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Installation and deployment

Didacta Community is installed on your own infrastructure from the official Docker image ghcr.io/va360labs/didacta-community (public, no docker login required).

Installation paths

Path Who it is for Guide
Docker Compose (recommended) Most installations: brings up the app + Postgres + Redis + a test mailbox in one go. Install with Docker Compose
Manual docker run Operators who already have managed Postgres 16 and Redis 7 and only want the application container. Install with docker run

Requirements

  • Docker 24+ with Docker Compose v2 (docker compose version).
  • 2 GB of free RAM and ~2 GB of disk for images and data.
  • Free ports (all configurable via environment variables): 3000 (web), 4000 (API), 5432 (Postgres), 6379 (Redis), 8025 (test mailbox UI).

PostgreSQL with pgvector

The official compose file uses the pgvector/pgvector:pg16 image. If you bring your own Postgres it must be 16+ with the pgvector extension available (the AI tutor stores embeddings in vector columns). Without it the app will not start (type "vector" does not exist).

Only 3 required variables

Every other variable either has a sensible default or is injected by the compose file. The full reference is in Environment variables.

Variable What it is
ADMIN_DATABASE_URL Administration (superuser) connection string for Postgres 16 with pgvector. The app derives its own runtime connection (the didacta_app role, without BYPASSRLS).
REDIS_URL Redis 7 connection string.
AUTH_SECRET Secret used to sign sessions and cookies. At least 32 random characters.

Generating AUTH_SECRET

Any random string of 32+ characters will do: 

openssl rand -base64 32
# or
node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(32).toString('base64'))"
Keep it safe: if you change it, every active session is invalidated.

Image versioning

Didacta follows SemVer and publishes every release as an immutable Docker image tag. The alpha and beta tags track the newest version of their channel, and latest will exist only for stable releases. In production, pin your version with DIDACTA_IMAGE_TAG in .env and decide yourself when to move up — the full policy lives in Upgrading. Published tags are on GitHub Container Registry.

After installing

  1. Setup wizard — create the organization and the first administrator.
  2. Visual walkthrough: getting started — screenshot by screenshot, from the wizard to the first certificate issued.
  3. Configuration — real SMTP, S3 storage, branding, AI.
  4. Backups — before there is any real data.
  5. Upgrading — when the next release ships.