Installation
Introduction
This guide will help you install Companion Home on your server. Make sure your server is secured and you have followed basic security practices before installing Companion Home. (e.g. firewall, ssh keys, root access, etc.) Here is a good guide to follow.
Hardware Requirements
Our software uses containerization and has the same hardware requirements as Docker:
Minimum Requirements
- A 64-bit processor
- 4GB of RAM
- 10GB free disk space
Recommended Requirements
- A modern multi-core processor
- 8GB of RAM or more
- 20GB free SSD disk space
Supported Architectures
- x86_64/amd64
- arm64
Not all apps are supported in the arm64 architecture, Companion Home will auto hide apps that are not supported by your architecture.
OS Requirements
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS or higher is recommended. However other major Linux distribution are supported but may lead to installation issues. Please file an issue if you encounter one.
If Docker is already installed on your machine, Companion Home will use it to run the dashboard. Otherwise, it will install Docker for you.
If you already have Docker installed make sure to have the Docker Compose
plugin installed. Run docker compose version to check if it is installed.
Instructions to install it can be found
here .
If you already have Docker installed make sure you used the official Docker
install script from here as this guarantees that you
have the latest build. If you used a command like sudo apt install docker.io
you may have an outdated version and issues may occur.
VPS users
If you intend to self-host stuff on a VPS consider if it is a good or bad idea. Whether you use Companion Home or not, it is most of the time a bad idea. Except if you put the correct security measures in place.
When you install Companion Home on a VPS it is immediately vulnerable and open to the world through its public IP. The same goes for all apps you will install down the line through their respective ports.
If you still want to run on a VPS, here are a few steps to consider in order to increase your safety:
- Setup a firewall and ensure it is impossible to access a running service from ip:port
- Install a VPN like tailscale to create a secure and trusted private network to access your apps.
- If an app needs to be accessed from the public, always use a tunnel and set it up specifically for this app
Download and install
Download and run the install script:
curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/companionintelligence/CI-OS-Hub/dev/scripts/install.sh | bashFor updating Companion Home, see the Updating guide.