gogosearch

Gogosearch is a Search Engine power by Flask and CSE (Google Custom Search Engine)

Motivation

As I start to learn about Flask, I found This project on Github. It's interesting. I build this project to learn how to build a search engine with CSE and Flask from scratch.

Features

• Google-like UI ( Trying to be)
• Responsive web design ( Mobile optimization )

Getting Started

As we are building Flask Web App, I assume you guys already kown Python package management basics.

The Toolset we'll use: Git, Pipenv ( or Pip)

Prerequisites

Our project needs CSE API, so you need to apply for one, the details are here. Also we will use Git to clone the project and Pipenv ( or Pip) to install the Pipfile ( or requirements for Pip). When you're ready, let's start!

Install

$ mkdir workdirectory && cd workdirectory
$ git clone https://github.com/Bivectorfoil/gogosearch.git
$ cd gogosearch
$ pipenv install # for Pipenv tool
# Optional, for pip tool
$ pip install -r requirement.txt

config

If things go well, we now have already install all the dependence. make sure we're at root directory of app

$ pwd
$ ~/workdirectory/gogosearch

As mentioned above, we need to create .env file to store the private setting ( CSE id, key or etc). a .env file will look like:

# hold private env setting, DO NOT submit it to github.com
# Add this file to .gitignore

SECRET_KEY='set a hard to guess string'
CSE_ID=your_CSE_ID
CSE_key=your_CSE_key
URL=https://www.googleapis.com/customsearch/v1?

# proxies (optional, only use in local development enviroment, comment it in production enviroment) 
# has been dumps by json, type: string
# use json.loads to convert it to dict object to use
proxies='{"http": "socks5://127.0.0.1:1080", "https": "socks5://127.0.0.1:1080"}'

.env file is at the same directory as .flaskenv file.

Run it!

$ pipenv shell # active virtual enviroment
$ flask run # default run at localhost:5000, production model

Now open the browser address bar and enter localhost:5000, if things go well, we will see the homepage, otherwise go back and check the steps clearly. Good luck!

Deployment

Deploying on VPS

Use setup.sh to deploy or uninstall.sh to remove.

Deploy

# ssh to your VPS, run command at root or sudo
$ mkdir workdir && cd workdir
$ git init --bare  # Create a bare Repo
$ git clone https://github.com/Bivectorfoil/gogosearch.git
$ cd gogosearch
$ scp .env root@your_ip_addr:/your_workdir_path  # cp env file(mention above) to VPS
$ chmod +x setup.sh  # add execution permission
$ ./setup.sh  # run setup script and wait for success or failure

If things go well, you should see your website at http://your_ip_or_domain.

Note: In the case of access through a domain name, you should correctly set the domain name in NGINX's configuration file rather than the IP address

Uninstall

# ssh to your VPS, run command at root or sudo
$ cd workdir
$ chmod +x uninstall.sh  # add execution permission
$ ./uninstall.sh  # run uninstall script and wait for success or failure

Deploying on VPS with Docker (Recommended)

# Firstly ssh to your VPS, run command at root or sudo
$ git clone https://github.com/Bivectorfoil/gogosearch.git
$ cd gogosearch
$ scp .env root@your_ip:/path_to/gogosearch
$ chmod +x setup_docker.sh && ./setup_docker.sh # install docker-ce and docker compose

# Note: In the case of access through a domain name, you should correctly set the domain name in NGINX's configuration file rather than the IP address.

$ docker-compose up -d # Run the containers
$ docker-compose ps  # Check for status

Let's encrypt !

Since we already use docker for deployment, why shouldn't we go futher for HTTPS ? A little bit manual work needs to be done before we enjoy our HTTPS website. As follow:

# Add certbot for let's encrypt

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:certbot/certbot
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install python-certbot-nginx
# Check whether we can access the Special index page though Nginx
$ curl http://your_domain_name/.well-known/
$ "test" # The return value, if not, pls go back and check the steps carefully before continue

# Creating the certificate

$ sudo certbot certonly --webroot -w letsencrypt -d your_domain_name
# Note: letsencrypt is the pre-created directory for holding the test index page which certbot needs to certificate. It should be in the same directory as LICENSE file.

As above, if things go well, you should see the Web app run at https://your_domain.

I personally recommend using Docker for deployment cause it makes development and deployment( since I have already done the difficult part of it) more easier. You may want to read the official documentation for more info.

Deploying on Heroku

Please read the official doc on Heroku

I also recommand use Heroku to deploy project , as this project's first demo is host on it, you can also choose any other deployment method you like.

TODO

• Test
• Python 3 support
• Docker deploy
• Integrated HTTPS

Screenshots

Web

Mobile

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details