Immich setup

We will finish setting up immich, install the companion app on our phone and access the server from a web browser. For now, we will only be able to access immich from devices on the same network. We will enable remote access in step 5.

Raspberry Pi

Immich is already installed and configured on the RPi, however it requires a secrets file to operate. Follow these one-time steps to set this up.

1. Create a mount location for the external drive.

   sudo install -d -m 755 -o ${USER} -g users /mnt/immich_drive
   

2. Identify the path to the drive with lsblk. The path is /dev/<name> where <name> is the first column of lsblk. E.g. /dev/sda or /dev/sda1 if partitioned.
3. Decrypt and mount the external drive.

   immich-server --immich-drive /dev/sda
   

4. Create a secrets folder in the encrypted drive.

   install -d -m 755 -o ${USER} -g users /mnt/immich_drive/secrets
   

5. Copy the example secrets file to your encrypted drive.

   cp ~/immich-rpi-nix/immich-secrets.example /mnt/immich_drive/secrets/immich-secrets
   

6. Change the DB_PASSWORD value in /mnt/immich_drive/secrets/immich-secrets.

   Caution

   Securely store the DB_PASSWORD. This is necessary to recover the database which is essential to make sense of our backup.

7. Create the directory for immich postgres database in the encrypted drive with the correct permissions.

   sudo install -d -m 750 -o postgres -g users /mnt/immich_drive/postgres
   

8. Create the directory for immich data in the encrypted drive with the correct permissions.

   sudo install -d -m 755 -o immich -g users /mnt/immich_drive/immich_data
   

9. Start immich

   immich-server --start --no-decryption
   

10. You can use journalctl -u immich-server -f to follow the logs from the immich service.

Phone app

1. Download the immich app from https://immich.app/.
2. Set the server URL to http://immich.local:2283. If you have issues using immich.local, identify and use the RPi IP with sudo arp-scan -l or from the RPi with ip addr show.
3. For more information about using the app, consult the immich documentation.

Web app

In your web browser type http://immich.local:2283. If you have issues using immich.local, identify and use the RPi IP with sudo arp-scan -l or from the RPi with ip addr show.

Immich initialisation

Upon first access, you will be prompted to setup the admin user.

Caution

Securely store the admin credentials.