Self-hosted backends overview

Six open-source support APIs: purpose, defaults, and GitHub repos

Most users do not need to self-host. Starcat ships with default Fly.io endpoints and baked-in API keys.

This topic is for advanced users who want to inspect the source, run APIs locally, or point Explore / Weekly / Sharing at their own instances.

Services

Service	Used for (in-app)	Default production URL	Local port	GitHub
Trending	Explore → Trending	https://starcat-trending-api.fly.dev	5002	starcat-trending-api
Weekly	Explore → Weekly	https://starcat-weekly-api.fly.dev	5003	starcat-weekly-api
Discovery	Explore → Discover / Hot / New releases	https://starcat-discovery-api.fly.dev	5006	starcat-discovery-api
Wiki	Wiki / external docs probes	https://starcat-wiki-api.fly.dev	5004	starcat-wiki-api
Recommend	Similar-repository recommendations	https://starcat-recommend-api.fly.dev	5005	starcat-recommend-api
Sharing	AI share pages / short links	https://starcat-sharing-api.fly.dev	5001	starcat-sharing-api

The Direct license / payment backend is not listed under Settings → Services and is out of scope here.

Auth conventions

• Business and probe routes: /api/v1/* require Authorization: Bearer <API_KEY>
• Liveness: GET /healthz is unauthenticated (status-bar availability)
• Settings Test connection: GET /api/v1/ping (URL + key + service identity)

Keys usually look like sk-starcat- plus 32 characters. Generate with each repo’s README guidance or the monorepo script supports/scripts/gen-api-key.sh.

Next

1. Deploy — local or Fly.io
2. Configure in Starcat — Settings → Services

Related product docs: Explore overview, Weekly, Trending, Share cards.