Self-Hosting

AccessAgent is open source and self-hostable. Your data stays on your infrastructure.

Prerequisites

• Docker and Docker Compose (for the Docker path)
• OR Bun 1.0+ and PostgreSQL 14+ (for the manual path)
• An OpenAI API key

Quick start with Docker Compose

This is the recommended path. It spins up the app and a PostgreSQL database in one command.

1. Clone the repo

   git clone https://github.com/org/accessagent-core
   cd accessagent-core

2. Configure environment

   cp .env.example .env

   Edit .env and set your OpenAI API key:

   OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
   AUTH_SECRET=any-long-random-string

   The database URL is pre-configured for the Docker Compose PostgreSQL container.

3. Start

   docker compose up

   AccessAgent is now running at http://localhost:3000.

Tip

On first run, Docker pulls the images and runs database migrations automatically. This takes about 60 seconds. Subsequent starts are instant.

Manual installation

Use this if you have an existing PostgreSQL database or want more control over the setup.

1. Clone and install

   git clone https://github.com/org/accessagent-core
   cd accessagent-core
   bun install

2. Configure environment

   cp .env.example .env

   Edit .env:

   DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/panelai
   OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
   AUTH_SECRET=any-long-random-string
   PORT=3000

3. Run migrations

   bun run db:migrate

4. Start the dev server

   bun run dev

   Or for production:

   bun run build
   bun run start

Environment variables

Variable	Required	Default	Description
DATABASE_URL	Yes	—	PostgreSQL connection string
OPENAI_API_KEY	Yes	—	OpenAI API key for the agent
AUTH_SECRET	Yes	—	Secret for signing session tokens
PORT	No	3000	HTTP server port
NODE_ENV	No	development	Set to production in prod

Updating

Docker Compose

docker compose pull
docker compose up

Migrations run automatically on startup.

Manual

git pull
bun install
bun run db:migrate
bun run build && bun run start

Reverse proxy

For production, put AccessAgent behind a reverse proxy (nginx, Caddy) that handles TLS.

Caddy (simplest):

panelai.yourdomain.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:3000
}

Caddy provisions a Let’s Encrypt certificate automatically.

nginx:

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name panelai.yourdomain.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
    }
}

Note: WebSocket support requires the Upgrade and Connection headers for team chat to work.