Although dify recommends using Docker, I found that Docker consumes hundreds of gigabytes of storage and makes it difficult to tweak the code on the fly. That's why I decided to install dify.ai from source code.

Setup the dify User Account

adduser dify
gpasswd -a dify wheel
cd /etc/sudoers.d
# you can later change more limit like "dify ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:/usr/bin/systemctl"
echo "dify ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL" > 96-dify-user
sudo su - dify
mkdir .ssh
chmod 700 .ssh
vi .ssh/authorized_keys
chmod 600 .ssh/authorized_keys

Install Local Python 3.12 for dify

sudo dnf install tar curl gcc openssl-devel bzip2-devel libffi-devel zlib-devel wget make -y
sudo dnf install python3.12
sudo dnf install python3.12-pip
sudo alternatives --install /usr/bin/python3 python3 /usr/bin/python3.12 1

Install uv

brew install uv

Or see official document.

Install basic environment

Follow the official guide

cd dify/api
cp .env.example .env
openssl rand -base64 42
sed -i 's/SECRET_KEY=.*/SECRET_KEY=<your_value>/' .env
uv sync

Create postgresql db user

DB in localhost

sudo su - postgres
createuser dify
psql
ALTER ROLE dify LOGIN;
CREATE DATABASE dify_prod WITH ENCODING='UTF8' OWNER=dify;
logout
uv run python -m flask db upgrade

Using password in different server DB

sudo su - postgres
createuser dify --pwprompt
createuser dify_plugin
psql
ALTER ROLE dify LOGIN;
CREATE DATABASE dify_prod WITH ENCODING='UTF8' OWNER=dify;
ALTER USER dify_plugin PASSWORD 'dify_plugin';
ALTER ROLE dify_plugin LOGIN;
CREATE DATABASE dify_plugin WITH ENCODING='UTF8' OWNER=dify_plugin;
logout
vi /var/lib/pgsql/16/data/pg_hba.conf

# TYPE  DATABASE        USER            ADDRESS                 METHOD
host    dify_prod   dify         0.0.0.0/0               scram-sha-256

Reload conf without restart DB

sudo su - postgres
/usr/pgsql-16/bin/pg_ctl reload

Install ffmpeg as dify require it

following guide

sudo dnf install epel-release
sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled crb
sudo dnf install --nogpgcheck https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/el/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %rhel).noarch.rpm -y
sudo dnf install --nogpgcheck https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/el/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %rhel).noarch.rpm -y
sudo dnf install ffmpeg ffmpeg-devel

Install Passenger to hosting dify-api

reason to choose passenger instead of dify original gunicorn is much user friendly to change something.

server {
  listen 80;
  server_name dify-api.thape.com.cn;
 
  # Redirect all HTTP requests to HTTPS with a 301 Moved Permanently response.
  return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}
 
server {
  listen 443 ssl;
  server_name dify-api.thape.com.cn;
 
  ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/cert/STAR_thape_com_cn_integrated.crt;
  ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/STAR_thape_com_cn.key;
 
  client_max_body_size 15M;
  root /home/dify/dify/api/public;
 
  proxy_read_timeout 50s;
  proxy_connect_timeout 50s;
  proxy_send_timeout 50s;
  send_timeout 50s;
  keepalive_timeout 50s;
 
  passenger_app_type wsgi;
  passenger_startup_file /home/dify/dify/api/passenger_wsgi.py;
 
  passenger_enabled on;
  passenger_python /home/dify/dify/api/.venv/bin/python;
  passenger_env_var VIRTUAL_ENV /home/dify/dify/api/.venv;
  passenger_min_instances 8;
  passenger_friendly_error_pages on;
 
  passenger_env_var FLASK_DEBUG true;
  passenger_env_var ENTERPRISE_ENABLED true;
  passenger_env_var ENTERPRISE_API_URL https://localhost;
  passenger_env_var ENTERPRISE_PLUGIN_MANAGER_API_URL https://localhost;
  passenger_env_var ENTERPRISE_API_SECRET_KEY local-host-key;
  access_log /var/www/dify/shared/log/nginx-api.access.log;
  error_log  /var/www/dify/shared/log/nginx-api.error.log;
}

This configuration sets up HTTP to redirect to HTTPS and configures Passenger for a WSGI application.

Hosting the web part of dify

pnpm install
pnpm run build
cp .env.example .env # also make modify
pnpm run start # or run in background

upstream dify_web_proxy { 
  server 127.0.0.1:3000;
}
 
server {
  listen 80;
  server_name dify.thape.com.cn;
  
  return 301 https://dify.thape.com.cn$request_uri;
}
 
server {
  listen 443 ssl;
  server_name dify.thape.com.cn;
 
  ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/cert/STAR_thape_com_cn_integrated.crt;
  ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/STAR_thape_com_cn.key;
 
  client_max_body_size 15M;
 
  location / {
    proxy_pass http://dify_web_proxy;
    proxy_set_header Host $host;
    proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    access_log /var/www/dify/shared/log/nginx.access.log;
    error_log  /var/www/dify/shared/log/nginx.error.log;
  }
 
  error_page   500 502 503 504  /50x.html;
  location = /50x.html {
    root   html;
  }
}

Configure the system auto start for web

vi /etc/systemd/system/dify_web.service

[Unit]
Description=Dify web service
After=network.target
 
[Service]
Type=simple
User=dify
Group=dify
LimitNOFILE=32768
WorkingDirectory=/home/dify/dify/web
ExecStart=pnpm run start
StandardOutput=append:/var/www/dify/shared/log/web.log
StandardError=append:/var/www/dify/shared/log/web.error.log
 
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Running weaviate as systemd unit

vi /etc/systemd/system/dify_weaviate.service

[Unit]
Description=Dify weaviate service
After=network.target
 
[Service]
Type=simple
User=dify
Group=dify
LimitNOFILE=32768
Environment=ENABLE_MODULES=backup-filesystem
Environment=BACKUP_FILESYSTEM_PATH=/home/dify/weaviate/backups
Environment=PERSISTENCE_DATA_PATH=/home/dify/weaviate
Environment=AUTHENTICATION_APIKEY_ENABLED=false
Environment=GRPC_PORT=50051
WorkingDirectory=/home/dify/weaviate
ExecStart=weaviate --host localhost --port 8080 --scheme http
StandardOutput=append:/var/www/dify/shared/log/weaviate.log
StandardError=append:/var/www/dify/shared/log/weaviate.error.log
 
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Running celery as systemd unit

vi /etc/systemd/system/dify_celery.service

[Unit]
Description=Dify celery service
After=network.target
 
[Service]
Type=simple
User=dify
Group=dify
LimitNOFILE=32768
WorkingDirectory=/home/dify/dify/api
ExecStart=/home/dify/.local/bin/uv run python -m celery -A app.celery worker -P gevent -c 1 --loglevel INFO -Q dataset,generation,mail,ops_trace,app_deletion
StandardOutput=append:/var/www/dify/shared/log/celery.log
StandardError=append:/var/www/dify/shared/log/celery.error.log
 
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Running dify-sandbox

sudo su - # run as root
mkdir -p /etc/containers
mkdir -p /root/sandbox/dependencies
touch /etc/containers/nodocker
podman stop dify-sandbox
podman pull langgenius/dify-sandbox:0.2.12
# replace API_KEY:dify-sandbox if necessory
podman run -d --name dify-sandbox \
  --replace \
  --restart always \
  -p 8194:8194 \
  -e API_KEY=dify-sandbox \
  -e GIN_MODE=release \
  -e WORKER_TIMEOUT=15 \
  -e ENABLE_NETWORK=true \
  -e SANDBOX_PORT=8194 \
  -v /root/sandbox/dependencies:/dependencies:Z \
  --healthcheck-command="curl -f http://localhost:8194/health" \
  docker.io/langgenius/dify-sandbox:0.2.12
curl -f http://localhost:8194/health # should be OK

Running dify-plugin-daemon as systemd unit

git clone https://github.com/langgenius/dify-plugin-daemon.git
cd dify-plugin-daemon
cp .env.example .env
go build \
    -ldflags "\
    -X 'github.com/langgenius/dify-plugin-daemon/internal/manifest.VersionX=0.5.2' \
    -X 'github.com/langgenius/dify-plugin-daemon/internal/manifest.BuildTimeX=$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%z)'" \
    -o $(which dify-plugin-daemon) cmd/server/main.go
vi /etc/systemd/system/dify_plugin.service

[Unit]
Description=Dify Plugin Service
After=network.target
 
[Service]
Type=simple
User=dify
Group=dify
LimitNOFILE=32768
WorkingDirectory=/home/dify/dify-plugin-daemon
ExecStart=dify-plugin-daemon
StandardOutput=append:/var/www/dify/shared/log/dify-plugin.log
StandardError=append:/var/www/dify/shared/log/dify-plugin.error.log
 
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Build command line.

Replace cmd/commandline/version.go and main.go:43 with version

go build -ldflags "-X 'main.VersionX=v0.5.2'" \
    -o $(which dify) cmd/commandline/main.go

Running dify

upstream dify_app_proxy { 
  server 127.0.0.1:5002;
}
 
server {
  listen 80;
  server_name dify-app.thape.com.cn;
  
  return 301 https://dify-app.thape.com.cn$request_uri;
}
 
server {
  listen 443 ssl;
  server_name dify-app.thape.com.cn;
 
  ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/cert/STAR_thape_com_cn_integrated.crt;
  ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/STAR_thape_com_cn.key;
 
  client_max_body_size 15M;
 
  location / {
    proxy_pass http://dify_app_proxy;
    proxy_set_header Host $host;
    proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    access_log /var/www/dify/shared/log/nginx-dify-app.access.log;
    error_log  /var/www/dify/shared/log/nginx-dify-app.error.log;
  }
 
  error_page   500 502 503 504  /50x.html;
  location = /50x.html {
    root   html;
  }
}

Update the dify to last version

sudo systemctl stop dify_celery.service
sudo systemctl stop dify_weaviate.service
sudo systemctl stop dify_web.service
sudo systemctl stop dify_plugin.service
git fetch --all
git reset --hard origin/thape
cd api
export UV_INDEX_URL=https://pypi.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/simple
uv sync
uv run python -m flask db upgrade
sudo systemctl restart nginx # restart dify-api server
cd ../web
pnpm install
pnpm run build
sudo systemctl start dify_plugin.service
sudo systemctl start dify_web.service
sudo systemctl start dify_weaviate.service
sudo systemctl start dify_celery.service

Quick restart

Only after change python part.

sudo systemctl restart nginx
sudo systemctl restart dify_celery.service

Reset password

uv run python -m flask reset-password
uv run python -m flask shell
from services.account_service import AccountService
AccountService.reset_login_error_rate_limit("someone@company.com")

Start all dify services in debug mode

export FLASK_DEBUG=true
export CAN_REPLACE_LOGO=true
export ENTERPRISE_ENABLED=true
export ENTERPRISE_API_URL=http://localhost:3030
export ENTERPRISE_PLUGIN_MANAGER_API_URL=http://localhost:3030
export ENTERPRISE_API_SECRET_KEY=high-five-key
uv run flask run --host 0.0.0.0 --port=5001 --debug
uv run celery -A app.celery worker -P gevent -c 1 --loglevel INFO -Q dataset,mail,ops_trace,app_deletion,plugin,workflow_storage,conversation,priority_pipeline,pipeline
uv run celery -A app.celery beat
pnpm run dev
dify-plugin-daemon
cd /Users/guochunzhong/db_dumps/weaviate
export AUTHENTICATION_APIKEY_ENABLED=false
export GRPC_PORT=50051
weaviate --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8080 --scheme http

The VS code launch.json

{
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "Python Debugger: Flask",
            "type": "debugpy",
            "request": "launch",
            "python": "${workspaceFolder}/api/.venv/bin/python",
            "program": "${workspaceFolder}/api/app.py",
            "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}/api",
            "env": {
                "FLASK_APP": "app.py",
                "FLASK_DEBUG": "1",
                "FLASK_RUN_HOST": "0.0.0.0",
                "FLASK_RUN_PORT": "5001",
                "PYTHONPATH": "${workspaceFolder}/api"
            },
            "args": [],
            "jinja": true,
            "autoStartBrowser": false
        },
        {
            "name": "Python Debugger: Flask (Enterprise)",
            "type": "debugpy",
            "request": "launch",
            "python": "${workspaceFolder}/api/.venv/bin/python",
            "program": "${workspaceFolder}/api/app.py",
            "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}/api",
            "env": {
                "FLASK_APP": "app.py",
                "FLASK_DEBUG": "true",
                "FLASK_RUN_HOST": "0.0.0.0",
                "FLASK_RUN_PORT": "5001",
                "CAN_REPLACE_LOGO": "true",
                "ENTERPRISE_ENABLED": "true",
                "ENTERPRISE_API_URL": "http://localhost:3030",
                "ENTERPRISE_PLUGIN_MANAGER_API_URL": "http://localhost:3030",
                "ENTERPRISE_API_SECRET_KEY": "high-five-key",
                "PYTHONPATH": "${workspaceFolder}/api"
            },
            "args": [],
            "jinja": true,
            "autoStartBrowser": false
        }
    ]
}

Eric Guo's blog.cloud-mes.com

Hoping writing JS, Ruby & Rails and Go article, but fallback to DevOps note

Install dify.ai at Rocky Linux 9.3 From Source Code