Coolify Setup on a VPS: Self-Host n8n, Umami and More (Steps From a Real Install)
Coolify is an open-source, self-hosted platform that lets you deploy apps and databases on your own server the way you would on Vercel or Heroku. Requirements, the one thing to do immediately after install, and what to do next, from a real deployment.
Coolify is an open-source, self-hosted platform that lets you deploy apps and databases on your own server the way you would on Vercel or Heroku. Requirements, the one thing to do immediately after install, and what to do next, from a real deployment.
Coolify is an open-source self-hosting platform. Install it on your own server and you can deploy apps from Git, Docker images, databases and common open-source services from a web UI. For small growth teams it is a tidy way to keep analytics, automation and landing pages on one box.
Requirements
- At least 2 GB of RAM is recommended; the CallAI one-click deploy only offers plans that meet it (from $11/month at the time of writing).
- It uses ports 80 and 443 for its reverse proxy and 8000 for the dashboard.
A real install, start to finish
We deployed it on Vultr in New Jersey: the server was ready about 4 minutes after ordering, and http://<server-ip>:8000 redirected to /register, asking to create the first account (the root user).
Until you create the first account, anyone who finds the IP can register and take over the dashboard. Open :8000 as soon as the server is ready, then add a domain and HTTPS.
After setup
- Add a project and deploy apps from a Git repository or a Docker image.
- Coolify ships a service template library with one-click n8n, Umami, Plausible and other common services (exact list depends on your Coolify version).
- Give each service a subdomain; Coolify issues HTTPS certificates automatically.
- Update Coolify from the dashboard regularly and configure database backups.