First-Time Setup

After deploying Crude Functions for the first time, you’ll need to create an admin user and configure initial settings. This guide walks through the essential first-time setup steps.

What Happens on First Run

On first startup, Crude Functions automatically:

1. Creates SQLite database at ./data/database.db
2. Generates encryption keys at ./data/encryption-keys.json
3. Runs database migrations
4. Enables the sign-up page for admin user creation

The server is now ready for you to create your admin account.

Creating Your Admin User

Access the Web UI

Navigate to the web interface:

http://localhost:8000/web

If deploying remotely, replace localhost:8000 with your server’s address.

Complete the Sign-Up Form

1. Enter your email address
2. Create a strong password (minimum 8 characters)
3. Click “Create Account”

Important: After this first user is created, you cannot use the sign-up page again. Additional users must be added through the Users page in the web UI.

Management API keys

Initially, access to API endpoints for managing the Crude Functions server is restricted to the logged in users. To allow programmatic access you need to create an API key within the defined API Access Group. By default Crude Functions comes with a management API key group which is already set in the settings to allow access to the management API. All you need to do is create the actual API key within that group.

Creating new management key

Click the 🔑 icon in the navigation bar or go to http://localhost:8000/web/keys.

Then using the ➕ button you can create a new key within the management group.

The web UI will show partial keys (last 6 characters) after creation for security.

Test Your API Key

Verify the key works:

curl -H "X-API-Key: your-key-value-here" \
  http://localhost:8000/api/key-groups

You should receive a JSON response listing API key groups (at minimum the management group you just created a key for):

{
  "groups": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "name": "management",
      "description": "Management API keys"
    }
  ]
}

Understanding the Data Directory

Everything persistent lives in ./data/:

data/
├── database.db           # Routes, functions, API keys, users, secrets, logs, metrics
└── encryption-keys.json  # AES-256-GCM keys for encrypting API keys and secrets

Critical: Back Up Your Encryption Keys

If you lose encryption-keys.json, you lose access to all encrypted data permanently. Store the backup in a secure location separate from your server.