Installation

Installation Guide

🌐 Language: EN · DE · FR · ES · TR · EL

Time needed: ~30 minutes | Difficulty: Beginner-friendly

This guide walks you through a complete Tesla Carview installation from scratch.

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What you need before you start

Before touching any commands, make sure you have:

• A Linux server, VPS, or Raspberry Pi (see hardware options below)
• A domain name pointing to your server — OR plan to use DynDNS / Cloudflare Tunnel (→ Network Access)
• A Tesla Developer account (→ Tesla API Setup)
• SSH access to your server (or a keyboard + screen on the Pi)

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Hardware options

Option 1: Raspberry Pi (home server)

Best for: personal use at home, low cost (~€60–120 total)

Model	RAM	Recommended storage
Raspberry Pi 5 (recommended)	4 GB or 8 GB	NVMe SSD via M.2 HAT+
Raspberry Pi 4	4 GB	USB SSD
Raspberry Pi 3	1 GB	no longer supported ¹

¹ Raspberry Pi 3 and older (32-bit ARM) are no longer supported as of v3.51.0: Node.js ships no ARMv7 images from version 24 onwards.

⚠️ Important: Do not use an SD card for permanent operation. It will fail within months under Tesla Carview's write load. See Raspberry Pi Storage for a 20-minute fix.

Option 2: VPS at a hosting provider

Best for: 24/7 availability, no hardware to manage, easy setup

Provider	Monthly cost	Notes
Hetzner CX22	~€4.35	Recommended, very reliable
netcup VPS 1000	~€4.44	German data centres
Contabo VPS S	~€5.99	Lots of storage

A VPS has a fixed public IP address — no DynDNS setup needed.

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Step 1: Prepare the server

Connect to your server via SSH (or open a terminal on the Pi):

ssh root@YOUR-SERVER-IP

Make sure the system is up to date:

apt update && apt upgrade -y

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Step 2: Get a domain pointing to your server

Tesla Carview requires HTTPS (Tesla's API only works over secure connections). That means you need a domain with a valid SSL certificate.

I have a VPS with a fixed IP: → Go to your domain registrar and create an A record:

tesla.yourdomain.com  →  A  →  YOUR-VPS-IP

Wait 5–30 minutes for DNS to propagate, then continue.

I'm at home without a fixed IP: → See Network Access — set up DynDNS or Cloudflare Tunnel first, then come back here.

I have no domain at all: → Get a free subdomain at DuckDNS.org (e.g. my-tesla.duckdns.org) — it's free and works with Let's Encrypt.

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Step 3: Run the setup script

This single command downloads and runs the interactive setup wizard:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/KnevS/Tesla-Carview/main/deploy/setup.sh | bash

The wizard asks you a series of questions:

Question	What to enter
Domain name	tesla.yourdomain.com or my-tesla.duckdns.org
Admin username	Any name (e.g. your first name, admin)
Admin password	A strong password (min. 12 characters)
Tenant name	What to call your installation (e.g. "My Tesla")
Enable HTTPS	Yes (always — required for Tesla API)

The script asks for the deployment mode before doing anything:

Mode	When to use
1 — Direct	Dedicated VM or VPS without an existing proxy — nginx + certbot are installed and configured automatically
2 — Proxy	Already running nginx, Caddy, Traefik, or WireGuard+VPS setup — nginx installation is skipped entirely

In Proxy mode, add this to your existing proxy config:

proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;

⚠️ In proxy mode you have to reproduce the rate limits yourself — setup.sh creates no nginx configuration in this mode. If they are missing or too tight, the app runs into HTTP 429: half-loaded pages that only a reload appears to fix.

Path	Recommendation	Why
/api/auth/login	10/min, burst 3	Brute-force protection
/api/tiles/	1200/min, burst 300	One map zoom loads 50–150 tiles at once
/api/ (rest)	120/min, burst ≥ 60	One page change fires 15–26 requests

The more specific path has to win — otherwise a single map zoom locks out the entire API. Templates: deploy/nginx-host.conf.template and deploy/traefik-dynamic.example.yml.

The script then automatically (Direct mode):

1. Installs Docker, nginx, certbot, fail2ban
2. Gets a Let's Encrypt SSL certificate for your domain
3. Configures nginx with security headers
4. Starts all Docker containers
5. Sets up the database

This takes 5–10 minutes.

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Step 4: First login

Open your browser and go to https://tesla.yourdomain.com

You should see the Tesla Carview login page. Enter the admin username and password you set in Step 3.

💡 Tip: Check "Stay signed in (90 days)" on the login page so you don't have to type your password every time — especially useful when accessing from the Tesla browser.

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Step 5: Connect your Tesla account

After logging in, you'll see a setup prompt to connect your Tesla account. Follow the instructions in Tesla API Setup.

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Step 6: Done!

Your Tesla Carview installation is running. The app will start polling your vehicle's data automatically.

What to do next:

• Set up your vehicle → Dashboard → Add Vehicle
• Configure notifications → Settings → Push Notifications
• Invite family members → Admin → Users → Invite
• Set up a charging location → Settings → Charging Locations

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Updating

Tesla Carview can update itself automatically. Enable it in the settings:

# In /opt/tesla-carview/backend/.env:
AUTO_UPDATE_ENABLED=true

Or update manually:

cd /opt/tesla-carview
git pull
docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d --build

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Troubleshooting installation issues

"Permission denied" when running the script → Make sure you're running as root. Run sudo su first.

"Domain not found" during certbot → Your DNS hasn't propagated yet. Wait 10–30 minutes and try again. Check with: nslookup tesla.yourdomain.com

Containers won't start → Check logs: docker compose -f /opt/tesla-carview/docker-compose.prod.yml logs

More help → Troubleshooting | Open an Issue

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Windows PC instead of a server (from v3.53.0)

The application runs entirely in Linux containers — Windows is only the host. With Docker Desktop in WSL2 mode the same stack starts. The setup script deploy/setup.sh does not work there (bash, apt, systemd, certbot); deploy\setup-windows.ps1 takes its place.

git clone https://github.com/KnevS/Tesla-Carview.git
cd Tesla-Carview
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\deploy\setup-windows.ps1

Two limitations, both measured: vehicle commands do not work (tesla-http-proxy needs a Linux bind mount and a fixed UID), and if you run the proxy anyway you must set TESLA_PROXY_BASE — under Docker Desktop host.docker.internal points at the host gateway instead of the proxy container. Everything read-only works fully.

Windows is not checked in CI. Full description: docs/02-deployment.en.md, section "Windows (Docker Desktop)".