If you’re interested in deploying Hoppscotch on Kubernetes, you can conveniently skip this guide and proceed directly to the Helm chart deployment guide.

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Configuring the environment

Before you get started with the installation, you need to configure the environment variables. Create a .env file in the root directory of the project and add the following environment variables:
Ensure that the environment values are not enclosed within quotes [""].
To enable desktop app support for self-hosted instances, make sure you’ve enabled subpath based access.
#-----------------------Backend Config------------------------------#

# Prisma Config
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://username:password@url:5432/dbname # or replace with your database URL

# (Optional) By default, the AIO container (when in subpath access mode) exposes the endpoint on port 80. Use this setting to specify a different port if needed.
HOPP_AIO_ALTERNATE_PORT=80

# Sensitive Data Encryption Key while storing in Database (32 character)
DATA_ENCRYPTION_KEY=********************************

# Whitelisted origins for the Hoppscotch App.
# This list controls which origins can interact with the app through cross-origin comms.
# - localhost ports (3170, 3000, 3100): app, backend, development servers and services
# - app://localhost_3200: Bundle server origin identifier
#   NOTE: `3200` here refers to the bundle server (port 3200) that provides the bundles,
#   NOT where the app runs. The app itself uses the `app://` protocol with dynamic
#   bundle names like `app://{bundle-name}/`
WHITELISTED_ORIGINS=http://localhost:3170,http://localhost:3000,http://localhost:3100,app://localhost_3200,app://hoppscotch

#-----------------------Frontend Config------------------------------#

# Base URLs
VITE_BASE_URL=http://localhost:3000
VITE_SHORTCODE_BASE_URL=http://localhost:3000
VITE_ADMIN_URL=http://localhost:3100

# Backend URLs
VITE_BACKEND_GQL_URL=http://localhost:3170/graphql
VITE_BACKEND_WS_URL=wss://localhost:3170/graphql
VITE_BACKEND_API_URL=http://localhost:3170/v1

# Terms Of Service And Privacy Policy Links (Optional)
VITE_APP_TOS_LINK=https://docs.hoppscotch.io/support/terms
VITE_APP_PRIVACY_POLICY_LINK=https://docs.hoppscotch.io/support/privacy

# Set to `true` for subpath based access
ENABLE_SUBPATH_BASED_ACCESS=false
Let’s understand the major environment variables:
  1. DATABASE_URL: This is where you add your Postgres database URL.
  2. HOPP_AIO_ALTERNATE_PORT: This is an optional variable that lets you specify an alternate port for the AIO container’s endpoint when operating in subpath access mode. By default, this endpoint is exposed on port 80.
  3. DATA_ENCRYPTION_KEY: A 32-character key used for encrypting sensitive data stored in the database.
  4. WHITELISTED_ORIGINS: URLs of Hoppscotch backend, admin dashboard, frontend app and the bundle server that are allowed to interact with the desktop app.
  5. VITE_BASE_URL: This is the URL where your deployment will be accessible from.
  6. VITE_SHORTCODE_BASE_URL: A URL to generate shortcodes for sharing, can be the same as VITE_BASE_URL.
  7. VITE_BACKEND_GQL_URL: The URL for GraphQL within the instance.
  8. VITE_BACKEND_WS_URL: The URL for WebSockets within the instance.
  9. VITE_BACKEND_API_URL: The URL for REST APIs within the instance.
  10. VITE_APP_TOS_LINK and VITE_APP_PRIVACY_POLICY_LINK are optional and are used to configure the links to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
Third-party auth configs have to be obtained from the respective providers. You can choose and configure the auth providers by following the configuring OAuth guide.

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Docker

Once the environment variables are configured, you may proceed to the next step of setting up the Hoppscotch instance. Currently, there are two ways to set up Hoppscotch:
  1. Using individual containers for the services.
  2. Using the AIO container.
  • Before proceeding further, ensure that you have a running instance of Postgres.

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Using individual containers for the services

To self-host Hoppscotch Community Edition, you will need the following services running via Docker:
  • Hoppscotch frontend
  • Hoppscotch backend
  • Hoppscotch admin dashboard
Pull the containers from DockerHub with the following command: 
docker pull hoppscotch/hoppscotch-frontend
docker pull hoppscotch/hoppscotch-backend
docker pull hoppscotch/hoppscotch-admin
After pulling the containers, start Hoppscotch by running all three services: 
docker run -p 3000:3000 --env-file .env --restart unless-stopped hoppscotch/hoppscotch-frontend
docker run -p 3170:3170 --env-file .env --restart unless-stopped hoppscotch/hoppscotch-backend
docker run -p 3100:3100 --env-file .env --restart unless-stopped hoppscotch/hoppscotch-admin
Ensure that the environment variables are configured in the .env file and the restart policy is mentioned.
To enable desktop app support for your self-hosted Hoppscotch instance, make sure you expose the web app server which is a part of the frontend container. You can do this by running the following command:
docker run -p 3000:3000 -p 3200:3200 --env-file .env --restart unless-stopped hoppscotch/hoppscotch-frontend
Open admin dashboard or PORT 3100 in the browser to setup and access the Hoppscotch instance.

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Using the AIO container

The All-In-One (AIO) container is a single container that provides all the services required to run Hoppscotch. Pull the container from DockerHub with the following command: 
docker pull hoppscotch/hoppscotch
After pulling the container, start Hoppscotch by running the container: 
docker run -p 3000:3000 -p 3100:3100 -p 3170:3170 --env-file .env --restart unless-stopped hoppscotch/hoppscotch
Ensure that the environment variables are configured in the .env file and the restart policy is mentioned.
Open admin dashboard or PORT 3100 in the browser to setup and access the Hoppscotch instance.

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Subpath Based Access

To enable subpath based access the following .env variable must be set to true, it is set to false by default. 
ENABLE_SUBPATH_BASED_ACCESS=true
To enable desktop app support for your self-hosted Hoppscotch instance, make sure to set ENABLE_SUBPATH_BASED_ACCESS to true in your .env file.
When set to true the following is the expected behavior:

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Using individual containers for the services

When using the individual containers it is up to the users to configure a reverse proxy to allow requests made to a specific route to be rerouted to the relevant containers.

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Using the AIO container

When using AIO, when subpath access is set to true the services can be accessed from the following routes
ServiceRoute
Hoppscotch App/
Hoppscotch Admin App/admin
Hoppscotch Backend/backend
By default, the AIO container exposes the app on port 80. This can cause conflicts if you’re running on a host system where port 80 is privileged, such as with Rootless Docker, Podman, or hardened environments like OpenShift. If you experience issues on these setups, try setting HOPP_AIO_ALTERNATE_PORT to bind the app to a non-privileged port.

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Migrations

Once the instance of Hoppscotch is up, you need to run migrations on the database to ensure that it has the relevant tables. Depending on how Hoppscotch was set up, the method to run the migrations changes.

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Using individual containers for the services

Run the following command to copy the ID of the backend container: 
docker ps

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Using the AIO container

Run the following command to copy the ID of the AIO container: 
docker ps

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Running migrations

Once the respective container ID is copied, execute the following command to open an interactive shell within the container to execute the migration command: 
docker exec -it <container_id> /bin/sh
Once inside the container, run the migration using: 
pnpm dlx prisma migrate deploy
Should the user ever encounter the following error: 
Database migration not found. Please check the documentation for assistance: https://docs.hoppscotch.io/documentation/self-host/community-edition/install-and-build#running-migrations
It means the user is trying to start the backend (or AIO) service before the database has all the relevant tables in it. In order to run the migration to populate the database run the following command. 
docker run -it --entrypoint sh --env-file .env <container_name>
Making sure to pass in the .env file containing the right .env variables for the instance. On executing the aforementioned command will result in a shell being opened inside a instance of the container following which user can execute a database migration normally with 
pnpm dlx prisma migrate deploy
Once the database has been successfully run and the database populated with tables the backend containers ( or AIO container) can be started normally. Note: If user is using docker compose to run the services the following command can be used to open a shell inside the backend (or AIO) service. 
docker compose run --entrypoint sh <Service_name>