Quick start

This walkthrough installs Dopbase 0.1.9, starts a local server, imports an existing .env file, and runs an application with its secrets.

Backup compatibility

Databases and backups from unsupported earlier releases cannot be used. Keep the matching master.key with every backup. This command change requires no database migration; already initialized instances do not need setup again.

1. Install Dopbase

The shell installer downloads the matching tar.gz archive from GitHub Releases, shows download progress, verifies its SHA-256 checksum, and checks the binary's version before installing it. It requires curl, tar/gzip, and either sha256sum or shasum.

On macOS or Linux, install to ~/.local/bin:

curl -fsSL https://dopbase.com/install.sh | sh

On Windows, run Dopbase in a Linux container with Docker. Dopbase does not provide a native Windows binary or PowerShell installer.

Add the reported installation directory to PATH if the installer asks you to, then confirm the installation:

dopbase -v

Set DOPBASE_INSTALL_DIR to choose another directory and DOPBASE_VERSION to install a specific release. Mirrors can set DOPBASE_REPOSITORY_URL. An explicit DOPBASE_DOWNLOAD_BASE_URL still overrides the complete release download path.

2. Start the server

dopbase server start

Fresh storage automatically enters the existing web setup flow and prints a protected setup link. Keep this process running.

3. Complete setup

Open the printed setup link. Enter your root email and a password of 12 to 128 characters, then confirm it. Setup signs you into the browser and opens Projects; the server continues serving. Existing instances skip setup and show Sign in.

For startup without browser setup:

DOPBASE_ROOT_EMAIL=admin@example.com dopbase server start

This creates root on fresh storage and displays a generated password once. Save it and sign in with it. Subsequent starts preserve the account and ignore the bootstrap email. Guided terminal setup remains available through dopbase server setup, followed by startup.

To restore a backup, use the web setup link without supplying a bootstrap email, or run dopbase server setup --web. See server setup for disabled web UI settings, background credential output, and interrupted-reset recovery.

The default local server exposes:

Dopbase
Secure, Simple and Private
Version 0.1.9

Public URL: http://localhost:8840
Bind:       127.0.0.1:8840
Admin UI:   http://localhost:8840
API:        http://localhost:8840/api/v1
Config:     ~/.dopbase

The same address serves the Admin UI in a browser. If root was created from an email supplied at startup, sign in with the generated credentials. The Admin UI guide covers every screen.

Keep this process running while you use the client.

4. Confirm the client configuration

Open another terminal. With no configured server, Dopbase uses the local default automatically:

dopbase client status

Server:          http://localhost:8840
Server status:   connected (live)
Server source:   default
Authentication:  none
Identity:        none
Email:           none
Environment:     none (set with `dopbase env default <ENVIRONMENT_REF>`)

No repository or global config file is required for the implicit local server. Use dopbase client connect <server-url> when targeting another local or self-hosted instance.

5. Sign in

dopbase login

login authenticates with the resolved server and saves the token in the encrypted local session file.

6. Initialize a project

From an application directory with an existing .env file:

cd my-project
dopbase init

Dopbase shows the variable count and asks for a new target such as my-project/development. It then creates the project and environment in one transaction and stores every .env entry as an encrypted secret. After the import, it asks whether to delete .env, with Yes selected by default.

7. Run the application

Use the readable environment reference while developing:

dopbase run my-project/development -- npm start

Dopbase retrieves that environment and adds its secrets to the child process. It does not write a new .env file to disk.

For production and staging deployments, use immutable environment IDs and separate scoped tokens. Read target projects and environments for the complete workflow.