Installation

Kin is a single Docker container with a local SQLite database. There's nothing else to install.

New to self-hosting?

This page assumes you've already got Kin running from the Quick start. If words like container, volume, or reverse proxy are new to you, they're defined in the glossary — hover over the links as you go.

Requirements

• A machine that can run Docker (any Linux box, a NAS, or an Unraid server).
• About 100 MB of RAM when idle, more if you enable AI or voice.

Environment variables

Variable	Default	What it does
TZ	UTC	Your timezone, e.g. Australia/Brisbane. Set this or reminders will fire at the wrong time.
DATA_DIR	/data	Where the database lives. Point it at a persistent volume.
DISABLE_SCHEDULER	0	Set to 1 to turn off background jobs (useful when running more than one container against the same DB).
ALLOWED_HOSTS	*	Comma-separated hostnames the server accepts. * is fine for LAN-only use.
DATABASE_URL	(auto)	Override the SQLite path if you need Postgres.

Mount /data persistently

If you don't map a volume to /data, your database is wiped every time the container is recreated. The Quick start example already does this with kin-data.

HTTPS and reverse proxies

Kin works fine over plain HTTP on your home network. To reach it securely from outside (or to use a nice hostname), put it behind a reverse proxy:

• Nginx Proxy Manager, Caddy, or Traefik all work — point them at http://<host>:8000.
• A custom domain like kin.example.com with a Let's Encrypt cert is the usual setup.
• Cloudflare Tunnel — a neat alternative that needs no open port or certificate. cloudflared reaches out to Cloudflare, and Cloudflare proxies kin.example.com to http://<host>:8000. No router config, no Let's Encrypt, works even if your ISP blocks inbound ports.

You're the one person using it?

If it's just you, an SSH tunnel is even simpler: ssh -L 8000:localhost:8000 <your-server> and open http://localhost:8000. No public exposure, no DNS.

Updating

Pull the latest image and recreate the container. Your data survives because it's in /data.

docker pull skyej/kin-crm:latest
docker rm -f kin
# re-run your docker run command from the Quick start

See Upgrading for the full story.