Wikibase Suite — Component Analysis for Upsun Deployment

Architecture Overview

Wikibase Suite is a multi-service Docker Compose stack of 8 containers that together form a self-hosted Wikidata-like knowledge graph. Here's the interaction diagram:

graph TD
    subgraph "User-facing"
        Traefik["Traefik (reverse proxy + TLS)"]
    end

    subgraph "Core"
        WB["Wikibase<br/>PHP 8.3 / Apache<br/>MediaWiki 1.44 + Wikibase ext"]
        JR["Wikibase JobRunner<br/>(same image, runs async jobs)"]
        MySQL["MariaDB 10.11"]
    end

    subgraph "Query Service"
        WDQS["WDQS (Blazegraph)<br/>Java 8 / SPARQL store"]
        WDQSUpdater["WDQS Updater<br/>(same image, streams changes)"]
        WDQSFrontend["WDQS Frontend<br/>Node.js / static JS app"]
    end

    subgraph "Supporting"
        ES["Elasticsearch 7.10.2"]
        QS["QuickStatements<br/>PHP / Apache"]
    end

    Traefik -->|":80/:443"| WB
    Traefik -->|":80/:443"| WDQSFrontend
    WB --> MySQL
    WB --> ES
    JR --> MySQL
    JR --> ES
    WDQSUpdater -->|"polls changes"| WB
    WDQSUpdater -->|"writes to"| WDQS
    WDQSFrontend -->|"SPARQL queries"| WDQS
    QS -->|"API edits"| WB

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Component-by-Component Breakdown

1. Wikibase (Core Application)

Aspect	Detail
Image	wikibase/wikibase:5
Runtime	PHP 8.3 on Apache (Debian Bookworm)
Application	MediaWiki 1.44.0 + Wikibase extension + 11 more extensions
Port	80 (HTTP)
Persistent storage	/var/www/html/images (uploaded files), /quickstatements/data (shared with QS)
Config volume	/config — LocalSettings.php, wikibase-php.ini, extension configs
Database	MariaDB via DB_SERVER, DB_USER, DB_PASS, DB_NAME env vars
Elasticsearch	Connects to ELASTICSEARCH_HOST:9200 for CirrusSearch

Entrypoint behavior: On first boot (no LocalSettings.php), it runs php maintenance/install.php to seed the database. On subsequent boots, runs update.php --quick to apply schema migrations.

Key extensions bundled: Wikibase, Babel, CLDR, CirrusSearch, Elastica, EntitySchema, OAuth, UniversalLanguageSelector, WikibaseCirrusSearch, WikibaseManifest, WikibaseEdtf, WikibaseLocalMedia.

Important

This is the central application. All other services depend on it being healthy.

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2. Wikibase JobRunner (Background Worker)

Aspect	Detail
Image	Same as Wikibase (wikibase/wikibase:5)
Command	/jobrunner-entrypoint.sh
What it does	Runs php maintenance/runJobs.php --wait in a loop
Volumes	Shares all volumes with the Wikibase service (volumes_from)
No HTTP port	Pure background worker

This is a worker process that picks up deferred MediaWiki jobs (search indexing, notification dispatch, link table updates, etc). It shares the exact same filesystem as the Wikibase container.

Note

Upsun mapping: This naturally maps to a worker instance alongside the PHP app container. Upsun supports workers natively.

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3. MariaDB 10.11

Aspect	Detail
Image	mariadb:10.11
Volume	mysql-data → /var/lib/mysql
Env vars	MYSQL_DATABASE, MYSQL_USER, MYSQL_PASSWORD, MYSQL_RANDOM_ROOT_PASSWORD

Standard MariaDB. Stores all MediaWiki/Wikibase data, user accounts, page content, and revision history.

Note

Upsun mapping: Direct match → Upsun's managed MariaDB service.

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4. Elasticsearch 7.10.2

Aspect	Detail
Image	wikibase/elasticsearch:1 (based on elasticsearch:7.10.2)
Custom plugins	org.wikimedia.search:extra:7.10.2-wmf12, experimental-highlighter
Volume	elasticsearch-data → /usr/share/elasticsearch/data
Port	9200
Config	discovery.type: single-node, 512MB heap

Used by the CirrusSearch extension for full-text search instead of MediaWiki's default DB-based search.

Warning

Upsun challenge: Upsun provides Elasticsearch/OpenSearch as a managed service but the Wikimedia-specific plugins (extra, experimental-highlighter) won't be available on managed ES.

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5. WDQS — Wikidata Query Service (Blazegraph)

Aspect	Detail
Image	wikibase/wdqs:2
Runtime	Java 8 (Eclipse Temurin JRE 8) on Debian Bookworm
Application	Blazegraph SPARQL triplestore (WDQS v0.3.142)
Artifact	service-0.3.142-dist.tar.gz from Wikimedia Archiva
Startup	./runBlazegraph.sh (Jetty-embedded HTTP server)
Port	9999
Volume	wdqs-data → /wdqs/data (triplestore journal files)
Heap	1 GB default (HEAP_SIZE=1g)
How it works	Serves SPARQL queries on /bigdata/namespace/wdq/sparql

This is the SPARQL query engine — users write SPARQL queries via the frontend and this service evaluates them against a triplestore populated by the WDQS Updater.

Note

Upsun mapping: Upsun provides a Java runtime, so Blazegraph can run as a Java app. The build hook would download and extract the WDQS tarball, runBlazegraph.sh becomes the web command, and /wdqs/data gets a persistent disk mount.

Warning

Verify that Upsun's Java runtime supports Java 8 — Blazegraph uses the deprecated -XX:+PrintGCDateStamps JVM flag. If only newer JDKs are available, the startup scripts would need minor patching to remove/replace deprecated GC flags.

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6. WDQS Updater (Change Streaming Worker)

Aspect	Detail
Image	Same as WDQS (wikibase/wdqs:2)
Command	/runUpdate.sh
What it does	Polls Wikibase for entity changes and writes them into Blazegraph
Dependencies	Waits for both wikibase:80 and wdqs:9999 to be up
Config	WIKIBASE_CONCEPT_URI, WIKIBASE_HOST, WDQS_HOST, WDQS_PORT

This is a long-running daemon that keeps Blazegraph in sync with Wikibase changes.

Note

Upsun mapping: Runs as a worker on the same Java app as Blazegraph, sharing the same persistent disk for journal data.

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7. WDQS Frontend (Query UI)

Aspect	Detail
Image	wikibase/wdqs-frontend:2
Runtime	Nginx serving static HTML/JS/CSS
Source	Wikidata Query GUI from Gerrit, built with Node.js/Grunt
Port	80
Config	WDQS_PUBLIC_URL, WIKIBASE_PUBLIC_URL (injected at startup via envsubst)

Purely a static web app served by Nginx. The SPARQL queries run client-side (browser → WDQS directly).

Note

Upsun mapping: Could be a simple static site or Node.js container. Very straightforward.

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8. QuickStatements (Batch Editing Tool)

Aspect	Detail
Image	wikibase/quickstatements:1
Runtime	PHP 8.x on Apache
Source	magnusmanske/quickstatements
Port	80
Volume	quickstatements-data → /quickstatements/data (shared with Wikibase)
Auth	OAuth consumer key/secret for Wikibase API access
Config	QUICKSTATEMENTS_PUBLIC_URL, WIKIBASE_PUBLIC_URL

A PHP app for batch-editing Wikibase items. Communicates with Wikibase via its API using OAuth.

Note

Upsun mapping: Another PHP/Apache app. Could be a separate Upsun app container.

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9. Traefik (Reverse Proxy)

Aspect	Detail
Image	traefik:3
Ports	80 (HTTP → redirect), 443 (HTTPS)
TLS	Automatic Let's Encrypt via HTTP challenge
Volume	traefik-letsencrypt-data → /letsencrypt
Routing	Routes WIKIBASE_PUBLIC_HOST → wikibase:80, WDQS_PUBLIC_HOST → wdqs-frontend:80

Note

Upsun mapping: Not needed. Upsun handles routing and TLS natively via its router configuration.

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Inter-Service Communication Map

From	To	Protocol	Purpose
Wikibase	MariaDB	MySQL (3306)	Database reads/writes
Wikibase	Elasticsearch	HTTP (9200)	CirrusSearch indexing & queries
JobRunner	MariaDB	MySQL (3306)	Job processing
JobRunner	Elasticsearch	HTTP (9200)	Search index updates
WDQS Updater	Wikibase	HTTP (80)	Polls Recent Changes for entity updates
WDQS Updater	WDQS (Blazegraph)	HTTP (9999)	Writes triples
WDQS Frontend	WDQS (Blazegraph)	HTTP (9999)	SPARQL queries (via browser)
QuickStatements	Wikibase	HTTP (80)	API edits via OAuth
Traefik	Wikibase	HTTP (80)	Reverse proxy
Traefik	WDQS Frontend	HTTP (80)	Reverse proxy

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Upsun Deployment Feasibility Summary

Component	Upsun Mapping	Difficulty
Wikibase	PHP app container	🟢 Straightforward
JobRunner	Worker on same PHP app	🟢 Native support
MariaDB	Managed service	🟢 Native support
Elasticsearch	Managed service (but plugins?)	🟡 Plugin compatibility risk
WDQS (Blazegraph)	Java app (Upsun Java runtime)	🟢 Feasible (verify Java 8 support)
WDQS Updater	Worker on Java app	🟢 Feasible
WDQS Frontend	Static site or Node.js container	🟢 Straightforward
QuickStatements	Second PHP app	🟢 Straightforward
Traefik	Not needed (Upsun router)	🟢 Replaced by platform

Key Decisions Needed

1. Java 8 compatibility: Blazegraph requires Java 8 due to deprecated GC flags in its startup scripts. Confirm Upsun's Java runtime version — if only newer JDKs are available, the startup scripts need minor patching.

2. Elasticsearch plugins: The Wikimedia extra and experimental-highlighter plugins are custom. Need to verify if Upsun's managed Elasticsearch/OpenSearch supports custom plugin installation, or if search can fall back to default MediaWiki search.

3. Shared volume between Wikibase ↔ QuickStatements: Both share quickstatements-data. On Upsun, cross-app shared storage would need a network mount or an API-based alternative.