VoltexaHub
Community Install the beta
Install

From a fresh server to a live forum.

The installer sets up everything VoltexaHub needs, gets an HTTPS certificate for your domain and creates your admin account. It usually takes a few minutes, most of it downloading.

What you need

A small VPS is plenty for a new community. Use a fresh server: the installer expects to own ports 80 and 443.

Server
Debian 12 or 13, Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04amd64, with root access
Size
2 GB RAM, 10 GB diskMore disk as uploads grow
Domain
An A record pointing at the serverAAAA only if it really has IPv6
Network
Ports 80 and 443 openFor HTTPS certificates and visitors

Optional but recommended: an email provider (any SMTP service, or Resend) so members can verify their address and reset passwords. You add it later, in the admin area.

Install

  1. Point your domain at the server

    Create an A record for the address your community will use, such as forum.example.com, pointing at the server's public IP. The installer checks this before asking for a certificate.

  2. Run the installer

    Connect to the server over SSH and run:

    On your server
    git clone https://github.com/joogiebear/voltexahub-install
cd voltexahub-install
sudo bash ./install.sh

    It asks for your domain and admin email, installs Docker from Docker's official repository if needed, and starts VoltexaHub. If it's interrupted, run it again and it picks up where it stopped.

  3. Save two things

    When it finishes, the installer prints your admin password once. Save it, then copy /opt/voltexahub/app.env somewhere safe. It holds the key that encrypts your settings, and it can't be recovered if the server is lost.

  4. Sign in and follow the setup guide

    Open your domain, sign in, and the admin setup guide walks you through branding, forums, signup rules and email. Pick a starter template if one fits your community.

Prefer no prompts?

Pass everything on the command line, for automation or cloud-init:

Non-interactive
sudo bash ./install.sh --yes --domain=forum.example.com [email protected] --name="My Community"

Day-to-day

The installer adds a voltexahub command. Run it with sudo.

Backups run every night at about 03:15 and the newest seven are kept. They contain your secrets, so copy them off the server to another machine or to object storage.

  • statusContainers, version, site address and the latest backup.
  • doctorHealth check of HTTPS, the queue worker, the scheduler, stuck jobs, disk, certificate expiry and backup age.
  • logs [service]Follow the logs for web, worker, caddy or mysql.
  • backupOne archive with the database, uploads and settings, plus a checksum.
  • update [version]Backs up, updates, and rolls back automatically if the new version isn't healthy.
  • restore FILEReplaces the database, uploads and settings from a backup, after a safety backup.
  • support-bundleRedacted diagnostics to attach to a bug report.

What's running

Everything lives in /opt/voltexahub. Only Caddy is reachable from outside.

ServiceWhat it does
caddyServes ports 80 and 443 with automatic HTTPS and forwards to the app.
webThe VoltexaHub application. Its port is internal only.
workerBackground jobs and the scheduler: email, notifications and payments.
mysqlMySQL 8.4, with data in its own volume. Never exposed.

Moving to a new server

The same steps recover from a lost server.

  1. Install on the new server

    Run the installer with the domain you want to use. A fresh install creates new secrets, and that's fine.

  2. Copy a backup across

    Copy the backup file and its .sha256 file to the new server.

  3. Restore it

    On the new server
    sudo voltexahub restore /path/to/voltexahub-backup-....tar

    Your content, uploads and original encryption key come back. The new server keeps its own database login and domain.

If something goes wrong

Still stuck? Ask in Installation help and attach the output of voltexahub support-bundle after reading it.

The site doesn't load over HTTPS after installing

Usually the certificate is still being issued, or DNS or ports 80 and 443 aren't reachable from the internet. Check with cd /opt/voltexahub && docker compose logs caddy.

My domain is behind Cloudflare's proxy

The DNS check will see Cloudflare's address, not your server's. Run the installer with --skip-dns-check, or turn the proxy off until the certificate is issued.

Members aren't getting verification emails

Until you add an email provider in the admin area, emails are only written to the log. Set up SMTP or Resend there and send the test message.

Can I install without Docker?

Yes. The installation guide covers a manual install with PHP 8.4, Composer and MySQL 8.4 or 9.7. Docker is the supported path for the beta.

Does it run on ARM servers?

Not yet. The 1.8.0-beta.1 image is amd64 only. ARM support is planned.

Ready when you are.

The installer is open source and short enough to read before you run it.

View the installer on GitHub Full installation guide