Paperless-AI: install and update to 4.0

4.0 is a rewrite as a single Node.js process. requirements.txt is gone,
so every install since its release on 2026-11-10 failed at pip, and an
update would have failed the same way.

Install and update now build it the way upstream's image does. An
update from 3.x removes the Python RAG service and rewrites the unit
without data/.env as its environment: 4.0 migrates that file on first
start and treats any setting passed as a variable as locked.

ct/paperless-ai.sh

@@ -32,36 +32,52 @@ function update_script() {
 
   if check_for_gh_release "paperless-ai" "clusterzx/paperless-ai"; then
     msg_info "Stopping Service"
-    systemctl stop paperless-ai paperless-rag
+    systemctl stop paperless-ai
+    if [[ -f /etc/systemd/system/paperless-rag.service ]]; then
+      systemctl stop paperless-rag
+    fi
     msg_ok "Stopped Service"
 
-    msg_info "Backing up data"
-    cp -r /opt/paperless-ai/data /opt/paperless-ai-data-backup
-    msg_ok "Backed up data"
-
-    fetch_and_deploy_gh_release "paperless-ai" "clusterzx/paperless-ai" "tarball"
-
-    msg_info "Restoring data"
-    cp -r /opt/paperless-ai-data-backup/* /opt/paperless-ai/data/
-    rm -rf /opt/paperless-ai-data-backup
-    msg_ok "Restored data"
+    NODE_VERSION="22" setup_nodejs
+    CLEAN_INSTALL=1 CLEAN_INSTALL_KEEP="data" fetch_and_deploy_gh_release "paperless-ai" "clusterzx/paperless-ai" "tarball"
 
     msg_info "Updating Paperless-AI"
     cd /opt/paperless-ai
-    if [[ ! -d /opt/paperless-ai/venv ]]; then
-      msg_info "Recreating Python venv"
-      $STD python3 -m venv /opt/paperless-ai/venv
-    fi
-    source /opt/paperless-ai/venv/bin/activate
-    $STD pip install --upgrade pip
-    $STD pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
-    mkdir -p data/chromadb
-    $STD npm ci --only=production
+    export ONNXRUNTIME_NODE_INSTALL=skip PLAYWRIGHT_SKIP_BROWSER_DOWNLOAD=1
+    $STD npm ci --ignore-scripts --no-audit --no-fund
+    $STD npm run build
+    $STD npm prune --omit=dev --ignore-scripts --no-audit --no-fund
     msg_ok "Updated Paperless-AI"
 
+    # 3.x ran a second Python service and read data/.env as its environment;
+    # 4.x migrates that file itself and locks every setting passed as a variable.
+    if [[ -f /etc/systemd/system/paperless-rag.service ]]; then
+      msg_info "Migrating services to Paperless-AI 4"
+      systemctl disable -q paperless-rag
+      rm -f /etc/systemd/system/paperless-rag.service
+      cat <<EOF >/etc/systemd/system/paperless-ai.service
+[Unit]
+Description=PaperlessAI Service
+After=network.target
+
+[Service]
+WorkingDirectory=/opt/paperless-ai
+Environment="NODE_ENV=production"
+Environment="PAPERLESS_AI_PORT=3000"
+Environment="PAPERLESS_AI_DATA_DIR=/opt/paperless-ai/data"
+Environment="HF_HUB_DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1"
+ExecStart=/usr/bin/node dist/server/index.js
+Restart=always
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=multi-user.target
+EOF
+      systemctl daemon-reload
+      msg_ok "Migrated services to Paperless-AI 4"
+      msg_warn "Settings and history from 3.x are migrated on first start. If this instance was reachable from the internet, read 'Upgrading from 3.x' in the upstream README first."
+    fi
+
     msg_info "Starting Service"
-    systemctl start paperless-rag
-    sleep 3
     systemctl start paperless-ai
     msg_ok "Started Service"
     msg_ok "Updated successfully!"

install/paperless-ai-install.sh

@@ -13,100 +13,36 @@ setting_up_container
 network_check
 update_os
 
-msg_info "Installing Dependencies"
-$STD apt install -y \
-  build-essential
-msg_ok "Installed Dependencies"
-
-msg_info "Installing Python3"
-$STD apt install -y \
-  python3-pip \
-  python3-dev \
-  python3-venv
-mkdir -p ~/.config/pip
-cat >~/.config/pip/pip.conf <<EOF
-[global]
-break-system-packages = true
-EOF
-msg_ok "Installed Python3"
-
 NODE_VERSION="22" setup_nodejs
 fetch_and_deploy_gh_release "paperless-ai" "clusterzx/paperless-ai" "tarball"
 
 msg_info "Setup Paperless-AI"
 cd /opt/paperless-ai
-$STD python3 -m venv /opt/paperless-ai/venv
-source /opt/paperless-ai/venv/bin/activate
-# TMPDIR to use container disk instead of tmpfs for large pip downloads (https://github.com/community-scripts/ProxmoxVE/issues/10338)
-export TMPDIR=/opt/paperless-ai/tmp
-mkdir -p "$TMPDIR"
-$STD pip install --upgrade pip
-$STD pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
-rm -rf "$TMPDIR"
-mkdir -p data/chromadb
-$STD npm ci --only=production
+export ONNXRUNTIME_NODE_INSTALL=skip PLAYWRIGHT_SKIP_BROWSER_DOWNLOAD=1
+$STD npm ci --ignore-scripts --no-audit --no-fund
+$STD npm run build
+$STD npm prune --omit=dev --ignore-scripts --no-audit --no-fund
 mkdir -p /opt/paperless-ai/data
-cat <<EOF >/opt/paperless-ai/data/.env
-PAPERLESS_API_URL=
-PAPERLESS_API_TOKEN=
-PAPERLESS_USERNAME=
-AI_PROVIDER=openai
-OPENAI_API_KEY=
-OPENAI_MODEL=gpt-4o-mini
-OLLAMA_API_URL=
-OLLAMA_MODEL=
-SCAN_INTERVAL=*/10 * * * *
-SYSTEM_PROMPT=""
-PROCESS_PREDEFINED_DOCUMENTS=no
-TAGS=
-ADD_AI_PROCESSED_TAG=no
-AI_PROCESSED_TAG_NAME=ki-gen
-USE_PROMPT_TAGS=no
-PROMPT_TAGS=
-USE_EXISTING_DATA=no
-API_KEY=
-CUSTOM_API_KEY=
-CUSTOM_BASE_URL=
-CUSTOM_MODEL=
-RAG_SERVICE_URL=http://localhost:8000
-RAG_SERVICE_ENABLED=true
-EOF
 msg_ok "Setup Paperless-AI"
 
 msg_info "Creating Service"
 cat <<EOF >/etc/systemd/system/paperless-ai.service
 [Unit]
 Description=PaperlessAI Service
-After=network.target paperless-rag.service
-Requires=paperless-rag.service
-
-[Service]
-WorkingDirectory=/opt/paperless-ai
-Environment="NODE_ENV=production"
-EnvironmentFile=/opt/paperless-ai/data/.env
-ExecStart=/usr/bin/node server.js
-Restart=always
-
-[Install]
-WantedBy=multi-user.target
-EOF
-
-cat <<EOF >/etc/systemd/system/paperless-rag.service
-[Unit]
-Description=PaperlessAI-RAG Service
 After=network.target
 
 [Service]
 WorkingDirectory=/opt/paperless-ai
-EnvironmentFile=/opt/paperless-ai/data/.env
-ExecStart=/opt/paperless-ai/venv/bin/python3 main.py --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000 --initialize
+Environment="NODE_ENV=production"
+Environment="PAPERLESS_AI_PORT=3000"
+Environment="PAPERLESS_AI_DATA_DIR=/opt/paperless-ai/data"
+Environment="HF_HUB_DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1"
+ExecStart=/usr/bin/node dist/server/index.js
 Restart=always
 
 [Install]
 WantedBy=multi-user.target
 EOF
-systemctl enable -q --now paperless-rag
-sleep 5
 systemctl enable -q --now paperless-ai
 msg_ok "Created Service"