Coolify Docs

Installation ​

If you choose to use Coolify Cloud, there's no need to install Coolify. Simply visit https://app.coolify.io/register to create an account and start using Coolify within minutes.

The following instructions are for installing Coolify if you decide to self-host it.

Self-hosted Installation ​

⚡️ Quick Installation (recommended):

sh
curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/install.sh | sudo bash

Simply run this script in your terminal, and everything will be installed automatically.

For detailed instructions, including firewall configuration and prerequisites, see the guide below.

Prerequisites for Installing Coolify ​

Before setting up Coolify, ensure your server meets the necessary requirements for everything to run smoothly.

1. Server Requirements ​

You need access to a server that supports SSH connections. This can be:

  • A VPS (Virtual Private Server)
  • A Dedicated Server
  • A Virtual Machine (VM) in Proxmox
  • A Raspberry Pi (check compatibility in the Raspberry Pi OS Setup Guide ↗
  • Any other server with SSH access

📝 Note:

It is highly recommended to use a fresh server for installing Coolify to avoid conflicts with existing applications.

💡 Tip:

If you don’t have a server provider yet, we recommend using Hetzner ↗. You can use our referral link ↗ to help support the project.

2. Supported Operating Systems ​

Coolify supports several operating systems. Make sure your server runs one of the following:

  • Debian-based Linux distributions (e.g., Debian, Ubuntu)
  • Redhat-based Linux distributions (e.g., CentOS, Fedora, Redhat, AlmaLinux, Rocky, Asahi)
  • SUSE-based Linux distributions (e.g., SLES, SUSE, openSUSE)
  • Arch Linux
  • Alpine Linux
  • Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit (Raspbian)

3. Supported Architectures ​

Coolify supports 64-bit architectures only, including:

  • AMD64
  • ARM64

⚠️ Caution for Raspberry Pi users:

Make sure you use the 64-bit version of Raspberry Pi OS (Raspbian). Check out our Raspberry Pi OS Setup Guide ↗ for more details.

4. Minimum Hardware Requirements ​

Your server needs to meet the following minimum specifications for Coolify to work properly:

  • CPU: At least 2 cores
  • Memory (RAM): At least 2 GB
  • Storage: At least 30 GB of free space

Coolify may function properly on servers with lower specs than those mentioned above, but we recommend slightly higher minimum requirements.

This ensures that users have sufficient resources to deploy multiple applications without performance issues.

Heads up!:

If you’re hosting the builds and Coolify on the same server, be cautious of memory usage. If all resources are utilized, your server may become unresponsive or even crash.

To prevent this, you may need to enable swap space or consider upgrading your server resources.

5. Server Resource Requirements for Your Projects ​

The resources you need (CPU, memory, and storage) depend on your usage. If you're running multiple services, it's best to choose a server with higher CPU, memory, and storage.

Applications like Supabase, Appwrite, or Posthog require far more resources than hosting a simple static site.

⚙️ Example Setup:

Bob is hosting most of his production applications on a server with:

  • Memory: 8GB (average usage: 3.5GB)
  • CPU: 4 cores (average usage: 20-30%)
  • Storage: 150GB (average usage: 40GB)

For the following things:

  • 3 NodeJS apps
  • 4 Static sites
  • Plausible Analytics (for visitor analytics)
  • Fider (feedback tool)
  • UptimeKuma (uptime monitoring)
  • Ghost (my newsletters)
  • 3 Redis databases
  • 2 PostgreSQL databases

Installation Methods ​

There are two ways to install Coolify:

We highly recommend using the Quick Installation method as it automates the setup and reduces the chances of errors.

This method is the easiest and fastest way to install Coolify, as it handles everything automatically.

1. Prepare Your Server ​

2. Run the Installation Script ​

Once your server is prepared, run the following script to install Coolify:

sh
  curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/install.sh | bash

View the Script's Source Code ↗

Tip:

If you're not logged in as the root user, run the script with sudo:

sh
curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/install.sh | sudo bash

You can also set up the first admin account directly during the installation. For details, see: Create Root User with Environment Variables ↗

3. Access Coolify ​

After installation, the script will display the Coolify URL (ex: http://203.0.113.1:8000) in the terminal output.

⚠️ CAUTION!

After installing Coolify, the URL redirects to a registration page to set up the first admin account. It's important to create this account immediately.

If someone else access the registration page before you, they could create the admin account and gain full root access to your server.

Note:

If you installed Coolify on a Raspberry Pi in your home network, use the private IP address to access Coolify, as the public IP may not work.

What the Installer Does? ​

  • Installs required tools (curl, wget, git, jq, openssl)
  • Installs Docker Engine (version 24+)

⚠️ Caution:

Docker installed via snap is not supported!

  • Configures Docker settings (logging, daemon)
  • Sets up directories at /data/coolify
  • Configures SSH keys for server management
  • Installs and starts Coolify

Manual Installation ​

This method gives you more control over the installation process, but it requires more steps.

Prerequisites ​

⚠️ Caution:

Docker installed via snap is not supported!

Quick Links to Important Sections:

1. Create Directories ​

Create the base configuration directories for Coolify under /data/coolify

sh
  mkdir -p /data/coolify/{source,ssh,applications,databases,backups,services,proxy,webhooks-during-maintenance}
  mkdir -p /data/coolify/ssh/{keys,mux}
  mkdir -p /data/coolify/proxy/dynamic

2. Generate & Add SSH Key ​

Generate an SSH key for Coolify to be able to manage this server from itself:

sh
  ssh-keygen -f /data/coolify/ssh/keys/[email protected] -t ed25519 -N '' -C root@coolify

Add the public SSH key to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys. This will allow Coolify to connect to this server from itself.

sh
  cat /data/coolify/ssh/keys/[email protected] >>~/.ssh/authorized_keys
  chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Tip!

You can skip this step if you already have an SSH key. But you need to add this key to your Coolify instance after installation.

3. Setup Configuration Files ​

Copy the docker-compose.yml, docker-compose.prod.yml, .env.production & upgrade.sh files from Coolify’s CDN to /data/coolify/source:

sh
  curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/docker-compose.yml -o /data/coolify/source/docker-compose.yml
  curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/docker-compose.prod.yml -o /data/coolify/source/docker-compose.prod.yml
  curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/.env.production -o /data/coolify/source/.env
  curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/upgrade.sh -o /data/coolify/source/upgrade.sh

4. Set Permissions ​

Set the correct permissions for the files and directories:

sh
  chown -R 9999:root /data/coolify
  chmod -R 700 /data/coolify

5. Generate Values ​

Update the .env file with secure random values for the following variables in /data/coolify/source/.env:

sh
  sed -i "s|APP_ID=.*|APP_ID=$(openssl rand -hex 16)|g" /data/coolify/source/.env
  sed -i "s|APP_KEY=.*|APP_KEY=base64:$(openssl rand -base64 32)|g" /data/coolify/source/.env
  sed -i "s|DB_PASSWORD=.*|DB_PASSWORD=$(openssl rand -base64 32)|g" /data/coolify/source/.env
  sed -i "s|REDIS_PASSWORD=.*|REDIS_PASSWORD=$(openssl rand -base64 32)|g" /data/coolify/source/.env
  sed -i "s|PUSHER_APP_ID=.*|PUSHER_APP_ID=$(openssl rand -hex 32)|g" /data/coolify/source/.env
  sed -i "s|PUSHER_APP_KEY=.*|PUSHER_APP_KEY=$(openssl rand -hex 32)|g" /data/coolify/source/.env
  sed -i "s|PUSHER_APP_SECRET=.*|PUSHER_APP_SECRET=$(openssl rand -hex 32)|g" /data/coolify/source/.env

⚠️ Caution!!

This only needs to be done once, when you install Coolify for the first time. If you do it after Coolify has been first started, it will break your installation.

Make sure you save the values somewhere that are stored in the .env file. If you lose them, you will lose access to your Coolify installation and all your data.

6. Create Docker Network ​

Make sure the Docker network is created:

sh
  docker network create --attachable coolify

7. Start Coolify ​

Start Coolify using Docker Compose:

sh
  docker compose --env-file /data/coolify/source/.env -f /data/coolify/source/docker-compose.yml -f /data/coolify/source/docker-compose.prod.yml up -d --pull always --remove-orphans --force-recreate

8. Access Coolify ​

You can now access Coolify via http://<your-server-ip>:8000.