Docs · Operations

Self-hosting

Raisebook is one repository and one Docker Compose file. If you would rather keep your investor list on a machine you control, run your own copy. It is the same software as raisebook.org, with nothing held back.

What you need#

A Linux server with Docker and the Compose plugin. A small VM is enough to start.
Two hostnames pointing at it, one for the web app and one for the API (for example raise.example.com and api.raise.example.com). Ports 80 and 443 open.
An SMTP provider for sign-in links and invites. Any provider works; set up its SPF and DKIM records for your sending domain.

Install#

On the server

git clone https://github.com/gumruyanzh/raisebook.gitcd raisebookcp deploy/.env.example deploy/.env# edit deploy/.env: hosts, POSTGRES_PASSWORD, RAISEBOOK_SESSION_SECRET, SMTPdocker compose -f deploy/docker-compose.yml up -d --build

Generate the two secrets:

Secrets

# POSTGRES_PASSWORDopenssl rand -base64 36 | tr -d '/+=' | cut -c1-40# RAISEBOOK_SESSION_SECRET (changing it later signs everyone out)python3 -c "import secrets; print(secrets.token_urlsafe(48))"

Caddy requests TLS certificates on its own once DNS points at the server. Open the web host, sign in with your email, and create your workspace.

What runs#

Compose services
Service	What it does
postgres	Postgres 17 with a named volume. Not exposed outside the compose network.
migrate	Runs alembic upgrade head once, then exits. The API waits for it.
api	FastAPI: the REST API under /v1 and the MCP server at /mcp.
web	The Next.js app and this site.
caddy	TLS and reverse proxy. The only service that publishes ports.

Configuration#

Everything lives in deploy/.env (the template is deploy/.env.example). The main settings:

Main settings
Variable	What it sets
WEB_HOST, API_HOST	Your two hostnames. MCP is served at https://API_HOST/mcp.
POSTGRES_PASSWORD	Database password. Required.
RAISEBOOK_SESSION_SECRET	Signs session cookies and CSRF tokens. Required.
RAISEBOOK_SESSION_COOKIE_DOMAIN	The parent domain both hosts share, so the session reaches the API.
RAISEBOOK_SMTP_HOST, _PORT, _USERNAME, _PASSWORD	Your SMTP provider.
RAISEBOOK_EMAIL_FROM	Sender, e.g. "Raisebook <login@raise.example.com>".
RAISEBOOK_RATE_LIMIT_BACKEND	postgres (default), memory or off.
NEXT_PUBLIC_SPONSOR_URL	The Support link. Point it anywhere, or at nothing.

Updating#

Update

cd raisebook && git pulldocker compose -f deploy/docker-compose.yml up -d --build# the migrate service applies database migrations before the API starts

Backups#

deploy/backup.sh dumps the database nightly and deletes dumps older than BACKUP_RETENTION_DAYS (14 by default). The hosted service promises that deleted data leaves backups within 14 days; keep the same limit if you make that promise to your team. Run it from cron, as the comment at the top of the script shows.

Also run docker compose -f deploy/docker-compose.yml exec api rbctl housekeeping once a day. It removes expired sign-in links, sessions and old rate-limit counters.

Run it locally#

For development, run the API and the web app directly against a local Postgres 17:

Development

createdb raisebook_devpsql raisebook_dev -c 'CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS citext; CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS pg_trgm;'# terminal 1, from the repo root: API and MCP on :8000cd backend && uv syncRAISEBOOK_DATABASE_URL=postgresql://localhost/raisebook_dev uv run alembic upgrade headRAISEBOOK_ENV=dev uv run uvicorn --factory raisebook.main:create_app --reload# terminal 2, from the repo root: web on :3000cd web && npm ci && npm run dev# optional, from backend/: a sample workspace with fictional investorsuv run rbctl seed-demo --email you@example.com

In development, the “check your inbox” page shows the sign-in link, so you do not need SMTP. Contributing? Read CONTRIBUTING.md .

The license#

Raisebook is AGPL-3.0. You can run, change and share it freely. If you change it and let other people use your version over a network, you must offer them its source code. Running an unmodified copy asks nothing more of you than keeping the license notices.