Setting up popular apps

Every app in the catalogue deploys the same way, but most have one first-run step worth knowing about. These are the ones people deploy most.

Whatever you deploy: open it and create the first account immediately. Many self-hosted apps give the first visitor the owner account, so an app left sitting unopened can be claimed by anyone who finds the address.

Ghost — blogging and newsletters

Create your account at /ghost as soon as it is up.

Set up email on the Mail tab before you need it. Ghost sends staff invitations and every password reset by email, so without it an owner who forgets their password has no way back in.

Ghost's own newsletter feature sends bulk email, which our relay does not carry. If you want to mail a list, connect a bulk provider in Ghost's settings.

Vaultwarden — password manager

Register your account straight after deploying, then turn off open registration in the admin panel so nobody else can sign up.

Set up email if you want password hints and two-factor by email to work.

Take a snapshot once you have your vault set up. This is the one app where losing data is genuinely painful.

Jellyfin — media server

Upload media to the Files tab over SFTP first, then add those folders as libraries in Jellyfin.

Transcoding uses the CPU your plan includes. If a device cannot play a file directly and has to transcode, that is where your cores go — direct-play files are far lighter.

Immich — photos

Give it more disk than you think. Photo libraries grow, and the machine-learning features want memory.

Use the mobile app for backup rather than uploading through the browser; it handles interruptions properly.

Gitea and Forgejo — git hosting

SSH access to repositories is disabled, so use HTTPS remotes. Create a personal access token in the app for pushing rather than using your password.

Set up email if you want notifications and password resets.

Nextcloud — files and collaboration

Give it room. Nextcloud is happier with more memory than the minimum, and it stores everything you upload.

Set up email for sharing notifications and resets.

Uptime Kuma and Gatus — monitoring

Both watch things you point them at. Set up email or a notification service so alerts actually reach you — a monitor that notices an outage and tells nobody is not much use.

Do not point them at themselves.

Fider and Discourse — feedback and forums

Set up email before you do anything else. Both send sign-in links by email, and Discourse sends invitations. Without working mail you can be locked out of your own forum after the first session.

Anything not listed here

Every app's page in the panel has first-run notes for that specific app, and a Credentials tab showing any generated password. If it needs a particular setting, that is where it is written down.