Vane on Render

Deploy Vane, a privacy-focused AI answering engine with bundled SearXNG, on Render as a single Docker web service with a persistent disk.

What This Template Shows

This repo packages Vane as a Render Blueprint (docker-fork): one Docker image runs Vane (Next.js) and SearXNG on localhost:8080, with SQLite and uploads on a disk.

Piece	Role
Vane	Privacy-focused AI answering UI
SearXNG	Bundled search (inside the same container)
Render Web Service	Docker app on Standard
Render Disk	SQLite / config / uploads under /home/vane/data

Architecture

flowchart LR
  browser["Browser"] --> vane["vane<br/>Docker Standard"]
  vane --> searx["SearXNG<br/>localhost:8080"]
  vane --> disk[("/home/vane/data")]

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How It Works

1. Click Deploy to Render. Render forks this template and applies render.yaml.
2. Render builds ./Dockerfile (Vane + SearXNG) on a Standard instance.
3. Open the *.onrender.com URL and complete first-run setup in the UI.
4. Chat history and uploads persist on the disk across deploys.
5. Configure LLM / providers in Vane's setup screens (not required at Apply).

Resource	Type	Plan	Notes
vane	Web (runtime: docker)	standard	Health /; Playwright + SearXNG need 2 GB
vane-data	Disk (1 GB)		Mounted at /home/vane/data

Default region: oregon. Previews are off. Standard is the floor: Starter OOMs with Playwright/SearXNG ("No open ports detected").

Important: DATA_DIR must be /home/vane (app root), not the disk mount path. Vane derives data/db.sqlite under that root so paths land on the mounted disk correctly.

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• A Render account
• An LLM provider configured in Vane after first boot

Deploy

1. Click Deploy to Render above and fork into your GitHub account.
2. On Apply, confirm the vane Standard service and disk.
3. Wait until Live (~8–15 minutes first image build).
4. Open the public URL and finish setup.
5. Ask a question and confirm answers return with search.

Smoke test:

curl -sS -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}\n" https://<your-vane>.onrender.com/

Features

Feature	Description
Single container	Vane + SearXNG, no separate search service
Persistent SQLite	Disk at /home/vane/data
Docker fork	Builds from ./Dockerfile
One-click Blueprint	projects / environments
Standard by default	Sized for Playwright + SearXNG

Configuration

Variable	Source	Description
NODE_ENV	Wired	production
DATA_DIR	Wired	/home/vane (do not set to the mount path)
PORT	Wired	3000

LLM and other product settings are configured in the Vane UI after deploy.

Cost

Resource	Approx. monthly
Web (Standard)	~$25
Disk (1 GB)	~$0.25
Total	~$25

LLM usage is billed by your provider. Do not drop to Starter.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
Health check fails / no open ports	Keep Standard. Check build logs for OOM.
DB / migration errors on boot	Confirm DATA_DIR=/home/vane and disk mounted at /home/vane/data.
Search empty	SearXNG runs in-container on localhost:8080; check app logs.
Data lost after redeploy	Disk must remain attached.

Project Structure

render.yaml       Render Blueprint (Docker web + disk)
README.md         This file
LICENSE           MIT (template / upstream)
Dockerfile        App + SearXNG image
src/ …            Vane source (docker-fork)
assets/           Hero / screenshots

Learn More

Render:

• Web Services
• Disks
• Blueprints

Vane:

• Upstream repo

License

MIT for this template package.

Upstream Vane is MIT. Star that repo if this helped.