White-Label Branding Guide

ORLY supports full white-label branding, allowing relay operators to customize the UI appearance without rebuilding the application. All branding is loaded at runtime from a configuration directory.

Quick Start

Generate a branding kit:

# Generic/white-label branding (recommended for customization)
./orly init-branding --style generic

# ORLY-branded template
./orly init-branding --style orly

# Custom output directory
./orly init-branding --style generic /path/to/branding

The branding kit is created at ~/.config/ORLY/branding/ by default.

Directory Structure

~/.config/ORLY/branding/
  branding.json          # Main configuration
  assets/
    logo.png             # Header logo (replaces default)
    favicon.png          # Browser favicon
    icon-192.png         # PWA icon 192x192
    icon-512.png         # PWA icon 512x512
  css/
    custom.css           # Full CSS override
    variables.css        # CSS variable overrides only

Configuration (branding.json)

{
  "version": 1,
  "app": {
    "name": "My Relay",
    "shortName": "Relay",
    "title": "My Relay Dashboard",
    "description": "A high-performance Nostr relay"
  },
  "nip11": {
    "name": "My Relay",
    "description": "Custom relay description for NIP-11",
    "icon": "https://example.com/icon.png"
  },
  "manifest": {
    "themeColor": "#4080C0",
    "backgroundColor": "#F0F4F8"
  },
  "assets": {
    "logo": "assets/logo.png",
    "favicon": "assets/favicon.png",
    "icon192": "assets/icon-192.png",
    "icon512": "assets/icon-512.png"
  },
  "css": {
    "customCSS": "css/custom.css",
    "variablesCSS": "css/variables.css"
  }
}

Configuration Sections

Section	Description
app	Application name and titles displayed in the UI
nip11	NIP-11 relay information document fields
manifest	PWA manifest colors
assets	Paths to custom images (relative to branding dir)
css	Paths to custom CSS files

Custom Assets

Replace the generated placeholder images with your own:

Asset	Size	Purpose
logo.png	256x256 recommended	Header logo
favicon.png	64x64	Browser tab icon
icon-192.png	192x192	PWA icon (Android)
icon-512.png	512x512	PWA splash screen

Tip: Use PNG format with transparency for best results.

CSS Customization

Quick Theme Changes (variables.css)

Edit css/variables.css to change colors without touching component styles:

/* Light theme */
html, body {
    --bg-color: #F0F4F8;
    --header-bg: #FFFFFF;
    --primary: #4080C0;
    --text-color: #334155;
    /* ... see generated file for all variables */
}

/* Dark theme */
body.dark-theme {
    --bg-color: #0F172A;
    --header-bg: #1E293B;
    --primary: #60A5FA;
    --text-color: #F8FAFC;
}

Full CSS Override (custom.css)

Edit css/custom.css for complete control over styling:

/* Custom header */
.header {
    box-shadow: 0 2px 10px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
}

/* Custom buttons */
button {
    border-radius: 8px;
    font-weight: 500;
}

/* Custom cards */
.card {
    border-radius: 12px;
    box-shadow: 0 4px 6px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
}

Available CSS Variables

Background Colors

• --bg-color - Main page background
• --header-bg - Header background
• --sidebar-bg - Sidebar background
• --card-bg - Card/container background
• --panel-bg - Panel background

Text Colors

• --text-color - Primary text
• --text-muted - Secondary/muted text

Theme Colors

• --primary - Primary accent color
• --primary-bg - Primary background tint
• --secondary - Secondary color
• --accent-color - Link color
• --accent-hover-color - Link hover color

Status Colors

• --success, --success-bg, --success-text
• --warning, --warning-bg
• --danger, --danger-bg, --danger-text
• --info

Form/Input Colors

• --input-bg - Input background
• --input-border - Input border
• --input-text-color - Input text

Button Colors

• --button-bg - Default button background
• --button-hover-bg - Button hover background
• --button-text - Button text color
• --button-hover-border - Button hover border

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
ORLY_BRANDING_DIR	~/.config/ORLY/branding	Branding directory path
ORLY_BRANDING_ENABLED	true	Enable/disable custom branding

Applying Changes

Restart the relay to apply branding changes:

# Stop and start the relay
pkill orly
./orly

Changes to CSS and assets require a restart. The relay logs will show:

custom branding loaded from /home/user/.config/ORLY/branding

Branding Endpoints

The relay serves branding assets at these endpoints:

Endpoint	Description
/branding/logo.png	Custom logo
/branding/favicon.png	Custom favicon
/branding/icon-192.png	PWA icon 192x192
/branding/icon-512.png	PWA icon 512x512
/branding/custom.css	Combined CSS (variables + custom)
/branding/manifest.json	Customized PWA manifest

Disabling Branding

To use the default ORLY branding:

# Option 1: Remove branding directory
rm -rf ~/.config/ORLY/branding

# Option 2: Disable via environment
ORLY_BRANDING_ENABLED=false ./orly

Troubleshooting

Branding not loading

• Check that ~/.config/ORLY/branding/branding.json exists
• Verify file permissions (readable by relay process)
• Check relay logs for branding load messages

CSS changes not appearing

• Hard refresh the browser (Ctrl+Shift+R)
• Clear browser cache
• Verify CSS syntax is valid

Logo not showing

• Ensure image path in branding.json is correct
• Check image file exists and is readable
• Use PNG format with appropriate dimensions

Colors look wrong in light/dark mode

• Light theme uses html, body selector
• Dark theme uses body.dark-theme selector
• Ensure both themes are defined if customizing