> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.floe.one/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Self-Hosting Quick Start

> Spin up a local Floe instance with Docker Compose in a few minutes to try self-hosted peer-to-peer file transfer on your own machine before deploying.

## Prerequisites

* [Docker](https://docs.docker.com/get-docker/) and Docker Compose v2 (`docker compose`, bundled with Docker Desktop and modern Docker Engine).

## Steps

<Steps>
  <Step title="Download the compose file">
    ```bash theme={null}
    curl -fsSLO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jannskiee/floe/main/docker-compose.yml
    ```

    That is the only file you need. There is nothing to clone and no toolchain to install.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Start the stack">
    ```bash theme={null}
    docker compose up -d
    ```

    Docker pulls the [prebuilt images](/docs/self-hosting/images) and starts the client and server containers. Nothing is compiled locally.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Open the app">
    Open [http://localhost:3000](http://localhost:3000) in your browser. Open the same URL in a second tab (or on another device on the same network), start a transfer in one tab, and join with the room code in the other.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Tip>
  A `.env` file is optional. Every setting has a working default, so the two commands above are genuinely all you need to try it. To change something, fetch the annotated example alongside the compose file:

  ```bash theme={null}
  curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jannskiee/floe/main/.env.docker.example -o .env
  ```
</Tip>

## What this runs

This starts the stack in **STUN-only** mode. Direct peer-to-peer connections are used, which work on most home and mobile networks. No files pass through the server.

To support peers behind strict firewalls, symmetric NAT, or CGNAT, add a [TURN relay](/docs/self-hosting/turn-relay).

<Note>
  The defaults assume the browser and the server are on the same machine. To reach the app from another device on your network, set **both** of these in `.env` to your machine's LAN IP:

  ```env theme={null}
  NEXT_PUBLIC_SOCKET_URL=http://192.168.1.x:3001
  CLIENT_URL=http://192.168.1.x:3000
  ```

  ```bash theme={null}
  docker compose up -d
  ```

  No rebuild: the client reads its server address at runtime. `CLIENT_URL` matters as much as the socket URL, because it is the origin the server's CORS check allows, and without it the browser is blocked even though the page loads.
</Note>

<Tip>
  Ports are configurable. Set `CLIENT_PORT` and `PORT` in `.env` to publish the web app and the signaling server somewhere other than 3000 and 3001. If you change `PORT`, update `NEXT_PUBLIC_SOCKET_URL` to match and run `docker compose up -d`, or the browser will keep looking for the old port. No rebuild is needed; the client reads that address at runtime.
</Tip>