Self-Host Quickstart

Use this guide to operate answerLoops on infrastructure you manage. You will configure the application, database, authentication, model services, and channel connections. External model providers and connected platforms still process relevant content; review those services separately from the application’s hosting location.

If you'd rather skip all of this, the cloud quickstart gets you the same product with none of the infrastructure.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 22+
• Docker + Docker Compose
• pnpm 9+
• An AI provider key (OpenAI recommended, or any supported provider)
• At least one OAuth provider (GitHub, Discord, or Google)

1. Clone the repo

git clone https://github.com/answerLoops/answerLoops.git
cd answerLoops

2. Configure environment

cp .env.local.example .env.local

Edit .env.local with at minimum:

# Required
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://community:community@postgres:5432/community
AUTH_URL=http://localhost:3000
AUTH_SECRET=<run: openssl rand -hex 32>
ENCRYPTION_KEY=<run: openssl rand -hex 32>

# At least one OAuth provider
AUTH_GITHUB_ID=<your-github-client-id>
AUTH_GITHUB_SECRET=<your-github-client-secret>

# AI (required for deflection and KB search)
OPENAI_API_KEY=<your-openai-api-key>

See the full environment variables reference for all options.

3. Start with Docker

Once your .env.local has real values (not the ones above), this one command does the rest:

docker compose up --build

This starts:

• app on http://localhost:3000
• bot (Discord/Slack listener) connecting to the app
• postgres on localhost:5432 (data persisted in a named volume)

Drizzle migrations run automatically on first start — no manual migration step.

4. Create your account

Open http://localhost:3000 and sign in with GitHub, Discord, or Google OAuth. On first login you'll see the onboarding wizard:

1. Connect your community — Discord 1-click invite, Slack token, or skip
2. Seed your knowledge base — drag-drop docs files or paste a URL
3. Configure AI — verify your API key and pick a model
4. Go live — checklist summary with links to Tickets and KB

5. Verify it works

# Health check
curl http://localhost:3000/api/health
# → {"ok":true}

# Confirm tables were created
docker compose exec postgres psql -U community -d community -c "\dt"

Next steps