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Prerequisites

Hardware​

NiekForm is a relatively light NodeJS application that should be able to run with 1 vCPU and 1GB of RAM. But we recommend more resources for a better experience.

Software​

Operating system​

This guide will only cover debian based systems like Ubuntu, but NiekForm should work on any system that supports Node.js.

Node.js​

NiekForm requires Node.js version 17 or higher. You can check your Node.js version by running the following command:

node --version

If you don't have Node.js installed, you can download it from the Node.js website or use a package manager like nvm

Process manager​

We recommend using PM2 to manage your Node.js application. You can check the PM2 documentation to install PM2 on your system.

Database​

We recommend using Postgres or MySQL, any other database is not currently tested but should work.

Docker​

NiekForm can spawn a Docker container to run a Postgres database. You can check the Docker documentation to install Docker on your system.

Reverse proxy​

We recommend using a reverse proxy like Nginx or Apache. This is not required, but it is recommended. Our documentation will only cover a basic nginx configuration.

SSL certificate​

We recommend using a certificate from a trusted certificate authority like Let's Encrypt.

CloudFlare also provides free SSL certificates and is a great option for keeping your server secure, but understably some people don't want to use CloudFlare for PCI compliance reasons or similar.

Mail server​

We recommend using a service like SendGrid or Mailgun. But NiekForm can support any SMTP server.