Sojourn

A local-first mission command environment. Runs entirely on a Raspberry Pi. Access from any browser on your home network.

Prerequisites

Install on the Pi:

# Node.js 20+
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

# libheif (for HEIC/iPhone photo support)
sudo apt-get install -y libheif-dev

# Claude Code CLI (open claw bot)
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Setup

1. Clone and install

   git clone <repo> ~/sojourn
   cd ~/sojourn
   npm install
   cd client && npm install
   cd ../server && npm install

2. Build the client

   cd ~/sojourn
   npm run build

3. Create your config

   cp sojourn.config.sample.json sojourn.config.json

   Edit sojourn.config.json:

   • auth_token — generate a long random string: openssl rand -hex 32
   • vault_path — absolute path to your Obsidian vault directory on the Pi
   • storage_root — where uploaded images will live (e.g. /home/pi/sojourn-storage)
   • db_path — where SQLite database lives (e.g. /home/pi/sojourn.db)

4. Start the server

   cd ~/sojourn
   ./start.sh

Accessing Sojourn

Find your Pi's local IP:

hostname -I | awk '{print $1}'

Then open http://<pi-ip>:3000 in any browser on your home WiFi — including your phone.

On login, enter your name and the auth_token from your config.

Obsidian Vault Setup

Point vault_path at the root of your Obsidian vault directory on the Pi.

• Notes in the vault sync automatically into the Archive within ~2 seconds of saving.
• Notes you create in Sojourn's Archive are written to <vault_path>/sojourn-inbox/ as .md files. These appear in Obsidian as a new folder.
• Sojourn never edits your existing Obsidian notes — only reads them.

If your vault is on another machine, sync it to the Pi first (e.g. via Syncthing, rsync, or iCloud Drive via rclone).

Running as a Background Service

To keep Sojourn running after you close the terminal, install the systemd service:

sudo cp sojourn.service /etc/systemd/system/
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable sojourn
sudo systemctl start sojourn

Check logs:

journalctl -u sojourn -f

Development

Run server and client dev servers together:

npm run dev

Client runs on port 5173 (proxies /api and /ws to port 3000). Server runs on port 3000.