Installation

Lygotype supports two installation paths: local development and Docker. Docker is recommended for production deployments.

Docker (Recommended)

The fastest path to a running Lygotype instance.

``bash git clone https://github.com/mangopaws/lygotype.git cd lygotype

`Copy and configure environment`


cp server/.env.example server/.env
Edit server/.env with your values
Build and start
docker compose up -d

Lygotype will be available at http://localhost:3001. To run on a custom domain, see Caddy Setup.

The Docker image builds both the client and server. The client is built with VITE_API_URL baked in at build time — make sure this is set correctly in your .env before building.

`Docker Compose reference`

`yaml

`docker-compose.yml`


services:
  lygotype:
    build: .
    container_name: lygotype-app
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      NODE_ENV: production
      PORT: 3001
    env_file:
      - server/.env
    volumes:
      - ./data:/app/data
    networks:
      - web

networks: web: external: true`

`Manual (Local Development)`

`bash

`Clone`


git clone https://github.com/mangopaws/lygotype.git
cd lygotype
Server
cd server
npm install
cp .env.example .env
npm run dev
Client (separate terminal)
cd ../client
npm install
npm run dev


System requirements
Operating system
| Environment | Supported |
|---|---|
| Ubuntu 20.04 / 22.04 / 24.04 | ✓ Recommended for production |
| Debian 11 / 12 | ✓ Supported |
| Any modern Linux distro | ✓ Supported |
| macOS (Apple Silicon or Intel) | ✓ Local development |
| Windows via WSL2 | ✓ Local development |
| Windows (native) | Not recommended |
Hardware minimums
| Resource | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 1 core | 2 cores |
| RAM | 512 MB | 1 GB |
| Disk | 1 GB | 5 GB |
The RAM minimum covers the app and SQLite. If you expect high response volume or run other services on the same VPS, 1GB+ is strongly recommended.
Software
For Docker installs (production):

Docker Engine 24+

Docker Compose v2 (the docker compose plugin, not the legacy docker-compose` binary)

For manual installs (local dev):

Node.js v20 or higher
npm v9 or higher

SQLite is bundled — no external database required.