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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://noradocs.solomontsao.com/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Nora is self-hosted by design. You run the full stack — Nginx, Next.js frontends, Express API, PostgreSQL, and Redis — on infrastructure you control. This page covers system requirements, the two install paths, and how to reach the dashboard once the stack is running.

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System requirements

Before you install, make sure your host meets the following requirements.
RequirementDetails
Operating systemmacOS 12+, Linux (Ubuntu 20.04+, Debian 11+, Fedora 38+), or Windows 10+ with WSL2
PermissionsAdmin or sudo access for initial setup
DockerDocker Engine with Compose v2+ (the installer can install Docker if it is missing)
GitGit (the installer can install Git if it is missing)
OpenSSLOpenSSL (used to generate secrets; the installer can install it if missing)
The setup script checks for Docker, Docker Compose, Git, and OpenSSL and installs any that are missing before proceeding.
The installer script is the fastest path to a running Nora instance. It handles dependency checks, secret generation, access mode configuration, optional admin account creation, and stack startup in one interactive pass.
1

Run the installer

Open a terminal and run the command for your platform.
curl -fsSL https://storage.solomontsao.com/setup.sh | bash
2

Follow the interactive prompts

The installer walks you through each configuration decision in order:
  1. Verify or install Docker, Docker Compose, Git, and OpenSSL
  2. Clone the repository (if running via the curl pipe)
  3. Generate JWT_SECRET, ENCRYPTION_KEY, and NEXTAUTH_SECRET
  4. Choose platform mode: self-hosted (operator-defined resource limits) or PaaS (Stripe billing)
  5. Choose a provisioner backend: Docker (default), Proxmox, or Kubernetes
  6. Choose access mode: local only (http://localhost:8080), public domain behind a proxy, or public domain with TLS at Nginx
  7. Optionally create a bootstrap admin account
  8. Optionally add an LLM provider key and name your first agent
When the installer finishes, it writes .env and starts the stack with docker compose up -d.
3

Open the dashboard

The installer prints the base URL it configured. For local mode, open your browser to:
http://localhost:8080
If you skipped the bootstrap admin account, go to http://localhost:8080/signup to create your operator account.

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Manual setup

Use manual setup when you want full control over every configuration value before the stack starts.
1

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/solomon2773/nora.git
cd nora
2

Run the setup script from inside the repo

Running bash setup.sh from inside a cloned repo skips the clone step and takes you through the same interactive configuration flow as the one-line installer.
bash setup.sh
If you prefer to configure everything by hand, copy the example environment file instead and edit it directly:
cp .env.example .env
3

Start the stack

Once .env is configured, start all services in the background:
docker compose up -d
Docker Compose pulls and starts all Nora services: the reverse proxy, frontend dashboards, backend API, database, and queue.
Do not start the stack with placeholder values for JWT_SECRET or ENCRYPTION_KEY. Generate each with openssl rand -hex 32 before running docker compose up -d.
4

Open the dashboard

Once the stack is up, open your browser to http://localhost:8080. Create your operator account at /signup if you did not pre-seed a bootstrap admin.

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Accessing the dashboard

After installation, the following URLs are available in local mode. Public-domain mode uses the same paths on your configured origin.
URLWhat it opens
http://localhost:8080Marketing and entry page
http://localhost:8080/loginLog in to your operator account
http://localhost:8080/signupCreate a new operator account
http://localhost:8080/app/dashboardSystem overview and agent status
http://localhost:8080/app/deployDeploy your first agent runtime
If you configured a public domain (for example https://app.example.com), replace http://localhost:8080 with your domain in all of the paths above.

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What happens next

Once you can reach the dashboard, the next steps are:
  1. Go to Settings and add an LLM provider key (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, or another supported provider).
  2. Go to Deploy, name your agent, choose a runtime mode, set resource limits, and click Confirm & Deploy Agent.
  3. Open the agent detail page to verify it is running, test Chat, inspect Logs, and open Terminal.
See the quick start for a full walkthrough of the first 15 minutes with Nora.

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Useful Docker Compose commands

# Start all services in the background
docker compose up -d

# Stream logs from the backend API
docker compose logs -f backend-api

# Rebuild and restart a single service after a change
docker compose up -d --build backend-api

# Stop everything
docker compose down