First steps · Chapter 1

Setting up

nexbrand runs as one Docker container on your own server. This chapter is the short version, up to the first account. Reverse proxy, environment variables and updates are covered in full under Self-host.

What you need

• A machine with Docker and Docker Compose.
• A folder on a local disk for the data. An SMB or NFS share will not do: SQLite's locking does not work reliably over a network drive.
• A free port. The template takes 8540 and passes it to port 8000 inside the container.

Starting it and creating the first account

1. Create the compose file

   Take the file from the Self-host page. It mounts the folder ./data as /data and sets PUID, PGID and the time zone TZ.

2. Start the container

   In the folder of the file:

   ShellCopy

   docker compose up -d

3. Fetch the setup code

   The code is in the container's log. A new one is made at every start until nexbrand is set up. To choose it yourself, set NEXBRAND_SETUP_TOKEN.

   ShellCopy

   docker logs nexbrand

4. Create the first account

   Open http://<your-server>:8540. On the page Set up nexbrand, enter Name, Password (at least twelve characters) and the Setup code, then click Create account.

The first account is the operator

The first account runs this server: it may invite others and change every setting. The code makes sure that nobody who happens to reach a fresh instance first can take it over. Every further account comes by invitation only, as described in the chapter Access and teams.

Whatever leads outside is off out of the box: public pages and reviews, API tokens, collecting from websites and repositories, and AI. You switch them on under Settings, Server when you need them. The chapter The operator goes through the switches.

Where the data lives

Everything is in /data: the database nexbrand.db, the folder media/ with logos, fonts and examples, the key secret.key, plus backups/, logs/ and locales/. A backup every night is on out of the box; more under Backups and moving.