Self-hosted FAQ

An open-source bookmark manager you run on your own server or container. You get bookmarks, folders, tags, optional /go/ short links, teams, and admin tools without using the hosted product. See Introduction.

Use Quick start for the fastest path, Docker or Docker Compose for containers, or Installation for other options. Then complete First run setup.

SQLite is the default (good for many single-server installs). PostgreSQL is supported for larger deployments. Set DB_TYPE and related variables as described in Configuration.

For production, yes—session cookies use Secure when NODE_ENV=production and BASE_URL starts with https://. Align BASE_URL and FRONTEND_URL with your public URL. See Reverse proxy and HTTPS.

Plans, organizations, and billing are covered under Cloud. Core bookmark and slug behavior is the same; this site’s self-hosted guides describe the open-source app.

A short keyword on a bookmark. With Enable Forwarding on, visitors can open /go/ plus that keyword on your SlugBase site. See Slugs overview.

Use Ctrl+K (Windows/Linux) or ⌘K (macOS) for the command palette. Bookmark behavior and the palette are covered in Bookmarks.

Yes—JSON import and export are available in the app. See Import and export.

The first user created during Initial Setup is an administrator. After that, sign in at /login; additional users can use /signup while registration stays enabled.

Set REGISTRATIONS_ENABLED=false in the server environment. See Configuration and First run setup.

Yes—configure providers under Admin → OIDC Providers. Details are in OIDC.

If sign-up or login requires verification, you may be sent to /verify-email-required. There you can resend the link to your address or correct a typo in the email field, as the on-page copy explains. Links that verify in one step use /verify-email?token=… (the token is in the query string). Invalid, expired, or already-used links show the messages from the app (for example a prompt to resend when a signup link expired). On SlugBase Cloud, verification and account email rules are described in Sign up and login.

Request a link from /reset-password or /password-reset (both routes open the same screen). The email you receive contains a link with token= in the URL; that opens the set new password step. If no message arrives, configure outbound mail under Admin → Settings (SMTP) and see Troubleshooting (for example password-reset email issues).

Create a personal token under Profile and follow API tokens. Your server serves the self-hosted OpenAPI spec at /openapi.json and /openapi.yaml; interactive docs are at /api-docs unless you disable them with SLUGBASE_API_DOCS=false (see Configuration).

Admin (/admin) includes Members and Teams. Start with Admin overview, then Members and Teams.

Configure Admin → AI Suggestions with your OpenAI API key. See AI.