST (required)

  • SMTP server hostname
  • Example: email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com (AWS SES)
  • Example: smtp.gmail.com (Gmail)

• SMTP_PORT (optional, default: 587)

  • SMTP server port
  • Common values:
    • 587 - STARTTLS (recommended, most common)
    • 465 - Direct SSL/TLS
    • 25 - Unencrypted (not recommended)

• SMTP_USER (required)

  • SMTP authentication username
  • For AWS SES: IAM user access key ID
  • For Gmail: your email address

• SMTP_PASS (required)

  • SMTP authentication password
  • For AWS SES: IAM user secret access key
  • For Gmail: app-specific password

• SMTP_FROM (optional)

  • Email address to use as the sender
  • Defaults to SMTP_USER if not set
  • Example: noreply@example.com

Optional SMTP Variables

• SMTP_SECURE (optional, auto-detected)

  • Whether to use direct SSL/TLS connection
  • Values: 'true' / '1' for SSL/TLS (port 465), 'false' / '0' for STARTTLS (port 587)
  • If not set, automatically detects based on port:
    • Port 465 → secure: true (direct SSL/TLS)
    • Other ports → secure: false (STARTTLS)
  • Note: Port 587 requires STARTTLS (secure: false). If you set SMTP_SECURE=true with port 587, it will be automatically overridden.

• SMTP_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED (optional, default: true)

  • Whether to verify SSL/TLS certificates
  • Values: 'false' / '0' to skip certificate validation, any other value or unset to verify certificates
  • Default: true (verify certificates for security)
  • Security Note: Only set to false for self-signed certificates or internal servers. For production services like AWS SES, Gmail, etc., keep the default true to ensure secure connections.

SMTP Configuration Examples

AWS SES (Recommended for Production)

SMTP_HOST=email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_USER=AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE
SMTP_PASS=YOUR_SMTP_PASSWORD
SMTP_FROM=noreply@example.com
# Optional: SMTP_SECURE is auto-detected (false for port 587)
# Optional: SMTP_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED defaults to true (verify certificates)

Gmail

SMTP_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_USER=your-email@gmail.com
SMTP_PASS=YOUR_APP_SPECIFIC_PASSWORD
SMTP_FROM=your-email@gmail.com

Internal Server with Self-Signed Certificate

SMTP_HOST=smtp.internal.example.com
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_USER=internal-user
SMTP_PASS=YOUR_INTERNAL_PASSWORD
SMTP_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=false

Testing SMTP Configuration

You can test your SMTP configuration using the provided test script:

pnpm run test:smtp

This will verify your SMTP connection and display the configuration being used.

Steem/Blockchain Configuration

• STEEMJS_URL (required)

  • Steem RPC node URL
  • Example: https://api.steemit.com

• CONVEYOR_POSTING_WIF (required)

  • Private posting key for conveyor account

• CONVEYOR_USERNAME (required)

  • Conveyor account username

• CREATE_USER_SECRET (required)

  • Secret key for create user API

• CREATE_USER_URL (required)

  • URL for create user API endpoint
  • Example: https://steemit.com/api/create_user

Application Configuration

• PORT (optional, default: 3001)

  • Port number for the HTTP server

• NODE_ENV (optional, default: development)

  • Environment mode: development, production, or staging

• LOG_LEVEL (optional, default: info)

  • Logging level: debug, info, warn, error

• JWT_SECRET (required)

  • Secret key for JWT token signing

• DEFAULT_REDIRECT_URI (required)

  • Default redirect URI after account creation
  • Example: https://steemit.com/login.html#account={{username}}

Client-Side Configuration

These variables are exposed to the client-side React application:

• TURNSTILE_SWITCH (required)

  • Enable/disable Cloudflare Turnstile captcha
  • Values: ON or OFF

• TURNSTILE_SITE_KEY (required)

  • Cloudflare Turnstile site key

• TURNSTILE_SECRET (required)

  • Cloudflare Turnstile secret key (server-side only)

• REACT_DISABLE_ACCOUNT_CREATION (required)

  • Disable account creation in UI
  • Values: true or false

• PENDING_CLAIMED_ACCOUNTS_THRESHOLD (required)

  • Threshold for pending claimed accounts
  • Default: 100

• CREATOR_INFO (required)

  • Creator account information (pipe-separated)
  • Example: steem|steemcurator01|steemcurator02

• GOOGLE_ANALYTICS_ID (optional)

  • Google Analytics tracking ID

Newsletter Configuration

• NEWSLETTER_URL (required)

  • Newsletter subscription API URL
  • Example: https://newsletter.example.com/api/subscribe

• NEWSLETTER_LIST (required)

  • Newsletter list identifier
  • Example: steem-faucet-users

Other Configuration

• DEBUG_MODE (optional)
  • Enable debug mode (mocks external services)
  • Set to any value to enable

Running the Application

Development Mode

Build the frontend and start the development server:

pnpm run build-dev
pnpm run start-dev

Or use the one-liner:

env $(tr "\\n" " " < .env) pnpm run start-dev

The development server includes:

• Hot module replacement (HMR)
• Webpack dev middleware
• Automatic rebuilds on file changes
• Pretty-printed logs with pino-pretty

Production Mode

1. Build the frontend:

pnpm run build

2. Start the server:

NODE_ENV=production pnpm start

Docker

A Dockerfile is provided for containerized deployment.

Building the Docker Image

BRANCH="$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)"
docker build -t="$USER/faucet:$BRANCH" .

Running the Docker Container

docker run -it -p 3000:3001 --env-file=.env "$USER/faucet:$BRANCH"

Note: The Dockerfile exposes port 3001 internally, but you can map it to any external port (e.g., 3000) using the -p flag.

Important: When running the Docker image locally, you may need to bind your MySQL server to not only localhost but also the IP used in Docker's network. You can then specify this IP in DATABASE_URL.

GitHub Actions CI/CD

The project includes GitHub Actions workflows for automated testing and Docker image building.

PR Testing

When a pull request is created or updated, the pnpm test command will automatically run to ensure code quality.

Docker Build and Push

When code is pushed to the master branch, a Docker image will be automatically built and pushed to Docker Hub with two tags:

• latest - Always points to the latest master branch build
• latest-{commit_sha} - Tagged with the first 7 characters of the commit SHA (e.g., latest-abc1234)

Setup Docker Hub Secrets

To enable automatic Docker image pushing, you need to configure the following secrets in your GitHub repository:

1. Go to your repository on GitHub
2. Navigate to Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions
3. Add the following secrets:
   • DOCKER_HUB_USERNAME: Your Docker Hub username
   • DOCKER_HUB_TOKEN: Your Docker Hub access token (not your password)

To create a Docker Hub access token:

1. Log in to Docker Hub
2. Go to Account Settings → Security
3. Click New Access Token
4. Give it a name (e.g., "GitHub Actions") and set appropriate permissions
5. Copy the token and add it as DOCKER_HUB_TOKEN secret in GitHub

The Docker image will be pushed to: {DOCKER_HUB_USERNAME}/faucet:latest and {DOCKER_HUB_USERNAME}/faucet:latest-{commit_sha}

Testing

The test suite includes linting, unit tests, and integration tests:

pnpm test

This command runs:

1. ESLint static analysis (pnpm run lint)
2. Jest unit and integration tests (pnpm run jest)

Note: You need to supply dummy values for required environment variables. Use the .env.example file:

env $(grep -v '^#' .env.example | grep -v '^$' | tr "\\n" " ") pnpm test

Individual Test Commands

• Run linting only:

pnpm run lint

• Run tests only:

pnpm run jest

• Fix linting issues automatically:

pnpm run lint-fix

Debugging

VSCode Configuration

Add the following to .vscode/launch.json in the configurations array:

{
  "type": "node",
  "request": "launch",
  "name": "nodemon",
  "runtimeExecutable": "${workspaceRoot}/node_modules/nodemon/bin/nodemon.js",
  "program": "${workspaceFolder}/bin/www",
  "restart": true,
  "sourceMaps": true,
  "outFiles": [],
  "console": "integratedTerminal",
  "internalConsoleOptions": "neverOpen",
  "args": [
    "--ignore",
    "src",
    "|",
    "bunyan",
    "-o",
    "short"
  ],
  "envFile": "${workspaceFolder}/.env"
}

Project Structure

faucet/
├── bin/              # Server entry point
├── db/               # Database models, migrations, seeders
│   ├── config/       # Sequelize configuration
│   ├── migrations/   # Database migrations
│   ├── models/       # Sequelize models
│   └── seeders/      # Database seeders
├── helpers/          # Utility functions and helpers
├── public/           # Static assets (CSS, images, etc.)
├── routes/           # Express routes
├── src/              # React frontend source code
│   ├── components/   # React components
│   ├── containers/   # React containers
│   ├── features/     # Feature modules
│   ├── locales/      # i18n translation files
│   └── utils/        # Frontend utilities
├── views/            # Handlebars templates
├── webpack/          # Webpack configuration
└── app.js            # Express application setup

Features

• User account registration with email/SMS verification
• Cloudflare Turnstile captcha integration
• IP-based geolocation using MaxMind GeoIP2
• Automatic database cleanup of old records
• Integration with Steem blockchain for account creation
• Newsletter subscription support
• Activity tracking and analytics
• Multi-language support (i18n)

License

MIT

Support

For issues and questions, please visit: https://github.com/steemit/faucet/issues