Pointing the clients at your server

All three clients default to an API on the same machine, at http://localhost:38081. Running your own server usually means overriding that once, per client, with an environment variable.

Web app

openbooks-web reads the API base URL from NUXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE (openbooks-web/nuxt.config.ts), exposed to the browser through Nuxt’s runtimeConfig.public.apiBase:

NUXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE=http://box:38081 npm run dev

Since it’s a public runtime config value, this has to be set wherever the Nuxt process runs — the browser reads the value that got baked in at build or start time, not anything set on the machine viewing the page.

Desktop client

openbooks-desktop has a Settings screen for this — type the address, press Save and reconnect, and it’s remembered on that computer. Until something is saved there, it reads OPENBOOKS_API (openbooks-desktop/src/client.rs, base_url()):

OPENBOOKS_API=http://box:38081 just desktop

or, running cargo run directly from openbooks-desktop/:

OPENBOOKS_API=http://box:38081 cargo run

A saved address wins over the variable, so setting it on a machine that’s already been pointed somewhere in Settings has no effect.

CLI

openbooks-cli reads the same variable, OPENBOOKS_API, wired through clap as the --api flag’s environment source (openbooks-cli/src/main.rs):

OPENBOOKS_API=http://box:38081 just cli

or pass it explicitly instead of through the environment:

just cli --api http://box:38081 balances

Authentication travels separately

None of these variables carry a credential — they only say where the API is. The web app still needs a browser session from signing in at that host’s /auth/login. The desktop client and the CLI sign themselves in now — auth login for the CLI, the Sign in screen for the desktop client — against whichever server these variables point them at; neither needs a token minted by hand any more, though OPENBOOKS_TOKEN still works and still overrides everything for both, which is what just mint-token, seed.sh, and smoke.sh rely on. See Authentication for the OAuth flow both clients drive, Users and tokens for minting a token by hand when that’s what you want instead, and Configuration for the full variable table.