Six Steps

A Rails application offering quiet spaces for self-reflection, using the Six Spaces technique inspired by David Grove's Emergent Knowledge.

Six Steps is a Rails 8.0+ application offering quiet spaces for self-reflection, using the Six Spaces technique inspired by David Grove's Emergent Knowledge. This is a tool for structured self-reflection - it is not intended as a substitute for professional coaching, counselling, or therapy.

Quick Start using Docker

If you'd just like to try the application you can do so using Docker Compose.

1. Install the latest version of Docker Desktop
2. Download the docker-compose.yml from this repository to your local machine
3. Run docker compose up in the same directory
4. Wait for all services to start (the database health check will complete first)

Once running, access the application at:

Service	URL	Description
Web App	http://localhost	Main application
Mailpit	http://localhost:8025	Email capture UI - view all sent emails here

The default admin credentials (created on first run) are:

• Email: admin@localhost
• Password: change_me_immediately

To stop the application, press Ctrl+C or run docker compose down.

The docker-compose.yml includes sensible defaults for local testing. For production deployment, see the "Hosting this yourself" section below.

Developing

If you want to develop/extend the application:

• Fork the repository on GitHub
• Clone the repository to your local machine
• Open in Dev Container (e.g. VS Code or Cursor)
• Claude code is installed in the container for your AI assistant needs
• Enjoy!
• We welcome contributions to the project by raising issues, feature requests, or pull requests.

Hosting this yourself

You're welcome to host this yourself. Start from the docker-compose.yml file and:

• Generate secure values for RAILS_MASTER_KEY, SECRET_KEY_BASE, and the encryption keys
• Set FORCE_SSL=true and configure your SSL termination (reverse proxy)
• Set APPLICATION_HOST to your domain and APPLICATION_PROTOCOL=https
• For email delivery, either:
  • Remove SMTP_ADDRESS and SMTP_PORT, then set POSTMARK_API_TOKEN for Postmark delivery, or
  • Configure SMTP_ADDRESS and SMTP_PORT for your own SMTP server
• Optionally set SENTRY_DSN for error monitoring
• Optionally set UMAMI_WEBSITE_ID for privacy-friendly analytics via Umami
• Update the admin bootstrap credentials (ADMIN_EMAIL, ADMIN_PASSWORD)

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.