Install Buuck on a VPS

Buuck runs on your own server. This page tells you how to install Buuck on a VPS with the installer.

Do the steps in the given sequence. The installation needs about 15 minutes after your DNS records are ready.

Start and Pro editions

Buuck has two self-hosted editions. Your purchase email tells you which edition you bought. Use only the registry credentials from that email. The credentials work for one edition only.

	Buuck Start	Buuck Pro
Registry project	buuck	buuck-pro
Server image	registry.buuck.io/buuck/server	registry.buuck.io/buuck-pro/server
Dashboard image	registry.buuck.io/buuck/dashboard	registry.buuck.io/buuck-pro/dashboard
Booking image	Same image, published to both projects (booking)	Same image, published to both projects (booking)
Migrate image	registry.buuck.io/buuck/db-migrate	registry.buuck.io/buuck-pro/db-migrate
Branding	Subtle “Powered by Buuck” on booking emails	No Buuck branding. White-label emails and UI
Branding controls	Fixed Buuck mark	Custom branding (logo and look)

Pro Managed is the Pro product with hosting and support from us. You do not install Pro Managed with this page.

Caution

A Start registry user cannot pull Pro images. A Pro registry user cannot pull Start images. If Docker shows unauthorized or denied, check that your edition and your credentials match.

What you install

Buuck has three applications and five support services. Docker Compose starts all of them together.

Service	Function	Port
booking	The public page. Your customers make their bookings here.	3002
dashboard	The private page. Your staff manage the bookings here.	3001
server	The API. The two applications get their data from the API.	3000
db-migrate	One-time setup. It creates the database users and the database tables.	—
postgres	The database. The database keeps all of your data.	5432
cache	The cache. The cache makes the API faster.	6379
caddy	The reverse proxy. It also gets the TLS certificates.	80, 443
dozzle	The log viewer. You can read the messages of the other services here.	8080

Only the reverse proxy is open to the internet. The other services are on a private Docker network.

The server, dashboard, and db-migrate images differ by edition. The Start build and the Pro build are separate images. The Pro migrate image creates extra tables that Start does not. The installer pulls the images for the edition that matches your registry credentials.

Before you start

You need these items:

• A VPS with 2 CPU cores, 4 GB of RAM and 20 GB of free disk space.
• A 64-bit x86 processor. The Buuck images do not run on an ARM processor.
• A Linux operating system. We test Buuck on Ubuntu 24.04.
• Root access to the VPS, or a user account with sudo rights.
• A domain name. You must be able to add records to its DNS zone.
• Your edition (Start or Pro). The purchase email names the edition.
• The registry user name and your license key. We send them to you in an email.
• The version number of your Buuck release. The same email gives you this number.
• An SMTP account. Buuck sends the booking emails with this account.

Caution

Keep your license key secret. Any person who has your license key can get the Buuck images for your edition.

Your license is only for the person or the company that bought Buuck. If a company bought Buuck, only that company can use Buuck. Do not give your license key to a different person or a different company.

If you do not obey these rules, we cancel your license and your license key. You then lose your access to the Buuck images and to all later versions.

This page uses example.com for the domain name. Replace example.com with your own domain name.

Step 1: Add the DNS records

Buuck uses four subdomains. Add one DNS A record for each subdomain. Each record points to the IP address of your VPS.

Record	Example	Service
api	api.example.com	the server
admin	admin.example.com	the dashboard
book	book.example.com	the booking page
logs	logs.example.com	the log viewer

If your DNS provider has a proxy function, switch the proxy off. The reverse proxy on your VPS must get the requests directly.

Check one record before you continue:

dig +short api.example.com

The command shows the IP address of your VPS. If the command shows no address, wait 10 minutes. Then do the check again.

Caution

All four DNS records must point to your VPS before you start Step 2. If you run the installer first, the TLS certificates fail.

Step 2: Run the installer

Connect to your VPS:

ssh root@YOUR-SERVER-IP

Download the installer. Then run it as root:

curl -fsSL https://get.buuck.io/install.sh -o install.sh
sudo bash install.sh

Caution

Download the file first. Then run sudo bash install.sh. Do not pipe the script into bash or sh with |. That form does not work with this installer.

The installer asks for these values from your purchase email and from your own setup:

1. Registry user name (it starts with robot$)
2. License key
3. Edition (start or pro)
4. Buuck version (for example v0.0.1)
5. API domain (for example api.example.com)
6. Dashboard domain (for example admin.example.com)
7. Booking domain (for example book.example.com)
8. Logs domain (for example logs.example.com)
9. Email address for TLS certificate notices
10. Email provider (usually smtp)
11. From address for booking emails
12. SMTP host, port, user, password and secure setting

Use the registry user name and the license key from the same purchase email. Those credentials already match your edition (Start → project buuck, Pro → project buuck-pro).

Then the installer shows a summary. Type y to continue.

The installer then does this work for you:

1. Installs Docker Engine and Docker Compose if they are missing.
2. Can open ports 22, 80 and 443 with ufw if you say yes.
3. Checks your DNS records.
4. Creates /opt/buuck with compose.yaml, Caddyfile, .env and dozzle-users.yml.
5. Generates the database passwords, the cache password, the auth secret, the setup token and the log viewer password.
6. Logs in to the Buuck registry.
7. Pulls the images for your edition and starts Buuck.
8. Waits until the API answers over HTTPS.
9. Prints the setup link for the first account.

The first start needs about 2 to 3 minutes. The reverse proxy also gets the TLS certificates in this time.

Caution

Do not open port 5432 or port 6379. The database and the cache must stay private.

Step 3: Check the installation

Look at the status of the services:

cd /opt/buuck
docker compose ps

The db-migrate service shows the status exited (0). This status is correct. The service runs one time only. All of the other services show the status running or healthy.

Send a request to the API:

curl -i https://api.example.com

The API answers with 200 OK and the text OK.

Then open these three addresses in a browser:

• https://admin.example.com shows the login page of the dashboard.
• https://book.example.com shows the booking page.
• https://logs.example.com shows the log viewer. Sign in as admin. The password is DOZZLE_PASSWORD in /opt/buuck/.env.

The browser must show a valid certificate for each address. If a page does not open, read the Problems section.

On Start, booking emails end with a small “Powered by Buuck” line. On Pro, that line is not present.

Caution

The log viewer is private. It can read the messages of every Buuck container. Do not share the URL or the password. The viewer uses the Docker socket, so treat it like an admin tool.

Step 4: Make the first account

At the end, the installer prints a setup link. The link looks like this:

https://admin.example.com/setup?token=YOUR-SETUP-TOKEN

1. Open the setup link in a browser.
2. Give your name, your email address and a password.
3. Give the name of your business and a short name for the address.
4. Select Complete setup.

The dashboard opens. Your account is the owner of the instance. You can now add your venues, your resources and your offerings.

Your customers make their bookings at https://book.example.com/YOUR-SHORT-NAME.

New accounts need an invitation. Open Instance settings on the dashboard to invite your staff. Each invitation goes to one email address and works one time.

Caution

Finish the setup before you share the dashboard address. The setup page works only one time. If you lose the setup link, the token is SETUP_TOKEN in /opt/buuck/.env.

Keep a copy of /opt/buuck/.env on a different machine. The file holds your secrets.

Make a backup

Buuck keeps all of your data in the database. Make a backup of the database each day.

Write the backup to a file:

cd /opt/buuck
docker compose exec -T postgres sh -c 'pg_dump -U "$POSTGRES_USER" "$POSTGRES_DB"' > buuck-$(date +%F).sql

Also make a copy of your .env file. Keep both files on a different machine.

To put a backup back in the database, use this command:

docker compose exec -T postgres sh -c 'psql -U "$POSTGRES_USER" -d "$POSTGRES_DB"' < buuck-2026-01-31.sql

Install an update

Your license includes all later versions of your edition. We send you an email for each new version.

Caution

Make a backup of the database before you install an update.

Download the update script. Then run it. Do not pipe the script into bash.

curl -fsSL https://get.buuck.io/update.sh -o update.sh
sudo bash update.sh

The script asks for the new version (for example v0.0.1) and which services to update. It changes BUUCK_VERSION in /opt/buuck/.env, pulls the new images for your edition, runs database migrations when needed, and recreates only the selected services. The database keeps your data.

The update script does not add new services. If your latest installation has missing services, run the installer again. The installer overwrites compose.yaml and the Caddyfile. It keeps the database secrets. It creates missing secrets and passwords.

To update only some services:

sudo bash update.sh --version v0.0.1 --services dashboard,booking

Stop and start Buuck

Stop all of the services:

cd /opt/buuck
docker compose stop

Start all of the services again:

docker compose start

Remove Buuck

To remove the containers, use this command:

cd /opt/buuck
docker compose down

Danger

The next command deletes your database. All of your bookings and all of your accounts are lost. Make a backup first.

docker compose down --volumes

Problems

Read the messages of a service. Replace server with the name of the service:

cd /opt/buuck
docker compose logs -f server

Problem	Cause and correction
The installer stops with BASH_SOURCE[0]: unbound variable or Bad substitution.	You piped the script into bash or sh. Download install.sh first. Then run sudo bash install.sh.
Docker shows unauthorized or denied for a pull.	The registry user name or the license key is not correct, or the credentials do not match your edition. Start credentials pull from project buuck. Pro credentials pull from project buuck-pro. Run the installer again with the values from your purchase email. Put the registry user name in single quotes if you type it in a shell command.
Docker shows manifest unknown for a pull.	The value of BUUCK_VERSION is not correct, or the image path does not match your edition. Compare the value and the project with your email.
Docker shows exec format error for a service.	The processor of your VPS is not a 64-bit x86 processor. Use a different VPS.
The browser shows a certificate error.	The DNS records are not correct, or a proxy is active. Also make sure that port 80 is open.
The db-migrate service shows exited (1).	Read the messages of the service. Then start it again with docker compose up -d db-migrate.
The dashboard shows a connection error.	The value of API_DOMAIN or DASHBOARD_DOMAIN in /opt/buuck/.env is not correct. Correct the value. Then run docker compose up -d --force-recreate.
The emails do not arrive.	The SMTP values are not correct. Read the messages of the server service.
A Start install shows no “Powered by Buuck” line, or a Pro install still shows it.	You may have pulled the wrong edition. Check the image names in docker compose ps and in /opt/buuck/compose.yaml. Start uses project buuck. Pro uses project buuck-pro.
A service starts again and again.	The /opt/buuck/.env file has an empty value. Run the installer again, or compare the file with a working install.
The log viewer page stays blank, or the messages do not update.	The reverse proxy buffers the live stream. The Caddyfile must have flush_interval -1 for the logs domain. Then run docker compose up -d --force-recreate caddy.
The log viewer shows a login error.	The password is DOZZLE_PASSWORD in /opt/buuck/.env. The user name is admin.
The log viewer does not list a Buuck service.	The viewer only shows containers from the Compose project named buuck. Check docker compose ps in /opt/buuck.

If a problem continues, answer the email that we sent to you after you bought Buuck. Add the messages of the services to your answer.