How to fix "Signing key cannot be empty"?

[VincenzoKoestler]

👟 Reproduction steps

I'm using a self-hosted docker instance of Appwrite, with the provided compose file. After setting up the github integration and connecting to my Github app, the callback returns the following error:

{
    "message": "Server Error",
    "code": 500,
    "type": "general_unknown",
    "version": "1.5.4"
}

👍 Expected behavior

Github app should connect successfully

👎 Actual Behavior

Shows the given error. The logs state "singing key cannot be empty"

2024-04-23T19:46:06.370884494Z [Error] Timestamp: 2024-04-23T19:46:06+00:00
2024-04-23T19:46:06.370915436Z [Error] Method: GET
2024-04-23T19:46:06.370922620Z [Error] URL: /v1/vcs/github/callback
2024-04-23T19:46:06.370927607Z [Error] Type: Ahc\Jwt\JWTException
2024-04-23T19:46:06.370942145Z [Error] Message: Signing key cannot be empty
2024-04-23T19:46:06.370948684Z [Error] File: /usr/src/code/vendor/adhocore/jwt/src/ValidatesJWT.php
2024-04-23T19:46:06.370953594Z [Error] Line: 34

All ENVs have been checked for correctness, OpenSSL key is stored as ENV as well.

I have found someone with a similar issue but he/she were not able to solve it yet. As far as I can see no github bug report was created (https://discord.com/channels/564160730845151244/1230247028450136148).

🎲 Appwrite version

Version 1.5.x

💻 Operating system

Linux

🧱 Your Environment

Appwrite is running via Coolify using Cloudflare (not Cloudflare tunnels).

👀 Have you spent some time to check if this issue has been raised before?

• I checked and didn't find similar issue

🏢 Have you read the Code of Conduct?

• I have read the Code of Conduct

[stnguyen90]

Signing key cannot be empty

This error means something is wrong with your _APP_VCS_GITHUB_PRIVATE_KEY environment variable. Please refer to the docs for what to do.

For a quick way to validate the _APP_VCS_GITHUB_PRIVATE_KEY environment variable, you can run this:

CODE='
if (openssl_pkey_get_private(getenv("_APP_VCS_GITHUB_PRIVATE_KEY")) === false) {
    echo "Invalid Private Key\n";
    exit(1);
} else {
    echo "Valid Private Key\n";
    exit(0);
}'

docker compose exec appwrite php -r "$CODE"

[VincenzoKoestler]

Thanks a ton Steven! Devil is in them details, I missed the \n separation when going through the docs, my mistake. Only realized it by looking at your troubleshooting code. That would be a great addition to the docs!