Self-host Folio Writer Cloud

One docker compose file will run the same server behind cloud.foliowriter.app on your own machine: live co-editing, end-to-end-encrypted projects, typeset preview, and PDF / Word / LaTeX export — Pandoc and Typst ship inside the image. Free for personal use.

Quickstart

mkdir folio && cd folio
curl -fsSLO https://foliowriter.app/selfhost/docker-compose.yml
FOLIO_DOMAIN=folio.example.com docker compose up -d

The bundled Caddy fetches and renews the Let’s Encrypt certificate for your domain and proxies HTTPS plus the collaboration websockets. Then open https://folio.example.com. No domain yet? docker compose up folio-web and open http://localhost:8787.

What you need

A Linux server — 1 CPU / 2 GB RAM is plenty to start — with Docker Engine + Compose. The image foliowriter/folio-web is published for amd64 and arm64.
A domain or subdomain pointing at the server, with ports 80/443 open (skip for a LAN or localhost trial).

Your first (admin) account

Start the server with your email in FOLIO_ADMIN_EMAILS:

FOLIO_DOMAIN=folio.example.com FOLIO_ADMIN_EMAILS=you@example.com \
  docker compose up -d

Every address listed there is always an admin — no quotas, plus the /admin dashboard (accounts, projects, storage, traffic). Sign in with that email; with no SMTP configured, the magic sign-in link prints to the server log instead of being emailed:

docker compose logs folio-web | grep -i http

Open the printed link and you’re in. For real email delivery, set the SMTP_* variables — any relay works — and PUBLIC_BASE_URL so emailed links use your domain.

Configuration

Everything is environment variables. Put them in a .env file beside docker-compose.yml (Compose reads it automatically):

FOLIO_DOMAIN=folio.example.com
PUBLIC_BASE_URL=https://folio.example.com
FOLIO_ADMIN_EMAILS=you@example.com
FOLIO_LIMIT_PROJECTS=0        # 0 = unlimited
FOLIO_LIMIT_STORAGE_MB=0      # 0 = unlimited
FOLIO_ENC_KEY=…               # openssl rand -hex 32

Variable	What it does
`FOLIO_DOMAIN`	Domain Caddy serves and gets certificates for (default `localhost`).
`PUBLIC_BASE_URL`	Absolute origin used in sign-in emails and share links.
`FOLIO_ADMIN_EMAILS`	Comma-separated emails that are always admins — quota-exempt, may use `/admin`.
`SMTP_HOST / PORT / USER / PASS / SECURE / FROM`	Outgoing mail for magic-link sign-in. Unset → links print to the container log.
`FOLIO_LIMIT_PROJECTS`	Projects per account (default 2). 0 = unlimited — most self-hosters set this.
`FOLIO_LIMIT_STORAGE_MB`	Storage per account in MB (default 50). 0 = unlimited.
`FOLIO_DEMOS`	Comma-separated project ids offered as auto-resetting demo sandboxes.
`FOLIO_ALLOW_GUEST_PROJECTS`	Set `1` to let visitors create projects without signing in (by default creation needs an account; demos are always open).
`FOLIO_ENC_KEY`	64-hex-char key encrypting stored authenticator secrets at rest.

Updates, backup & restore

Update: docker compose pull && docker compose up -d. Tagged versions exist (foliowriter/folio-web:0.2.0) if you prefer pinning to tracking latest.

Everything — projects, accounts, sessions — lives in ./data beside the compose file. Backup is that one folder:

docker compose stop folio-web
tar czf folio-backup-$(date +%F).tgz data
docker compose start folio-web

Restore — or move servers — by putting data/ back and running docker compose up -d.

License

Personal use is free. The image is proprietary but costs nothing to self-host for yourself, your family, and your personal collaborators.

Teams and organizations need a commercial license. Running it for or within a company, school, or other organization — or commercially — requires one; it’s how the free tier stays funded. Get in touch and we’ll sort you out quickly.

No redistribution, rebranding, or derivative works; full terms ship with the image documentation. Prefer not to run a server at all? cloud.foliowriter.app is the hosted version — free to start.