Invidious on Akash

Deploying Invidious, a privacy-respecting front-end for YouTube, on the Akash Network allows you to leverage decentralized cloud computing resources. This guide will walk you through the process of deploying Invidious on Akash using both the Akash CLI and Akash Console.

Prerequisites

  1. Akash Account: Set up your Akash account and ensure you have AKT (Akash tokens) to pay for deployment.

  2. Docker: Install Docker on your local machine to manage the Invidious container.

  3. Invidious Docker Image: Familiarize yourself with the Invidious Docker image (invidious/invidious:latest).

  4. PostgreSQL Database: Invidious requires a PostgreSQL database. Ensure you have access to a running instance.

  5. Domain Name (Optional): For a professional setup, configure a custom domain.

Step-by-Step Deployment Guide

Prepare the Invidious Docker Image

The official Docker image for Invidious is available on Docker Hub. Pull the image and test it locally if necessary:

docker pull invidious/invidious:latest

Optionally, run it locally to ensure it works as expected:

docker run -p 3000:3000 invidious/invidious

Set Up Akash CLI or Use the Console

You can deploy on Akash using either the CLI or the web-based console:

  • Akash CLI Installation Guide: Follow this guide to install the Akash CLI, which is essential for advanced deployment management.

  • Akash Console Guide: Use the Akash Console for a more user-friendly, graphical approach to deploying on Akash.

Create the Deployment File

Below is the SDL (Service Definition Language) file tailored for deploying Invidious on Akash. This file defines the resources and configuration needed for the deployment.

---
version: "2.0"


services:
  invidious:
    image: invidious/invidious:latest
    env:
      - DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:password@hostname:5432/invidiousdb
      - DOMAIN=https://yourdomain.com  # Replace with your domain if applicable
      - PORT=3000
    expose:
      - port: 3000
        as: 80
        to:
          - global: true
        protocol: http


profiles:
  compute:
    invidious:
      resources:
        cpu:
          units: 0.5          # Adjust according to your needs
        memory:
          size: 512Mi          # Adjust according to your needs
        storage:
          size: 2Gi            # Adjust according to your needs
  placement:
    akash:
      pricing:
        invidious:
          denom: uakt
          amount: 100000        # Adjust according to your budget


deployment:
  invidious:
    akash:
      profile: invidious
      count: 1

Deploy Invidious on Akash

Using Akash CLI:

  1. Prepare the SDL file: Save the above SDL configuration as deployment.yaml.

  2. Deploy via CLI:

    • Navigate to the directory containing deployment.yaml.

    • Run the following command to initiate deployment:

    • Create your Certificate

Akash requires an account to have a valid certificate associated with it to start participating in the deployment process. In this section of the guide, we will create a certificate locally, and then proceed to store this certificate on the Akash blockchain. To do this, ensure you have followed all the steps outlined in this guide up to this point. Additionally, these transactions must be executed from an Akash account in possession of some $AKT tokens.

Once an account has a certificate associated with it, it can begin deploying services on the Akash blockchain. A certificate needs to be created only once per account. After creation, it can be used across any number of deployments for as long as it remains valid.

provider-services tx cert generate client -from $AKASH_KEY_NAME
  • Publish Cert to the Blockchain
provider-services tx cert publish client -from $AKASH_KEY_NAME

  • Create your Deployment

  • CPU Support

Only x86_64 processors are officially supported for Akash deployments. This may change in the future and when ARM processors are supported it will be announced and documented.

  • Akash Deployment

NOTE - if your current terminal session has been used to create prior deployments, issue the command unset AKASH_DSEQ to prevent receipt of error message Deployment Exists

To deploy on Akash, run:

provider-services tx deployment create deploy.yaml -from $AKASH_KEY_NAME

You should see a response similar to:

{
  "height":"140325",
  "txhash":"2AF4A01B9C3DE12CC4094A95E9D0474875DFE24FD088BB443238AC06E36D98EA",
  "codespace":"",
  "code":0,
  "data":"0A130A116372656174652D6465706C6F796D656E74",
  "raw_log":"[{\"events\":[{\"type\":\"akash.v1\",\"attributes\":[{\"key\":\"module\",\"value\":\"deployment\"},{\"key\":\"action\",\"value\":\"deployment-created\"},{\"key\":\"version\",\"value\":\"2b86f778de8cc9df415490efa162c58e7a0c297fbac9cdb8d6c6600eda56f17e\"},{\"key\":\"owner\",\"value\":\"akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj\"},{\"key\":\"dseq\",\"value\":\"140324\"},{\"key\":\"module\",\"value\":\"market\"},{\"key\":\"action\",\"value\":\"order-created\"},{\"key\":\"owner\",\"value\":\"akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj\"},{\"key\":\"dseq\",\"value\":\"140324\"},{\"key\":\"gseq\",\"value\":\"1\"},{\"key\":\"oseq\",\"value\":\"1\"}]},{\"type\":\"message\",\"attributes\":[{\"key\":\"action\",\"value\":\"create-deployment\"},{\"key\":\"sender\",\"value\":\"akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj\"},{\"key\":\"sender\",\"value\":\"akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj\"}]},{\"type\":\"transfer\",\"attributes\":[{\"key\":\"recipient\",\"value\":\"akash17xpfvakm2amg962yls6f84z3kell8c5lazw8j8\"},{\"key\":\"sender\",\"value\":\"akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj\"},{\"key\":\"amount\",\"value\":\"5000uakt\"},{\"key\":\"recipient\",\"value\":\"akash14pphss726thpwws3yc458hggufynm9x77l4l2u\"},{\"key\":\"sender\",\"value\":\"akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj\"},{\"key\":\"amount\",\"value\":\"5000000uakt\"}]}]}]",
  "logs":[
    {
      "msg_index":0,
      "log":"",
      "events":[
        {
          "type":"akash.v1",
          "attributes":[
            {
              "key":"module",
              "value":"deployment"
            },
            {
              "key":"action",
              "value":"deployment-created"
            },
            {
              "key":"version",
              "value":"2b86f778de8cc9df415490efa162c58e7a0c297fbac9cdb8d6c6600eda56f17e"
            },
            {
              "key":"owner",
              "value":"akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj"
            },
            {
              "key":"dseq",
              "value":"140324"
            },
            {
              "key":"module",
              "value":"market"
            },
            {
              "key":"action",
              "value":"order-created"
            },
            {
              "key":"owner",
              "value":"akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj"
            },
            {
              "key":"dseq",
              "value":"140324"
            },
            {
              "key":"gseq",
              "value":"1"
            },
            {
              "key":"oseq",
              "value":"1"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "type":"message",
          "attributes":[
            {
              "key":"action",
              "value":"create-deployment"
            },
            {
              "key":"sender",
              "value":"akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj"
            },
            {
              "key":"sender",
              "value":"akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "type":"transfer",
          "attributes":[
            {
              "key":"recipient",
              "value":"akash17xpfvakm2amg962yls6f84z3kell8c5lazw8j8"
            },
            {
              "key":"sender",
              "value":"akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj"
            },
            {
              "key":"amount",
              "value":"5000uakt"
            },
            {
              "key":"recipient",
              "value":"akash14pphss726thpwws3yc458hggufynm9x77l4l2u"
            },
            {
              "key":"sender",
              "value":"akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj"
            },
            {
              "key":"amount",
              "value":"5000000uakt"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "info":"",
  "gas_wanted":"100000",
  "gas_used":"94653",
  "tx":null,
  "timestamp":""
}
  • Find your Deployment -

Find the Deployment Sequence (DSEQ) in the deployment you just created. You will need to replace the AKASH_DSEQ with the number from your deployment to configure a shell variable.

Terminal window
export AKASH_DSEQ=CHANGETHIS

Now set the Order Sequence (OSEQ) and Group Sequence (GSEQ). Note that if this is your first time deploying on Akash, OSEQ and GSEQ will be 1.

Terminal window
AKASH_OSEQ=1
AKASH_GSEQ=1

Verify we have the right values populated by running:

Terminal window
echo $AKASH_DSEQ $AKASH_OSEQ $AKASH_GSEQ
  • View your Bids

After a short time, you should see bids from providers for this deployment with the following command:

Terminal window
provider-services query market bid list -owner=$AKASH_ACCOUNT_ADDRESS -node $AKASH_NODE -dseq $AKASH_DSEQ -state=open
  • Choose a Provider

Note that there are bids from multiple different providers. In this case, both providers happen to be willing to accept a price of 1 uAKT. This means that the lease can be created using 1 uAKT or 0.000001 AKT per block to execute the container. You should see a response similar to:

bids:
- bid:
    bid_id:
      dseq: "140324"
      gseq: 1
      oseq: 1
      owner: akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj
      provider: akash10cl5rm0cqnpj45knzakpa4cnvn5amzwp4lhcal
    created_at: "140326"
    price:
      amount: "1"
      denom: uakt
    state: open
  escrow_account:
    balance:
      amount: "50000000"
      denom: uakt
    id:
      scope: bid
      xid: akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj/140324/1/1/akash10cl5rm0cqnpj45knzakpa4cnvn5amzwp4lhcal
    owner: akash10cl5rm0cqnpj45knzakpa4cnvn5amzwp4lhcal
    settled_at: "140326"
    state: open
    transferred:
      amount: "0"
      denom: uakt
- bid:
    bid_id:
      dseq: "140324"
      gseq: 1
      oseq: 1
      owner: akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj
      provider: akash1f6gmtjpx4r8qda9nxjwq26fp5mcjyqmaq5m6j7
    created_at: "140326"
    price:
      amount: "1"
      denom: uakt
    state: open
  escrow_account:
    balance:
      amount: "50000000"
      denom: uakt
    id:
      scope: bid
      xid: akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj/140324/1/1/akash1f6gmtjpx4r8qda9nxjwq26fp5mcjyqmaq5m6j7
    owner: akash1f6gmtjpx4r8qda9nxjwq26fp5mcjyqmaq5m6j7
    settled_at: "140326"
    state: open
    transferred:
      amount: "0"
      denom: uakt

For this example, we will choose akash10cl5rm0cqnpj45knzakpa4cnvn5amzwp4lhcal Run this command to set the provider shell variable:

AKASH_PROVIDER=akash10cl5rm0cqnpj45knzakpa4cnvn5amzwp4lhcal

Verify we have the right value populated by running:

echo $AKASH_PROVIDER
  • Create a Lease

Create a lease for the bid from the chosen provider above by running this command:

provider-services tx market lease create -dseq $AKASH_DSEQ -provider $AKASH_PROVIDER -from $AKASH_KEY_NAME
  • Confirm the Lease

You can check the status of your lease by running:

provider-services query market lease list -owner $AKASH_ACCOUNT_ADDRESS -node $AKASH_NODE -dseq $AKASH_DSEQ

Note the bids will close automatically after 5 minutes, and you may get the response:

bid not open

If this happens, close your deployment and open a new deployment again. To close your deployment run this command:

provider-services tx deployment close -dseq $AKASH_DSEQ  -owner $AKASH_ACCOUNT_ADDRESS -from $AKASH_KEY_NAME

If your lease was successful you should see a response that ends with:

    state: active

{/* {% hint style=“info” %} /} Please note that once the lease is created, the provider will begin debiting your deployment’s escrow account, even if you have not completed the deployment process by uploading the manifest in the following step. {/ {% endhint %} */}

  • Send the Manifest

Upload the manifest using the values from above step:

provider-services send-manifest deploy.yaml -dseq $AKASH_DSEQ -provider $AKASH_PROVIDER -from $AKASH_KEY_NAME
  • Confirm the URL

Now that the manifest is uploaded, your image is deployed. You can retrieve the access details by running the below:

provider-services lease-status -dseq $AKASH_DSEQ -from $AKASH_KEY_NAME -provider $AKASH_PROVIDER

You should see a response similar to:

{
  "services": {
    "web": {
      "name": "web",
      "available": 1,
      "total": 1,
      "uris": [
        "rga3h05jetf9h3p6dbk62m19ck.ingress.ewr1p0.mainnet.akashian.io"
      ],
      "observed_generation": 1,
      "replicas": 1,
      "updated_replicas": 1,
      "ready_replicas": 1,
      "available_replicas": 1
    }
  },
  "forwarded_ports": {}
}

You can access the application by visiting the hostnames mapped to your deployment. Look for a URL/URI and copy it to your web browser.

  • View your logs

You can view your application logs to debug issues or watch progress like so:

Terminal window
provider-services lease-logs \
  -dseq "$AKASH_DSEQ" \
  -provider "$AKASH_PROVIDER" \
  -from "$AKASH_KEY_NAME"

  • Update the Deployment

  • Update the Manifest

Update the deploy.yaml manifest file with the desired change.

NOTE:** Not all attributes of the manifest file are eligible for deployment update. If the hardware specs of the manifest are updated (I.e. CPU count), a re-deployment of the workload is necessary. Other attributes, such as deployment image and funding, are eligible for updates.

  • Issue Transaction for On Chain Update
provider-services tx deployment update deploy.yaml -dseq $AKASH_DSEQ -from $AKASH_KEY_NAME
  • Send Updated Manifest to Provider
provider-services send-manifest deploy.yaml -dseq $AKASH_DSEQ -provider $AKASH_PROVIDER -from $AKASH_KEY_NAME

  1. Using Akash Console:

    • Log into Akash Console: Open the Akash Console and connect to it using your wallet.

    • Upload SDL File: Use the console interface to upload the deployment.yaml file.

    • Deploy: Follow the on-screen instructions to deploy the service.

Access Your Invidious Instance

  1. Obtain the External IP: Once the deployment is successful, Akash will provide an external IP address.

  2. Configure Domain Name (Optional): If you have a domain name, set up DNS to point to the provided IP address.

  3. Access the Service: Open your browser and visit the IP address (or domain name) to access Invidious.

Secure the Deployment

  1. HTTPS Configuration: Use Let’s Encrypt (or a SSL/TLS certificate service) to secure your deployment with SSL.

  2. Firewall and Security: Ensure proper security configurations are in place to protect your deployment.

Edit page on github
Discourse PhotoPrism
footer-logo-dark

© Akash Network 2025 The Akash Network Authors Documentation Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Open-source Apache 2.0 Licensed.

GitHub v0.38.2

Privacy