Docs / Getting Started / Server Setup

Server Setup

Before starting sh0, you only need to do two things: set your server's hostname and point your DNS to it. sh0 handles everything else.

Start with a Clean Server

sh0 is designed to be installed on a fresh server. It manages Docker, Caddy, and all networking automatically. Using a clean server avoids conflicts with existing services on ports 80 and 443.

Note

You do not need to install Docker or Caddy manually. When you run sh0 serve as root, it detects missing dependencies and installs them for you.

Set the Hostname

Set your server's hostname to match the domain you will use for the sh0 dashboard. This ensures SSL certificates and reverse proxy routing work correctly.

Terminal

# Set the hostname (replace with your actual domain)
sudo hostnamectl set-hostname panel.example.com

Then update /etc/hosts so the server can resolve its own hostname:

/etc/hosts

# Add this line (use your server's public IP)
203.0.113.10    panel.example.com

Verify the hostname is set:

Terminal

hostname -f
# Should output: panel.example.com

Configure DNS

In your DNS provider (Cloudflare, Namecheap, Route 53, etc.), create two A records pointing to your server's IP address:

Type	Name	Value	Purpose
A	`panel.example.com`	Your server IP	sh0 dashboard
A (wildcard)	`*.example.com`	Your server IP	Deployed apps get automatic subdomains

Wildcard DNS

The wildcard record (*.example.com) lets sh0 automatically assign subdomains like myapp.example.com to each deployed app. Without it, you will need to create individual DNS records for each app.

Start sh0

Once your hostname and DNS are configured, start sh0 with your domain:

Terminal

sh0 serve --panel-domain panel.example.com --base-domain example.com

On first run, sh0 will:

Detect and install Docker Engine if missing
Detect and install Caddy (reverse proxy) if missing
Initialize the database and generate encryption keys
Start the dashboard on port 9000
Provision SSL certificates via Let's Encrypt

Note

DNS propagation can take a few minutes. If SSL provisioning fails on the first attempt, wait a moment and restart sh0. Caddy will retry automatically.

What sh0 Installs Automatically

When running as root on Linux, sh0 serve automatically provisions these dependencies if they are not already present:

Dependency	Install Method	Purpose
Docker Engine	`get.docker.com`	Container runtime for deployed apps
Caddy	Official APT repo or binary download	Reverse proxy with automatic SSL

You can also run the provisioning checks without starting the server:

Terminal

sh0 setup

Installation

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