Keybase Sites

Keybase Sites is a service built into Keybase which hosts web sites from KBFS directories. It can be used to host sites containing only static files - there is no provision for running any kind of server-side scripting.

I'm using it to host the jms1.info site you're reading right now.

Original write-up

https://jms1.pub/kbsites/ is the first set of information I wrote about Keybase Sites, and includes links to five different hostnames which illustrate how to host sites using five different kinds of sources:

/keybase/public/xxx/
/keybase/private/user#kbpbot/ (private, with kbpbot having read-only access)
/keybase/team/xxx/ (with the kbpbot user as a team member with "reader" access)
git repo keybase://team/xxx/repo, in master branch (with the kbpbot user as a team member with "reader" access)
git repo keybase://team/xxx/repo, in some other branch (with the kbpbot user as a team member with "reader" access)

`jms1.info`

Details about how I set up Keybase Sites for the jms1.info site. The site is hosted from a team directory with kbpbot as a team member with "reader" access.

Keybase Team

Create a Keybase team with the kbpbot user as a member with reader permissions. This can be either a top-level team, or a sub-team. (I'm using a sub-team.)

keybase team create jms1team.sites
keybase team add-member -s -u kbpbot -r reader jms1team.sites

Create a KBFS directory to hold the site's files. In my case, I'm using the same team to host multiple sites, so each site has its own directory within the team.

mkdir /keybase/team/jms1team.sites/jms1.info

Create a dummy index page so you can test that the site is working.

cat > /keybase/team/jms1team.sites/jms1.info/index.html <<EOF
<html>
<head>
<title>jms1.info</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>test 1 2 3</p>
</body>
</html>
EOF

DNS Records

I use djbdns to serve my DNS data. Below are the actual tinydns data lines from my DNS data, along with what I think are the equivalent records in BIND format.

For jms1.info ...
```
+jms1.info:18.214.166.21:3600
'_keybase_pages.jms1.info:kbp=/keybase/team/jms1team.sites/jms1.info:3600
```
```
jms1.info.                 3600  IN A    18.214.166.21
_keybase_pages.jms1.info.  3600  IN TXT  "kbp=/keybase/team/jms1team.sites/jms1.info"
```
- The record for jms1.info. itself must be an A record, since the rules for CNAME records explicitly say that a resource record name which is a CNAME record, cannot also exist as any other kind of record. Since this record is the "root" of a domain, it must have an SOA record and one or more NS records, therefore it cannot also be a CNAME record.
  
  The IPv4 address, 18.214.166.21, is the IP that kbp.keybaseapi.com. points to. This hasn't changed in a few years now, however if it does change in the future, I'll need to remember to update my own DNS records to match it.
- The TXT record for _keybase_pages.jms1.info. is what tells Keybase Sites where to find the site's content. Because it points to a team folder, the kbpbot user needs to have at least "reader" permissions in that team.
For www.jms1.info (which does exist as a separate site, containing a meta-redirect to https://jms1.info/ without the www. in the hostname) ...
```
Cwww.jms1.info:kbp.keybaseapi.com:3600
'_keybase_pages.www.jms1.info:kbp=/keybase/team/jms1team.sites/www.jms1.info:3600
```
```
www.jms1.info.                 3600  IN CNAME  kbp.keybaseapi.com
_keybase_pages.www.jms1.info.  3600  IN TXT    "kbp=/keybase/team/jms1team.sites/www.jms1.info"
```
- The record for www.jms1.info. is a CNAME record, pointing to kbp.keybaseapi.com. This makes the www.jms1.info name resolve to the same IP address(es) that kbp.keybaseapi.com points to, without having to worry about manually updating them if kbp.keybaseapi.com ever changes.
- The TXT record for _keybase_pages.jms1.info. is what tells Keybase Sites where to find the site's content. Because it points to a team folder, the kbpbot user needs to have at least "reader" permissions in that team.

Generated 2024-12-23 19:34:32 +0000

initial-24-g01d3384 2024-12-23 19:34:03 +0000