Setup of the HMAC Key for the CouchDB was indeed the step I struggled with too. I think the first time I either made a mistake or used a broken Website to generate a Base64 value. The 2nd time my mistake was that I put in the Base64 value for the HMAC Key into the jwt.ini AND in the docker-compose.yml. But in the docker-compose.yml COUCHDB_HMAC_KEY, I had to put it unencoded and in the jwt.ini hmac:_default it has to be Base64 encoded. Maybe this is the thing you did wrong too?

I bet you are close!

On the other hand, if you are the only person using the shopping list and your current setup offers you what you need, maybe it is not worth it for you. For me it was (and updating when it runs is super easy, I promise!). The instant sync over all devices is great + it keeps working when I lose reception in a shop and syncs again instantly when I have internet again. But what makes Groceries for me are:

• The ability to have an item on multiple shopping lists if needed and if it is checked off from one list, it is checked of from the other lists too. I stopped forgetting buying stuff that was not available in the 1st shop to get in the 2nd.
• The ability to add items to aisles and move the aisles in different order for each list (every shop I visit has a bit of a different layout). This made shopping super quick for me, because I enter the shop and walk through it exactly once and have everything I need, because it is all in the correct order on the respective list.

Oh, and adding a photo to an item is super useful if you are like me and need very close instructions what to get for your partner if you stand in front of a shelf with 100 different types of cheese which look all exactly the same to you… having a photo is sometimes a life saver for me :-)