# Installation Checklist

To install Mealie on your server there are a few steps for proper configuration. Let's go through them.

!!! tip TLDR
    Don't need step by step? Checkout the

    - [SQLite docker-compose](./sqlite.md)
    - [Postgres docker-compose](./postgres.md)

## Pre-work

To deploy mealie on your local network it is highly recommended to use docker to deploy the image straight from dockerhub. Using the docker-compose templates provided, you should be able to get a stack up and running easily by changing a few default values and deploying. You can deploy with either SQLite (default) or Postgres. SQLite is sufficient for most use cases. Additionally, with Mealie's automated backup and restore functionality, you can easily move between SQLite and Postgres as you wish.

[Get Docker](https://docs.docker.com/get-docker/)

[Get Docker Compose](https://docs.docker.com/compose/install/)

[Mealie on Dockerhub](https://hub.docker.com/r/hkotel/mealie)

- linux/amd64
- linux/arm64


!!! warning "32bit Support"
    Due to a build dependency limitation, Mealie is not supported on 32bit ARM systems. If you're running into this limitation on a newer Raspberry Pi, please consider upgrading to a 64bit operating system on the Raspberry Pi.


## Step 1: Deciding on Deployment Type
SQLite is a popular, open source, self-contained, zero-configuration database that is the ideal choice for Mealie when you have 1-20 Users and your concurrent write operations will be some-what limited. If you need to support many concurrent users, you may want to consider a more robust database such as PostgreSQL. 

You can find the relevant ready to use docker-compose files for supported installations at the links below.

- [SQLite](./sqlite.md)
- [PostgreSQL](./postgres.md)

## Step 2: Setting up your files.

The following steps were tested on a Ubuntu 20.04 server, but should work for most other Linux distributions. These steps are not required, but is how I generally will setup services on my server. 


1. SSH into your server and navigate to the home directory of the user you want to run Mealie as. If that is your current user, you can use `cd ~` to ensure you're in the right directory.
2. Create a directory called `docker` and navigate into it. `mkdir docker && cd docker`
3. Do the same for mealie `mkdir mealie && cd mealie`
4. Create a docker-compose.yaml file in the mealie directory. `touch docker-compose.yaml`
5. Use the text editor or your choice to edit the file and copy the contents of the docker-compose template for the deployment type you want to use. `nano docker-compose.yaml` or `vi docker-compose.yaml`


## Step 2: Customizing The `docker-compose.yaml` files.
After you've decided setup the files it's important to set a few ENV variables to ensure that you can use all the features of Mealie. I recommend that you verify and check that:

- [x] You've configured the relevant ENV variables for your database selection in the `docker-compose.yaml` files.
- [x] You've configured the [SMTP server settings](./backend-config.md#email) (used for invitations, password resets, etc)
- [x] Verified the port mapped on the `mealie-frontend` container is an open port on your server (Default: 9925)
- [x] You've set the [`BASE_URL`](./backend-config.md#general) variable.
- [x] You've set the `DEFAULT_EMAIL` and `DEFAULT_GROUP` variable.
- [x] Make any theme changes on the frontend container. [See Frontend Config](./frontend-config.md#themeing)

## Step 3: Startup 
After you've configured your database, and updated the `docker-compose.yaml` files, you can start Mealie by running the following command in the directory where you've added your `docker-compose.yaml`. 

```bash
$ docker-compose up -d
```

You should see the containers start up without error. You should now be able to access the Mealie frontend at [http://localhost:9925](http://locahost:9925).

!!! tip "Default Credentials"

    **Username:** changeme@email.com

    **Password:** MyPassword

## Step 4: Backup
While v1.0.0 is a great step to data-stability and security, it's not a backup. As a core feature, Mealie will run a backup every 24 hours. Optionally, you can also run backups whenever you'd like through the UI or the API. 

These backups are just plain .zip files that you can download from the UI or access via the mounted volume on your system. For complete data protection you MUST store these backups somewhere safe, and outside of the server where they are deployed. A favorite solution of mine is [autorestic](https://autorestic.vercel.app/) which can be configured via yaml to run an off-site backup on a regular basis. 