VM deployment (Docker Compose)

Connexity ships a Docker Compose stack that runs the frontend, backend, Postgres, migrations, and a small database UI. That same stack runs on your laptop or on a cloud VM.

This mirrors the usual self-hosted pattern documented for other Compose-based products (compare Langfuse: Docker Compose on local or VM): clone the repo, set secrets, expose the web port.

Prerequisites

You need git, Docker Desktop (macOS / Windows) or Docker Engine on Linux, and the Compose plugin.

Local (already on your machine)

Clone the repository and enter the directory.
Copy .env.example to .env and set SITE_URL, JWT_SECRET_KEY, ENCRYPTION_KEY, POSTGRES_PASSWORD, plus at least one LLM provider key your deployment will use (OPENAI_API_KEY, ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, or others referenced in .env.example).
Start the stack:
docker compose up
Open http://localhost:3000 (or SITE_URL) when the services are healthy, create an account, and sign in.

Virtual machine

Use this when deploying on AWS, GCP, Azure, or any provider that offers VMs.

1. Provision and SSH

Create a VM (Ubuntu LTS works well).
Prefer multiple vCPUs and enough RAM for Postgres + frontend + backend.
Give the instance enough disk for Postgres.
Attach a public IP only if browsers or external clients must reach the UI without VPN or tunnel.

2. Install Docker and Compose

Follow the official Docker docs for Ubuntu, then install docker-ce, containerd.io, and docker-compose-plugin. Confirm with:

sudo docker run hello-world

3. Clone and configure

git clone https://github.com/Connexity-AI/connexity.git
cd connexity
cp .env.example .env

Edit .env: matching production SITE_URL (often https://…), secrets, Postgres password, and LLM API keys.

4. Firewall and ports

Typically you expose HTTPS via a reverse proxy to the frontend (recommended for production).

For evaluation only, operators often expose TCP 3000 (UI) behind a restrictive security group.

5. Run

docker compose up

Open SITE_URL in the browser (or http://<instance-ip>:3000 for a minimal test).

Operational notes

Compose is suited to single-node deployments and vertical scaling. It is not HA by itself.
For shutdown: Ctrl+C in the foreground, or docker compose down if you ran with docker compose up -d (add docker compose down -v to remove volumes too).

For local development outside Docker—Postgres still in Compose, apps on the host—see CONTRIBUTING.md.

VM deployment (Docker Compose)

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