Run locally with Node.js

Run Dossier without Docker: build it from source with Node.js, next to a PostgreSQL you install yourself. It takes longer to set up than Docker or Docker Compose, and upgrading means building again.

This runs the production build, the same server the image runs. To work on Dossier's code, with reloading as you edit, see DEVELOPMENT.md.

What you need

• Node.js 24. It comes with Corepack, which sets up the Yarn version Dossier uses.
• PostgreSQL 18.
• Git.
• About 2 GB of free memory and 3 GB of disk: the dependencies, the build and the Chromium that prints PDFs.

The commands below are for Ubuntu 24.04 or newer, and work the same in WSL 2 on Windows. On macOS, install Node.js 24 from nodejs.org and PostgreSQL 18 with Postgres.app, then go on from step 2.

1. Install Node.js and PostgreSQL

Ubuntu's own packages are older than Dossier needs, so add Node.js's and PostgreSQL's repositories first:

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_24.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs git
sudo apt-get install -y postgresql-common
sudo /usr/share/postgresql-common/pgdg/apt.postgresql.org.sh
sudo apt-get install -y postgresql-18

node --version should print v24 and something.

2. Create the database

Make a user and a database, both named dossier, with a random password. The second line prints the password: keep it for step 4.

DB_PASSWORD=$(openssl rand -hex 24)
echo "$DB_PASSWORD"
sudo -u postgres psql -c "CREATE USER dossier WITH PASSWORD '$DB_PASSWORD'" -c "CREATE DATABASE dossier OWNER dossier"

On macOS, open psql from Postgres.app instead and run the two statements, with the printed password in place of $DB_PASSWORD:

CREATE USER dossier WITH PASSWORD '<the password>';
CREATE DATABASE dossier OWNER dossier;

3. Get the code and its dependencies

Clone the repository and switch to the newest release:

git clone https://github.com/AienTech/dossier.git ~/dossier
cd ~/dossier
git checkout "$(git tag --sort=-v:refname | head -n 1)"

Switch on Corepack, then install the dependencies and the Chromium that prints PDFs. On Linux, --with-deps also installs the system libraries and fonts Chromium needs, so it asks for your password; on macOS, leave it out:

sudo corepack enable
yarn install --immutable
yarn playwright-core install --with-deps --only-shell chromium

If Corepack asks whether to download Yarn, answer yes.

4. Configure it

Copy the example settings to .env, which only you may read, and make a folder for nightly backups and zipped PDFs:

cp .env.example .env
chmod 600 .env
mkdir ~/dossier-data

Then make a hash of the password you'll sign in with. Type it twice; the command prints one line that starts with argon2id::

yarn hash-password

Open .env in a text editor and set:

• DOSSIER_PASSWORD to the line hash-password printed.
• DOSSIER_SECRET to 32 or more random characters: openssl rand -base64 32 makes some.
• DATABASE_URL to postgresql://dossier:<the password from step 2>@localhost:5432/dossier.
• DOSSIER_DATA_DIR to the folder you made, as a whole path, such as /home/you/dossier-data (/Users/you/dossier-data on macOS). It's commented out in the file: remove the # in front. Its default, /data, is meant for the image.

What the variables do: Environment variables in the README. .env.example describes them too.

5. Build it

Set up the database, then build. The build takes a few minutes:

yarn prisma generate
yarn prisma migrate deploy
yarn prisma db seed
yarn build
cp -r public .next/standalone/
cp -r .next/static .next/standalone/.next/

migrate deploy creates the tables and db seed loads the built-in themes. The image does both on every start; here you run them after each build. The last two lines copy the pictures and styles next to the server.

6. Start Dossier

HOSTNAME=127.0.0.1 PORT=3000 node .next/standalone/server.js

Open http://localhost:3000 and sign in with your password. Then pick an AI model in Settings → AI provider (see Choosing an AI provider) and, if you like, a job source in Settings → Job search (see Choosing a job source). With Ollama on the same computer, its address is http://localhost:11434.

HOSTNAME=127.0.0.1 keeps Dossier to your own computer; without it, it also listens on your network. Press Ctrl+C to stop it.

Day to day

Run these in ~/dossier.

• Change a setting: the build copies .env into .next/standalone, and the server reads that copy. So after editing .env, copy it again, then stop the server and start it as in step 6:

  cp .env .next/standalone/

• Back up: export from Settings → Your data; nightly backups go to DOSSIER_DATA_DIR. Take database dumps too. On macOS, leave out sudo -u postgres:

  sudo -u postgres pg_dump -Fc dossier > dossier.dump

  To restore a dump, stop the server, run this, and start it again:

  sudo -u postgres pg_restore --clean --if-exists -d dossier < dossier.dump

  More in Backups and restore.

• Upgrade: take an export and a database dump first. Stop the server, fetch the new release and install its dependencies:

  git fetch --tags
  git checkout "$(git tag --sort=-v:refname | head -n 1)"
  yarn install --immutable
  yarn playwright-core install --with-deps --only-shell chromium

  Then run every command in step 5, and start it as in step 6. The release notes say what else changed; see Upgrading.

• Something's wrong: the server prints its log in the terminal; see Troubleshooting.

To keep Dossier running on a server without Docker, see Without Docker.