Daniel SalazarSelf-hosting Puter
Two supported ways to run Puter. Pick one, follow that page.
| Mode | Best for | External services |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Dev (npm start) | Hacking on the source / trying it on your laptop | None — everything runs in-process |
| 2. Full self-hosted stack | Production, single host | Bundled: MariaDB, Valkey, DynamoDB-local, RustFS S3, nginx |
1. Dev (npm start) → npm.md
Clone, npm install, npm start. Backend, GUI, and puter.js run from the source tree on Node 24+. SQLite + in-process S3 / DynamoDB / Redis stand-ins start automatically — no external services needed. Best for contributing or kicking the tires.
Not safe to expose publicly — uses dev secrets and an in-process key store.
2. Full self-hosted stack → full-stack.md
docker compose up -d brings up Puter plus every external service it needs (MariaDB, Valkey, DynamoDB-local, RustFS S3, nginx) wired together. Closest to production you can run on a single host; supports your own domain and TLS.
The fastest path is the one-shot installer — fetches the compose file, generates secrets, writes .env + config.json, and brings the stack up:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/HeyPuter/puter/main/install.sh | sh
See full-stack.md for the manual walkthrough, TLS setup, and post-install configuration knobs.