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Category: paas · baas · devops · self-hosted OS: Ubuntu 24.04 · Version: 4.1.1

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Overview

Coolify is a self-hostable PaaS used to deploy apps, databases, and services on your own infrastructure through a web dashboard. This image comes with Coolify installed but switched off: the web port stays closed until you run setup, so nobody can claim the admin account before you do. Setup takes about three minutes and runs the first time you log in.

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What is on this image

Everything below sits on top of a stock Ubuntu 24.04 server.

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1. Connect

Once your Compute is running, SSH in as root:
The root password and SSH key are in the Strettch Cloud console. Setup starts automatically when you log in. If you would rather work from the browser console, run /opt/sc/coolify/setup.sh there instead.

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2. Answer three questions

Setup asks for:
  • Admin email: This is what you will log in.
  • Domain name: This is optional and you can leave it blank since Coolify uses your Compute’s IP
  • SMTP: This is also optional. Answer n and add it later from the UI whenever you want
Coolify generates the admin password for you and prints it at the end. Everything else it handles on its own.

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3. Log in

Setup prints your URL, email, and password when it finishes. Open the URL:
If your Compute has a public IP, use that one, you will find it in the console. When required any login details use the previous email and password you entered in your compute.
Copy the password into your password manager, then delete the server’s copy:
Coolify has its own onboarding after this follow what it shows you, since the steps change between releases. Its documentation lives at coolify.io/docs.

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4. Add a domain and HTTPS

Optional, but worth doing if you have a domain. Point an A record at your Compute’s public IP, then set the domain in Coolify. It requests a certificate for you automatically, and ports 80 and 443 are already open.

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Managing it

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Security

The firewall allows SSH, HTTP, HTTPS, the Coolify UI, and the Strettch Cloud agent. Everything else coming in is blocked. fail2ban watches SSH however ten failed logins ban an IP for six hours, with longer bans for repeat offenders, up to a week.
If you cancel setup partway through or mistype something, nothing is exposed. Log in again and it starts over.