xBrowserSync is a free tool for syncing browser data between different browsers and devices, built for privacy and anonymity. For full details, see www.xbrowsersync.org.

This repository contains the source code for the REST service API that client applications communicate with. If you'd like to run your own xBrowserSync service on your Node.js web server, follow the installation steps below.

Once configured, you can begin syncing your browser data to your xBrowserSync service, and if you're feeling generous, allow others to sync their data to your service also!

• Node.js v8 (LTS)
• mongoDB v3

If you are curently running v1.0.3 (or earlier) of the xBrowserSync API, you will need to export existing syncs and delete the xBrowserSync database before upgrading.

To export existing syncs, run the following command:

mongoexport --db xBrowserSync -c bookmarks --out /path/to/export/file

Then to delete the database, run the following commands in the mongo shell:

use xBrowserSync
db.dropAllUsers()
db.dropDatabase()

Once you've upgraded and completed the installation steps below, you can import the syncs by running the following command:

mongoimport --db xbrowsersync -c bookmarks --file /path/to/export/file

CD into the source directory and install dependencies (use unsafe-perm flag if you get any permissions issues whilst trying to install):

$ npm install --unsafe-perm

1. Run the following commands in the mongo shell:

   (Replace [password] with a cleartext password of your choice)

   use xbrowsersync
   db.createUser({ user: "xbrowsersyncdb", pwd: "[password]", roles: ["readWrite"] })
   db.newsynclogs.createIndex( { "expiresAt": 1 }, { expireAfterSeconds: 0 } )
   db.newsynclogs.createIndex({ "ipAddress": 1 })
   

2. Add the following environment variables to hold xBrowserSync DB account username and password:

   • XBROWSERSYNC_DB_USER
   • XBROWSERSYNC_DB_PWD

   On Windows, open a Command Prompt and type (replacing [password] with the password entered in the mongo shell):

   setx XBROWSERSYNC_DB_USER "xbrowsersyncdb"
   setx XBROWSERSYNC_DB_PWD "[password]"
   

   On Ubuntu/Debian Linux, open a terminal emulator and type:

   $ pico ~/.profile
   

   Add the lines (replacing [password] with the password entered in the mongo shell):

   export XBROWSERSYNC_DB_USER=xbrowsersyncdb
   export XBROWSERSYNC_DB_PWD=[password]
   

   Save and exit, then log out and back in again.

3. Add a TTL index on bookmarks.lastAccessed to delete syncs that have not been accessed for 3 weeks:

   use xbrowsersync
   db.bookmarks.createIndex( { "lastAccessed": 1 }, { expireAfterSeconds: 21*86400 } )
   

The file config/settings.default.json contains all of the default configuration settings. User configuration values should be stored in config/settings.json and will override the defaults. Should you wish to change any of the configuration settings, copy settings.default.json and rename the copy to settings.json before changing any values as required. Be sure to remove any settings that have not been changed so that any amendments to the default values in future versions are picked up. For example, a basic user configuration to modify the service status message could look like:

{
  "status": {
    "message": "Welcome to my xBrowserSync service!"
  }
}

Any changes to the user configuration will require the service to be restarted before being picked up. The available configuration settings are:

Ensure that the path set in the log.path config value exists, and that the account node will be running as can write to that location.

$ node dist/api.js

If you've made code changes you can run a fresh build with the command:

$ npm run build

To run unit tests, run either of the following commands:

$ npm run test
$ npm run unittests

To run integration tests, you will need to create the test database first. Run the following commands in the mongo shell:

(Replace [dbname] with your xBrowserSync database name and [password] with the xBrowserSync database user account password)

use [dbname]test
db.createUser({ user: "xbrowsersyncdb", pwd: "[password]", roles: ["readWrite"] })

You can then run the integration tests by running the following command:

$ npm run integrationtests

If you're using VS Code, you have the following launch configurations:

1. Debug API: Will compile and debug the main API service.
2. Debug docs: Will launch API home page in chrome and attach to debugger for debugging docs issues.
3. Run unit tests: Will run and debug all tests in test/unit folder.
4. Run integration tests: Will debug all tests in test/integration folder.

If you've found a bug or wish to request a new feature, please submit it here.