Self-hosting Cap Web

Self-hosting Cap Web

Cap Web is our web application for uploading and sharing Caps - it's what runs right here on cap.so. You can upload videos to it from the dashboard or from Cap Desktop.

Quick Start (One Command)

The fastest way to self-host Cap is with Docker Compose. This single command will start everything you need:

git clone https://github.com/CapSoftware/Cap.git
cd Cap
docker compose up -d

That's it! Cap will be available at http://localhost:3000.

Security Notice for Production Deployments

The default docker-compose.yml includes placeholder secrets for quick local testing. If you're deploying to a public server or production environment, you must change these values. See the Production Checklist below.

Login links will appear in the logs since email isn't configured:

docker compose logs cap-web

Deployment Options

Best for VPS, home servers, or any Docker-capable host.

What's included:

  • Cap Web application
  • Media server (FFmpeg processing)
  • MySQL database
  • MinIO (S3-compatible storage)

Steps:

  1. Clone the repository
  2. Run docker compose up -d
  3. Access Cap at http://localhost:3000

Custom configuration:

Create a .env file to customize your deployment:

# Public URL (required for production)
CAP_URL=https://cap.yourdomain.com

# S3 public URL (for video playback)
S3_PUBLIC_URL=https://s3.yourdomain.com

# Optional: Custom ports
CAP_PORT=3000
MINIO_PORT=9000

# Optional: Custom passwords (auto-generated if not set)
MYSQL_PASSWORD=your-secure-password
MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD=your-minio-password

Option 2: Railway (One-Click)

Deploy on Railway

Railway provides a fully managed deployment with automatic SSL and scaling. Login credentials appear in Railway's Deploy Logs after deployment.

Option 3: Coolify

For Coolify users, use docker-compose.coolify.yml which includes environment variable placeholders:

  1. Create a new Docker Compose project in Coolify
  2. Point to the Cap repository
  3. Set compose file to docker-compose.coolify.yml
  4. Configure environment variables in Coolify's UI
  5. Deploy

Connecting Cap Desktop

  1. Open Cap Desktop settings
  2. Set 'Cap Server URL' to your deployment URL (e.g., https://cap.yourdomain.com)
  3. Uploads will now go to your self-hosted instance

Email Configuration

By default, login links are printed to the server logs. To send emails:

  1. Create an account at Resend
  2. Add these environment variables: 
    RESEND_API_KEY=re_xxxxx
RESEND_FROM_DOMAIN=yourdomain.com

Optional Features

AI Features

For video transcription and AI summaries:

DEEPGRAM_API_KEY=your-key    # Transcription
GROQ_API_KEY=your-key        # AI summaries (preferred)
OPENAI_API_KEY=your-key      # AI summaries (fallback)

Google OAuth

GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=your-client-id
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=your-secret

Production Checklist

Critical: Change Default Secrets Before Going Public

The default docker-compose.yml contains hardcoded placeholder secrets that are visible in the public repository. Anyone who knows you're using Cap with defaults could potentially:

  • Forge authentication sessions (via NEXTAUTH_SECRET)
  • Decrypt sensitive database fields (via DATABASE_ENCRYPTION_KEY)
  • Spoof webhook requests (via MEDIA_SERVER_WEBHOOK_SECRET)

This is fine for local development or testing on a private network, but you must generate unique secrets before exposing Cap to the internet.

Generate secure secrets:

openssl rand -hex 32

Run this command three times to generate values for:

  • NEXTAUTH_SECRET
  • DATABASE_ENCRYPTION_KEY
  • MEDIA_SERVER_WEBHOOK_SECRET

Full production checklist:

  • [ ] Set secure passwords: MYSQL_PASSWORD, MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD
  • [ ] Set secure secrets: DATABASE_ENCRYPTION_KEY, NEXTAUTH_SECRET, MEDIA_SERVER_WEBHOOK_SECRET
  • [ ] Set CAP_URL to your public URL
  • [ ] Set S3_PUBLIC_URL to your MinIO/S3 public URL
  • [ ] Configure a reverse proxy (nginx, Caddy, Traefik) with SSL
  • [ ] Set up email with Resend
  • [ ] Configure backups for MySQL and MinIO volumes

Architecture

┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐
│   Cap Desktop   │────▶│    Cap Web      │
└─────────────────┘     │   (port 3000)   │
                        └────────┬────────┘
                                 │
                    ┌────────────┼────────────┐
                    ▼            ▼            ▼
             ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐
             │  MySQL   │ │  MinIO   │ │  Media   │
             │ (3306)   │ │ (9000)   │ │  Server  │
             └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘

Environment Variables Reference

See packages/env/server.ts for all available options.

Troubleshooting

Can't access Cap after starting:

docker compose logs cap-web

Database migration issues:

docker compose down -v  # Warning: deletes data
docker compose up -d

Reset everything:

docker compose down -v
docker compose up -d

Support

If you encounter issues with self-hosting:

We do not offer direct support for self-hosted deployments.