SkillGoblin

A streamlined, self-hosted learning platform focused on simplicity and ease of maintenance.

Project Vision

SkillGoblin is a lightweight, self-contained learning platform designed for local hosting. It focuses on video content delivery with minimal overhead, allowing for easy setup and maintenance without complex dependencies.

Core Philosophy

• Streamlined Experience: Focus on content consumption, not marketing or social features
• Local-First: Designed to run on local networks without external dependencies
• Lightweight: Minimal resource usage and simple architecture
• Easily Maintainable: Modular design with minimal recompilation needed

Features

• User Management

  • Simple login with avatar-based selection
  • Progress tracking across courses
  • Favorites and "continue watching" functionality

• Content Organization

  • Course categories with color-coding
  • Hierarchical lesson structure
  • Video playback with progress tracking
  • Course descriptions and thumbnails
  • Natural sorting of video files
  • Real-time file monitoring for course updates and deletions

• Mobile-Friendly Interface

  • Responsive design works on all devices
  • Simple navigation for touch interfaces
  • Optimized video playback for mobile

Technical Stack

• Frontend: Nuxt.js with Nitro server
• Database: SQLite (file-based, no separate service needed)
• Containerization: Docker for development and production
• Video Handling: Direct file serving via Nitro
• File Monitoring: Chokidar for real-time content updates

Content Management

• File Structure:

  data/
  ├── database/
  │   └── database.sqlite    # SQLite database
  └── content/
      ├── Course Name/
      │   ├── thumbnail.jpg    # Course thumbnail
      │   ├── Lesson 1/        # First lesson folder
      │   │   ├── 1. video1.mp4
      │   │   ├── 2. video2.mp4
      │   │   └── 3. video3.mp4
      │   └── Lesson 2/        # Second lesson folder
      │       ├── 1. video1.mp4
      │       └── 2. video2.mp4
      └── Another Course/
          └── ...
  

• File Monitoring:

  • Real-time monitoring of the content directory
  • Automatic detection of new courses and course updates
  • Automatic removal of deleted courses from the database
  • Cleanup of user progress for deleted courses

• Benefits:

  • Add/modify courses by simply copying folders
  • No database interaction required for content management
  • Easy to backup, version control, or transfer courses
  • Natural organization that matches how video content is typically structured

The application scans the content directory on startup to index available courses.

Project Structure

skillgoblin/
├── docker-compose.yml       # Development Docker configuration
├── docker-compose.prod.yml  # Production Docker configuration
├── Dockerfile.prod          # Production Docker build
├── frontend/                # Nuxt application
│   ├── pages/               # Page components
│   ├── components/          # Reusable UI components
│   ├── server/              # API routes and database access
│   └── public/              # Static assets
└── data/                    # Persistent data
    ├── database/            # Database files
    │   └── database.sqlite  # SQLite database
    └── content/             # Course videos and images

Configuration

The application can be configured using environment variables:

• CONTENT_DIR: (Optional) Specifies the directory path within the container where course content folders are located. Defaults to /app/data/content.
• DB_PATH: (Optional) Specifies the path within the container for the SQLite database file. Defaults to /app/data/database/skillgoblin.db.
• CHOKIDAR_POLLING_INTERVAL: (Optional) Sets the polling interval in milliseconds for the file watcher that detects new or removed course directories.
  • Defaults to 60000 (60 seconds).
  • Set to 0 to disable the file watcher completely. This can be useful on systems like Unraid to prevent the watcher's polling activity from keeping storage drives awake.
  • When disabled, new or removed courses will only be detected during the initial server startup scan or when a manual rescan is triggered through the application's interface (if available).

Quick Start Guide

Running the Application

Development Mode

# Start the application in development mode
docker-compose up

# Start in detached mode (background)
docker-compose up -d

# View logs when running in detached mode
docker-compose logs -f

# Stop the application
docker-compose down

Production Mode

# Build and start the application in production mode
docker-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up --build

# Start in detached mode (background)
docker-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d

# View logs when running in detached mode
docker-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml logs -f

# Stop the application
docker-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml down

Adding New Courses

1. Create a new folder under data/content/ with your course name
2. Create subfolders for each lesson and add your video files
3. The application will automatically detect the new course (no restart required) / Optionally you can trigger a rescan from the interface in admin mode

Removing Courses

1. Simply delete the course folder from data/content/
2. The application will automatically detect the deletion and remove the course from the database
3. User progress for the deleted course will be cleaned up automatically

Development Workflow

1. The Nuxt application runs in development mode, so changes to files are reflected immediately
2. The frontend code is in the frontend directory
3. Database files are stored in the data/database directory
4. Course content is in data/content

User Data

User data is stored in SQLite at data/database/database.sqlite. You can inspect this database using any SQLite browser:

-- Schema overview
.tables
-- View users
SELECT * FROM users;
-- View progress
SELECT * FROM user_progress;
-- View courses
SELECT * FROM courses;

Production Deployment

For production deployment, use the included Docker Compose production configuration:

# Build the production container
docker-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml build

# Run the production container
docker-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d

The production setup includes:

1. Multi-stage build for smaller image size
2. Production-optimized Nuxt configuration
3. Proper volume mounting for persistent data
4. Automatic restart policies
5. Environment variable configuration

Troubleshooting

Course Content Not Appearing

1. Check that the course folder exists in data/content/
2. Check the application logs for any error messages
3. Ensure video files are in supported formats (MP4 recommended)

Database Issues

1. If you experience database issues, you can reset the database by deleting data/database/database.sqlite
2. The application will recreate the database on next startup
3. Note that this will erase all user data and progress

Changelog

23.05.2025

• Fixed forced rescan upon long inactivity, app now checks if the DB is populated already and not force rescan if not needed, Leaving it to periodic check or manual trigger.
• thumbnail.png. If there is no thumbnail.png, default thumbnail is used. If there is thumbnail.png, it will be used and added to DB. If you add thumbnail.png to a course via edit the local thumbnail.png will be replaced with the one added. Already existing thumbnails should be managed via UI, adding new thubnail file manualy to existing one in folder will not change it.
• Added Button to browse non video files in course folderm, with option to download individual files. Should be at bottom of the individual course display.