🖥️ Self-Hosting Overview
KitchenAsty is designed to be self-hosted on your own server or cloud instance. This guide walks you through everything you need to go from a blank server to a fully running restaurant ordering platform with HTTPS, backups, and monitoring.
🎯 What You Will Set Up
By the end of this guide, you will have:
- 🚀 A production server running KitchenAsty (API, Admin Dashboard, Storefront)
- 🗄️ PostgreSQL database with automatic backups
- 🔒 HTTPS with free SSL certificates from Let's Encrypt
- 🔀 A reverse proxy routing traffic to each service
- 🛡️ Firewall rules protecting your server
- ♻️ Automatic container restarts on failure
- 📦 A process for updating to new versions
🏗️ Architecture Overview
Internet
│
▼
┌────────────────┐
│ Your Domain │
│ (Cloudflare │
│ or direct) │
└───────┬────────┘
│
▼
┌────────────────┐
│ Reverse Proxy │
│ (Caddy/Nginx) │
│ + SSL/TLS │
└───────┬────────┘
│
┌─────────────┼──────────────┐
│ │ │
▼ ▼ ▼
┌─────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐
│ Admin │ │Storefront│ │ API │
│ :5173 │ │ :5174 │ │ :3000 │
└─────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘
│
▼
┌──────────┐
│PostgreSQL│
│ :5432 │
└──────────┘☁️ Hosting Options
You can host KitchenAsty on any Linux server. Here are some popular choices:
| Provider | Smallest Plan | Approximate Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hetzner | CX22 (2 vCPU, 4 GB) | ~$5/month | 💎 Excellent value, EU and US locations |
| DigitalOcean | Basic Droplet (1 vCPU, 2 GB) | $6/month | 📖 Simple interface, good docs |
| Linode (Akamai) | Nanode (1 vCPU, 2 GB) | $5/month | ⚡ Solid performance |
| Vultr | Cloud Compute (1 vCPU, 2 GB) | $6/month | 🌍 Global locations |
| AWS Lightsail | 2 GB instance | $10/month | ☁️ AWS ecosystem |
| Home server / Raspberry Pi 5 | — | Electricity cost | 🏠 Needs port forwarding and dynamic DNS |
💡 Recommendation
For a single-location restaurant, a 2 GB RAM / 1 vCPU server is sufficient. If you expect heavy traffic or run multiple locations, choose 4 GB RAM / 2 vCPU or higher.
🌐 Domain Names
You will need a domain name (e.g., yourdomain.com). We recommend setting up three subdomains:
| Subdomain | Purpose |
|---|---|
🔧 admin.yourdomain.com | Admin Dashboard (staff-only) |
🛒 order.yourdomain.com | Customer Storefront |
🔌 api.yourdomain.com | API Server (optional — can be proxied via /api/ paths) |
You can purchase a domain from any registrar (Namecheap, Cloudflare Registrar, Google Domains, GoDaddy, etc.).
📖 Guide Structure
Follow these pages in order:
- 🖥️ Server Setup — Provision a server, install Docker, and configure the firewall
- 🐳 Docker Compose Production — Configure and launch all KitchenAsty services
- 🌐 Domain & DNS — Point your domain to the server
- 🔒 Reverse Proxy & SSL — Set up Caddy or Nginx with automatic HTTPS
- 💾 Backups — Automate database and file backups
- 🔧 Maintenance — Updates, monitoring, and troubleshooting