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CE Docker Quick Start

Run Aicser Community Edition on your machine using Docker. This guide is for anyone who wants to try CE locally. To set up a full development environment for contributing, see the Developer Guide.

Prerequisites​

Steps​

1. Clone the repository​

git clone https://github.com/Aicser-Platform/aicser.git
cd aicser

2. Configure environment​

cp server/env.example deploy/.env

Open deploy/.env and set the required values:

# Required — generate a random secret
SECRET_KEY=       # see below

# Required — Fernet key for credential encryption
ENCRYPTION_KEY=   # see below

# Required — PostgreSQL password
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=change-this-password

Generate the required secrets:

# SECRET_KEY
openssl rand -hex 32

# ENCRYPTION_KEY
python3 -c "from cryptography.fernet import Fernet; print(Fernet.generate_key().decode())"

3. Start the services​

cd deploy
make ce

This builds and starts PostgreSQL, Redis, the FastAPI server, and the Next.js client. First-run image builds take 3–5 minutes.

4. Verify​

docker compose -f docker-compose.ce.yml ps

All four services should show Up (healthy).

Open http://localhost:3000 in your browser. The API health check: http://localhost:8000/health

Useful commands​

# View logs
make ce-logs

# Stop services
make ce-down

# Rebuild after code changes
make ce-recreate

# Full reset — deletes all data
make ce-reset

What CE does not include​

CE does not include AI-powered natural language queries. Those are available in Enterprise Edition.

Next steps​