---
title: Get started with self-hosting
description: This is a simple guide how to get started with OpenPanel on your own VPS.
---

import { Step, Steps } from 'fumadocs-ui/components/steps';

## Instructions

### Prerequisites

- VPS of any kind (only tested on Ubuntu 24.04)
  - We recommend using [Hetzner (affiliate link)](https://hetzner.cloud/?ref=7Hq0H5mQh7tM). Use the link if you want to support us. 🫶
  - 🙋‍♂️ This should work on any system if you have pre-installed docker, node and pnpm

### Quickstart

```bash
git clone -b self-hosting https://github.com/Openpanel-dev/openpanel && cd openpanel/self-hosting && ./setup
# After setup is complete run `./start` to start OpenPanel
```

<Steps>

<Step>
### Clone

Clone the repository to your VPS and checkout the self-hosting tag

```bash
git clone -b self-hosting https://github.com/Openpanel-dev/openpanel.git
```
</Step>
<Step>
### Run the setup script

The setup script will do 3 things

1. Install node (if you accept)
2. Install docker (if you accept)
3. Execute a node script that will ask some questions about your setup

> Setup takes 30s to 2 minutes depending on your VPS

```bash
cd openpanel/self-hosting
./setup
```

⚠️ If the `./setup` script fails to run, you can do it manually.

1. Install docker
2. Install node
3. Install npm
4. Run the `npm run quiz` script inside the self-hosting folder

</Step>
<Step>
### Start 🚀

Run the `./start` script located inside the self-hosting folder

```bash
./start
```
</Step>
</Steps>

## Good to know

### Always use correct api url

When self-hosting you'll need to provide your api url when initializing the SDK.

The path should be `/api` and the domain should be your domain.

```html title="index.html"
<script>
  window.op = window.op||function(...args){(window.op.q=window.op.q||[]).push(args);};
  window.op('init', {
    apiUrl: 'https://your-domain.com/api', // [!code highlight]
    clientId: 'YOUR_CLIENT_ID',
    trackScreenViews: true,
    trackOutgoingLinks: true,
    trackAttributes: true,
  });
</script>
<script src="https://openpanel.dev/op1.js" defer async></script>
```

```js title="op.ts"
import { OpenPanel } from '@openpanel/sdk';

const op = new OpenPanel({
  apiUrl: 'https://your-domain.com/api', // [!code highlight]
  clientId: 'YOUR_CLIENT_ID',
  trackScreenViews: true,
  trackOutgoingLinks: true,
  trackAttributes: true,
});
``` 

### E-mail

Some of OpenPanel's features require e-mail. We use Resend as our transactional e-mail provider. So to get this working you'll need to create an account on Resend and set the `RESEND_API_KEY` environment variable.

<Callout>This is nothing that is required for the basic setup, but it is required for some features.</Callout>

Features that require e-mail:

- Password reset
- Invitations
- more will be added over time

### Managed Redis

If you use a managed Redis service, you may need to set the `notify-keyspace-events` manually.

Without this setting we wont be able to listen for expired keys which we use for caluclating currently active vistors.

> You will see a warning in the logs if this needs to be set manually.

### Registration / Invitations

By default registrations are disabled after the first user is created.

You can change this by setting the `ALLOW_REGISTRATION` environment variable to `true`.

```bash title=".env"
ALLOW_REGISTRATION=true
```

Invitations are enabled by default. You can also disable invitations by setting the `ALLOW_INVITATION` environment variable to `false`.

```bash title=".env"
ALLOW_INVITATION=false
```

## Helpful scripts

OpenPanel comes with several utility scripts to help manage your self-hosted instance:

### Basic Operations

```bash
./start    # Start all OpenPanel services
./stop     # Stop all OpenPanel services
./logs     # View real-time logs from all services
```

### Maintenance

```bash
./rebuild <service-name>    # Rebuild and restart a specific service
                            # Example: ./rebuild op-dashboard
```

### Troubleshooting

```bash
./danger_wipe_everything   # ⚠️ Removes all containers, volumes, and data
                           # Only use this if you want to start fresh!
```

<Callout>
The `danger_wipe_everything` script will delete all your OpenPanel data including databases, configurations, and cached files. Use with extreme caution!
</Callout>

All these scripts should be run from within the `self-hosting` directory. Make sure the scripts are executable (`chmod +x script-name` if needed).

## Updating

To grab the latest and greatest from OpenPanel you should just run the `./update` script inside the self-hosting folder.

<Callout>
  If you don't have the `./update` script, you can run `git pull` and then `./update`
</Callout>

Also read any changes in the [changelog](/docs/self-hosting/changelog) and apply them to your instance.