Error setting up PowerSync

[pro-test-ant]

Good morning,
After having started the containers using Docker Compose, when I run the command to set up Powersync I get the following error:

/home/wger/src/settings/main.py:83: UserWarning: SECRET_KEY is not set or uses the default value so a random key was generated, sessions will not persist across restarts. Set SECRET_KEY in your environment for production use.
  warnings.warn(
/home/wger/src/settings/main.py:230: UserWarning: SIGNING_KEY is not set or uses the default value so a random key was generated, sessions will not persist across restarts. Set SIGNING_KEY in your environment for production use.
  warnings.warn(
level=INFO ts=2026-07-24 17:04:34,684 module=apps path=/home/wger/.local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/axes/apps.py line=53 message=AXES: BEGIN version 8.3.1, blocking by ip_address
Unknown command: 'setup-powersync-storage'
Type 'manage.py help' for usage.

It appears my IP address is being blocked, but I am not sure why or what to do about it.

Thank you.

[rolandgeider]

Hi! The command definitely exists, so I'd say this is an older docker image (this was introduced with 2.6). Can you run docker image inspect wger/server:latest --format '{{.Created}}'?

[pro-test-ant]

I had an old image. I pulled the new image and was able to pass this step.

However, I have another issue: the container wants to map to port 8080, but I already have something there. How do I change this?

Thank you.

[rolandgeider]

The production compose file doesn't bind port 8080 on the host, the 8080 for powersync is only exposed within the docker network. The only externally published needed port is nginx's 80:80 (or something else if you want). Are you using some override file or something like that?

[pro-test-ant]

I went ahead and redownloaded the configuration files to get rid of any changes and now have this as my override
`services:

web:
ports: !override
- "8016:8000"

nginx:
ports: !override
- "11080:80"`
Now everything is running but when I try to access from the mobile app I am getting the "Sync service unavailable" error.

[rolandgeider]

Two things in your setup:

Remove the web: ports override entirely, the app (and browser) must always go through nginx, the web container is not meant to be reached directly, only reverse proxied via nginx (while the powersync service could run on its own, it's better if you leave it as it is)

As for the "Sync service unavailable", this can have several causes, I've just added a section to the docs