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How to Self-Host OpenArchiver on a VPS

A practical OpenArchiver VPS guide covering Docker Compose installation, 4 GB baseline sizing, secrets, local or S3 storage, first-time setup, mail imports, updates, backups, and troubleshooting.
Length10 min Posted Quest giverVGSources Team
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Run OpenArchiver on a VPS with Docker Compose, Git, and at least 4 GB of RAM for the default all-in-one deployment. Clone the project, create and secure its .env file, choose persistent local or S3-compatible storage, start the stack, then finish administrator setup at /setup on the web interface (port 3000 by default).

A 2 GB VPS is only described as sufficient when PostgreSQL, Redis or Valkey, and Meilisearch are hosted externally. Your actual CPU, disk, bandwidth, and backup requirements depend on mailbox count, attachment volume, indexing concurrency, retention, and recovery objectives.

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What you are deploying

OpenArchiver is a self-hosted email-archiving application delivered as a Docker Compose stack. Its published architecture combines a SvelteKit frontend, a Node.js/Express/TypeScript backend, BullMQ queues backed by Redis-compatible infrastructure, Meilisearch for full-text search, PostgreSQL for relational data, and persistent archive storage. Compose starts these components together so you can operate one application on your VPS instead of installing every runtime manually.

The supported installation path is a server or local machine with Docker, Docker Compose, and Git. The project source is available at https://github.com/LogicLabs-OU/OpenArchiver.git. The default web interface listens on port 3000, while the backend service uses port 4000 inside the documented configuration.

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Choose VPS capacity before installing

The installation guide gives a memory baseline, not a universal production-sizing formula. Start with the following decision:

Deployment pattern Documented memory guidance What still determines the final size
All-in-one Compose stack At least 4 GB RAM Mailbox count, attachment volume, indexing concurrency, retention, CPU headroom, disk capacity, bandwidth, and backups
External PostgreSQL, Redis/Valkey, and Meilisearch 2 GB RAM can be sufficient External-service performance, network latency, dataset size, indexing load, and the VPS resources used by the remaining services

Memory is not the whole specification

Archive storage grows with every message and attachment retained. Full-text indexing adds its own disk footprint, and Meilisearch needs working space while indexes are built or updated. Estimate storage from your retention policy rather than from the size of the initial mailbox export. Keep additional capacity for temporary imports, database maintenance, logs, and at least one local recovery copy if your backup design calls for it.

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CPU affects import and indexing throughput. A small VPS may run correctly but take considerably longer to process a large PST, EML collection, or mailbox synchronization. Network bandwidth matters when importing remotely, serving attachments to users, or writing to S3-compatible storage. If you cannot predict those loads, begin with the 4 GB baseline and monitor memory, CPU, disk usage, and queue depth before increasing the archive volume.

Prepare the VPS

Install the required software

Install a supported Docker Engine release, Docker Compose, and Git on the VPS. Use your operating system or VPS provider’s current installation instructions and verify that the account which will run Compose can access the Docker daemon. A reboot may be required after Docker installation; complete it before deploying so service startup behavior is predictable.

Plan network exposure

Expose only the web entry point through your firewall or reverse proxy. The documented frontend port is 3000 and the backend default is 4000; do not publish the backend directly to the public internet unless your network design specifically requires it. Put TLS termination and a DNS name in front of the interface before inviting users, and restrict administrative access to SSH keys or another strong method.

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Reserve a data location

Decide whether archive files will live on the VPS filesystem or in S3-compatible object storage before starting the containers. Check available disk space, mount options, filesystem quotas, and the location included by your backup plan. Treat this decision as part of the deployment design: moving a populated archive later requires a controlled data migration, not just an environment-variable change.

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Download OpenArchiver and create the environment file

  1. Clone the repository and enter its directory:

    git clone https://github.com/LogicLabs-OU/OpenArchiver.git
    cd OpenArchiver
  2. Copy the example environment file:

    cp .env.example .env
  3. Create the local storage directory when you plan to use filesystem storage. The installation guide uses /var/data/open-archiver as an example. Create that directory and set ownership so the application user inside the containers can write to it.

  4. Open .env in an editor and replace the example values. Set the public URL values, storage settings, and credentials before the first production start.

Keep the .env file private. It contains database, queue, search, token, and encryption material. Store it in a restricted directory, do not commit it to Git, and do not paste it into issue trackers or chat.

Set strong secrets before exposing the service

The documented configuration calls out five important values. Replace every placeholder, even when the stack starts successfully with the example file.

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Variable or setting Purpose Required action
POSTGRES_PASSWORD Authenticates the bundled PostgreSQL service Generate a unique, long password
REDIS_PASSWORD Protects Redis or Valkey queue access Generate a separate password; never reuse the database password
MEILI_MASTER_KEY Protects Meilisearch administration and indexing access Set a strong random value before indexing data
JWT_SECRET Signs application authentication tokens Use a high-entropy secret and keep it stable for the life of the deployment
ENCRYPTION_KEY Application encryption key Provide a 32-byte hexadecimal key

Generate the documented encryption-key format with:

openssl rand -hex 32

Copy the resulting 64 hexadecimal characters into the corresponding setting. The guide also recommends STORAGE_ENCRYPTION_KEY for encrypting email and attachment files at rest. If you enable it, protect and back it up with the same care as the archive itself: losing an encryption key can make encrypted data unrecoverable, while changing it without following the application’s supported procedure can prevent existing files from being read.

Configure persistent storage

Local filesystem storage

The default Compose arrangement uses local filesystem storage. Set STORAGE_LOCAL_ROOT_PATH to the directory you prepared, such as /var/data/open-archiver, and ensure the container process can create and modify files there. A bind-mounted host directory is easy to inspect, measure, snapshot, and include in host-level backup jobs, but you must manage permissions and disk capacity yourself.

S3-compatible object storage

For object storage, set STORAGE_TYPE=s3 and provide the endpoint, bucket, access key, secret key, region, and any path-style option required by your provider. Use a bucket dedicated to the archive when possible, apply least-privilege credentials, and confirm that the VPS can reach the endpoint over TLS. Object storage can simplify capacity expansion and off-host durability, but it introduces network dependency, request costs, provider-specific lifecycle settings, and another credential set to protect.

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Storage choice Advantages Operational cautions
Local filesystem Low latency, direct host visibility, no object-store API dependency VPS disk can fill; you must arrange snapshots or file backups and monitor permissions
S3-compatible storage Separates archive capacity from the VPS and can support durable off-host copies Requires endpoint, bucket, credentials, region, path-style compatibility, and reliable network access

Named volume or bind mount

Understand where the data actually resides. A named Docker volume such as archiver-data is managed by Docker and may be less visible in ordinary host-directory listings. The installation documentation describes inspecting that volume and changing the Compose file to a bind mount when you want a directly visible directory. Whichever method you choose, document its path, include it in backups, and test restoring it on a separate machine.

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Start the Compose stack

After secrets, URLs, credentials, and storage settings are complete, start the services from the project directory:

docker compose up -d

Compose pulls the required images, creates persistent volumes, and starts the frontend, backend, database, queue, search, and supporting services. The first start can take longer while images download and databases initialize. Watch container status and logs with Docker’s normal Compose commands if the interface does not become reachable; do not delete volumes as a first troubleshooting step, because that can remove the only copy of your database or archive.

Check the public URL settings

The documented application defaults use frontend port 3000 and backend port 4000. Set APP_URL and ORIGIN to the same public URL users will open, including the correct scheme and hostname. A mismatch commonly causes redirects, cookies, or callback links to point at an internal address. If you put a reverse proxy in front, make sure it forwards the required headers and routes traffic to the frontend port.

Complete the first administrator setup

When the containers are healthy, open the configured public URL. In the default setup, that is the interface on port 3000. The first browser visit is redirected to /setup, where you create the administrator account. Complete this step before sharing the URL with other users, then sign in and verify that the account can reach the archive and administration screens.

If you see a blank page, an endless redirect, or a connection failure, check the URL variables, reverse-proxy scheme, firewall rules, and frontend container logs. If /setup is no longer shown, an administrator has already been created; do not repeatedly reset the database just to make the setup page reappear.

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Connect mail and document sources

Source connections are configured after deployment and administrator creation. The official documentation lists Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, generic IMAP, PST import, and EML import. Choose the connector that matches your source, authorize it with the permissions it needs, and begin with a small mailbox or sample export so you can validate dates, folders, attachments, and search results before importing everything.

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Validate an initial import

  • Confirm that message bodies and attachments are visible to an authorized user.
  • Search for distinctive terms in both messages and attachments to verify full-text indexing.
  • Check that timestamps, sender addresses, recipients, and folder labels match the source.
  • Watch disk usage, memory, and queue activity during the first synchronization.
  • Record the source account, retention expectation, and last successful synchronization time.

Large PST or EML imports can consume substantial CPU, memory, temporary disk, and indexing capacity. Schedule them when the VPS has headroom and avoid running several heavy imports at once until you understand the queue’s behavior on your hardware.

Update OpenArchiver safely

The documented upgrade sequence is:

git pull
docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

Run it from the project directory during a maintenance window. Review release notes before upgrading, confirm that your backup completed and can be read, and ensure the VPS has enough free disk space for new images and temporary migration work. Database migrations are applied automatically when the application starts. Keep the previous deployment information and environment file available so you can diagnose a failed rollout without recreating secrets.

Do not run docker compose down -v as routine cleanup: the -v option removes named volumes and can destroy database or archive data. Remove old images only after you have confirmed that the new version is healthy and your rollback or restore plan is usable.

Design backups and recovery

A usable backup covers both the relational database and archive/search data. Backing up only PostgreSQL does not restore attachments; backing up only the filesystem does not restore users, source configuration, or indexes. Define how much data you can lose and how quickly you must recover, then schedule backups accordingly.

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An optional community project named openarchiver-backup documents a separate restic Docker Compose sidecar. It can target S3, SFTP or a storage-box service, or local disk, and requires the OpenArchiver project directory, storage path, and database/search volume names. It is not an official OpenArchiver component, so inspect its configuration, pin versions, protect its repository password, and test restores before relying on it.

Minimum recovery test

  1. Restore the database backup into an isolated test deployment.
  2. Restore the archive storage or reconnect the test instance to a verified object-store copy.
  3. Restore the required encryption and authentication secrets from your protected secret store.
  4. Start the test stack and confirm administrator login, message search, and attachment download.
  5. Record the elapsed time and any manual steps, then update your runbook.

Compare the main deployment choices

Decision Option A Option B Choose based on
Core services PostgreSQL, Redis/Valkey, and Meilisearch bundled by Compose Those services operated externally Control and simplicity versus managed maintenance and lower VPS memory use
Archive storage Local filesystem S3-compatible object storage Latency and direct host access versus off-host capacity and durability
Docker data path Named volume such as archiver-data Host bind mount Docker-managed convenience versus direct inspection and host backup tooling
Edition Open-source self-hosted edition Separate Enterprise per-seat edition Whether you need additional commercial compliance and governance features

The self-hosted open-source edition is free according to the official pricing information. Enterprise is a separate commercial, per-seat product with additional compliance and governance features; selecting it changes licensing and procurement rather than the basic Compose procedure described here.

Troubleshoot the common failure points

Compose starts but the browser cannot connect

  • Confirm that the frontend container is running and that the VPS firewall or reverse proxy allows the configured web port.
  • Verify DNS resolves to the VPS and that the proxy forwards to port 3000.
  • Check that APP_URL and ORIGIN use the public hostname and the correct HTTP or HTTPS scheme.

The application cannot write messages or attachments

  • Check STORAGE_LOCAL_ROOT_PATH for spelling and an absolute path.
  • Confirm that the host directory exists and is writable by the container process.
  • For S3, verify endpoint reachability, bucket name, region, credentials, and path-style compatibility.
  • Check free disk space or object-store quotas before changing permissions broadly.

Search results are missing

  • Allow the initial indexing queue to finish after an import.
  • Check Meilisearch health and the configured master key.
  • Verify that the VPS has enough memory and disk for index creation.
  • Test with a known phrase from a message body and a separate phrase from an attachment.

Services fail after an upgrade

  • Read the release notes and container logs for migration or configuration changes.
  • Confirm that all required secrets remain unchanged and that the environment file was not overwritten.
  • Check database and archive backups before attempting a rollback.
  • Do not remove persistent volumes while diagnosing; restore into a separate test directory if necessary.

Production readiness checklist

  • Docker, Docker Compose, and Git are installed and kept current.
  • The VPS meets the 4 GB baseline for a bundled deployment, or external services are provisioned for the 2 GB scenario.
  • POSTGRES_PASSWORD, REDIS_PASSWORD, MEILI_MASTER_KEY, JWT_SECRET, and ENCRYPTION_KEY are replaced with unique values.
  • STORAGE_ENCRYPTION_KEY is enabled when encryption at rest is required, and its recovery copy is protected.
  • APP_URL and ORIGIN match the public URL.
  • Local or S3-compatible storage is persistent, writable, monitored, and included in backups.
  • The first administrator was created at /setup and the setup URL is no longer shared publicly.
  • A sample mail source was imported and message, attachment, and full-text searches were verified.
  • Database and archive restores were tested on an isolated deployment.
  • Upgrade commands, release-note review, and rollback steps are documented for the person on call.

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