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

# Community Edition prerequisites

> Review the system requirements, OAuth provider setup, and SMTP configuration needed before installing Hoppscotch Community Edition.

Hoppscotch is a self-hosted API development platform, packaged as a set of Docker containers. You can install and run Hoppscotch on any operating system that can run a [Docker Engine](https://docs.docker.com/engine). You can use Hoppscotch on your local machine or a cloud provider of your choice.

## System Requirements

Hoppscotch is designed to run well on both small and large deployments. The minimum requirements to run Hoppscotch are an operating system that supports Docker and 4 CPU cores + 4GB of RAM to generate the build image and as little as 1 CPU core + 2GB of RAM to host the generated output files.

## Install Node.js, npm, pnpm

### Node.js + npm

Install [`Node.js`](https://nodejs.org/en) (v18+) and [`npm`](https://www.npmjs.com) (v9+).

* [Node.js + npm installation guide](https://nodejs.org/en/download)

Verify Node.js and npm installation by running the following commands in your terminal:

```bash theme={null}
node -v
```

```bash theme={null}
npm -v
```

### pnpm

Install [`pnpm`](https://pnpm.io) (v6+).

* [pnpm installation guide](https://pnpm.io/installation)

Verify pnpm installation by running the following command in your terminal:

```bash theme={null}
pnpm -v
```

## Docker

Install [`Docker`](https://www.docker.com) (v20+).

* [Docker installation guide](https://docs.docker.com/engine/install)

Verify Docker installation by running the following command in your terminal:

```bash theme={null}
docker -v
```

It is recommended to use Compose V2. To switch to Compose V2, use the `docker compose` CLI plugin or activate the **Use Docker Compose V2** setting in Docker Desktop. For more information, see the [Evolution of Compose](https://docs.docker.com/compose/compose-v2).

## Git

Install [`Git`](https://git-scm.com) (v2+).

* [Git installation guide](https://git-scm.com/download)

Verify Git installation by running the following command in your terminal:

```bash theme={null}
git --version
```

## Email delivery (optional)

Hoppscotch comes with support for easy integrations with 3rd party SMTP providers. You will need emails so that you can invite your team to use Hoppscotch and for emails to work, you will need to set up proper SMTP configuration as described below.

To enable email delivery, you will need to generate a valid SMTP URL in the below format:

```
smtps://user@domain.com:pass@smtp.domain.com
```

For example, if you are using Gmail as your SMTP server your SMTP URL will look like something shown below:

```
smtps://user@gmail.com:pass@smtp.gmail.com
```

You can also use [mailcatcher](https://mailcatcher.me/) as a simple SMTP server.

### Custom SMTP configuration

For more advanced needs, such as production-level email delivery or gaining more control over your email configurations, you can set up a custom SMTP server.

To enable the custom mailer configuration, in addition to setting the `MAILER_USE_CUSTOM_CONFIGS` to `true`, you'll also need the following details in the specified format:

| Requirement   | Description                                  | Format                                 |
| ------------- | -------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------- |
| SMTP Host     | Address of your SMTP server                  | `smtp.customdomain.com`                |
| SMTP Port     | Communication port used by your SMTP server  | `587` for **TLS** or `465` for **SSL** |
| SMTP User     | Username for your SMTP account               | `user@customdomain.com`                |
| SMTP Password | Corresponding password for your SMTP account | `custompass`                           |

You can use services like [SendGrid](https://sendgrid.com/), [Amazon SES](https://aws.amazon.com/ses/), or your own SMTP server to set up custom email delivery with Hoppscotch.

## Postgres database

Hoppscotch uses a Postgres database to store all the data. You can use any Postgres database provider of your choice - hosted locally or on a cloud provider. Make sure you have a valid Postgres database URL in the below format:

```
postgresql://username:password@url:5432/dbname
```

## OAuth

You also need to configure an OAuth provider to enable third-party authentication. Hoppscotch supports the following OAuth providers:

1. Email
2. GitHub
3. Google
4. Microsoft

### Choosing OAuth Providers

Hoppscotch allows you to choose which authentication providers to enable for your workspace during the onboarding flow in the admin dashboard. You can easily select from options like Google, GitHub, Microsoft, and Email directly through the setup interface.

```yaml theme={null}
VITE_ALLOWED_AUTH_PROVIDERS=GOOGLE,GITHUB,MICROSOFT,EMAIL
```

### Configuring third-party providers

To configure the third-party authentication, you will need to generate a valid OAuth client ID and client secret for the OAuth provider of your choice. You will also need to provide a valid callback URL for the OAuth provider.

For example, if you are using GitHub as your OAuth provider, you will need to generate a valid OAuth client ID and client secret for GitHub. You will also need to provide a valid callback URL for GitHub. The credentials for the GitHub OAuth provider can be entered during onboarding in the admin dashboard, and will look like the following:

```yaml theme={null}
GITHUB_CLIENT_ID=*****
GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET=*****
GITHUB_CALLBACK_URL=http://localhost:3170/v1/auth/github/callback
GITHUB_SCOPE=user:email
```

The `CALLBACK_URL` variable is the URL that is invoked after the authorization is done and it follows the pattern `http://localhost:3170/v1/auth/[auth_provider_name]/callback`.

The `SCOPE` variable defines the scope of the data that the OAuth provider passes on to Hoppscotch.

The links to configure OAuth for various providers are given below:

1. [**GitHub**](https://docs.github.com/en/apps/oauth-apps/building-oauth-apps/creating-an-oauth-app) (scope: email)
2. [**Google**](https://developers.google.com/identity/gsi/web/guides/get-google-api-clientid#get_your_google_api_client_id) (scope: email, profile)
3. [**Microsoft**](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/develop/scenario-web-app-sign-user-app-registration?tabs=nodejs#register-an-app-by-using-the-azure-portal) (scope: user with read permission)

<Note>It is recommended that you secure your deployments by issuing TLS certificates and using **HTTPS** since we use **secure HTTP cookies** for authenticating users.</Note>

## Support for standard `HTTP/s` ports

From the December 2023 release onwards containers now support ingress via standard HTTP/S ports on port `80` and `443` by default, moving forward it is recommended users switch to using these ports. We currently do still support the services being exposed from ports `3000`, `3100` and `3170` respectively but support for this will be dropped in the future and all containers will work over standard HTTP/s ports.