Install on a Mac

On a Mac, Lumiverb installs with Homebrew and runs as one service that starts again at login. It reads your libraries where they are: on the Mac itself or on drives connected to it.

Install#

Homebrew installs from a tap that isn't its own only once you trust it, so the first command trusts Lumiverb's tap and installs it:

brew trust --tap bubbafat/lumiverb && brew install bubbafat/lumiverb/lumiverb

Then start it:

brew services start lumiverb

Lumiverb brings everything it needs: its own PostgreSQL database (not shared with any other you run), its own web server, and the tools it makes previews with (ffmpeg, exiftool, libvips). Its first start takes a minute while it makes its database.

Create your account#

Open http://localhost:6464 on that Mac. While nobody has an account, Lumiverb asks for yours: an email address and a password of 12 characters or more. You look after this Lumiverb, and can invite other people later.

This page works only on the Mac itself, so nobody else on your network can create the first account. You can also do it in Terminal:

lumiverb-server setup --env "$(brew --prefix)/etc/lumiverb/env"

Then First steps walks you through the setup that follows and your first library.

Using it from other devices#

At first, only that Mac can open Lumiverb. To use it from a phone or another computer, an admin turns on Settings › Network › Let other devices on my network use Lumiverb, on the Mac. It shows the addresses to open, such as http://your-mac.local:6464. See Network, phones and HTTPS for HTTPS and other ports.

Don't put a tunnel or proxy in front of Lumiverb (Tailscale Serve, Cloudflare Tunnel, ngrok) before your account exists. Their requests arrive from the Mac itself, so whoever reaches them could create the first account, choose library folders, or reset a password with Forgot password.

Where things are#

Ports, all chosen to stay clear of other software you may run:

Stopping and starting#

Lumiverb stops and starts as one service:

brew services stop lumiverb

brew services start lumiverb

Stopping it stops everything: its database, web server and the processing. Your libraries are untouched.

To update to a new version, see Updating.