Getting Started

Convoy Panel is designed to run in Docker containers. This setup enables consistent and secure deployments. Unfortunately, the configuration makes it difficult to install the panel on web hosting platforms, and we don't provide any support for non-standard installations.

You are expected to understand how to read documentation to use this Panel. We have spent many hours detailing how to install or upgrade our software; take some time and read rather than copy and pasting and then complaining when things do not work. This panel does not exist as a drag-and-drop service to run your servers. It is a highly complex system requiring multiple dependencies and administrators willing to spend some time learning how to use it. If you expect to be able to install this with no understanding of basic linux system administration you should stop and turn around now.

Compatibility

Convoy runs on a plentiful variety of operating systems and is flexible with differing hardware configurations.

Operating Systems

These are a list of operating systems known to work with Convoy. It's not a comprehensive list, so you may successfully install Convoy on a system that's not listed here. However, we won't provide any support in case issues arise.

If you find that a system not listed on here that works, please let us know and we can add it to the list.

WARNING

The panel cannot be installed in a container due to limitations with Docker.

Operating System	Supported	Notes
Debian 11 and later	✅
Ubuntu 20.04 and later	✅	Safe bet because this was Convoy's development environment.
Proxmox VE	❌	Hard no because Proxmox's networking setup interferes with Docker's network, leading to confusing network errors in Convoy. However, you may install the panel in a KVM virtual machine.

Proxmox VE

These are a list of virtual environments known to work with Convoy. It's not a comprehensive list, so you may use Convoy on a version that's not listed here. However, we won't provide any support in case issues arise.

If you find that a version not listed on here that works, please let us know and we can add it to the list. But note, you must have thoroughly tested the compatibility as one part of Convoy working doesn't necessarily mean that it works throughout.

VE Version	Panel Version
7.2-7 → 7.3-4	v1.x → v2.x
7.3-4 and later	v3.x and later

Minimum Hardware Requirements

		Notes
CPU	1 Core	Non-x86 architectures aren't supported because the MySQL image in our deployment doesn't support other platforms. You may swap it out for another database or use Rosetta 2 on Apple Silicon, but we won't provide support for non-standard installations.
Memory	4 GiB	You may use swap, but it may cause degraded performance.
Disk	10 GiB

Odd Exceptions

The panel can't be hosted with hosting providers that utilize Combahton for DDoS protection. When Docker tries to build, it can't locate the necessary packages over Combahton's network.

Installation

Install Docker

Convoy uses Docker for everything. The source code comes with a Docker configuration that will ensure that everything works.

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com/ | sh

WARNING

Please ensure your installation of Docker succeeded using the command above. Otherwise, visit Docker and find a guide for your operating system to manually install Docker.

Download Files

First, create the folder where the panel will be stored in and change your current directory to that newly created folder.

mkdir -p /var/www/convoy
cd /var/www/convoy

Once you've created the directory and moved into it, you'll need to download the panel. Then, you'll need to unpack the archive. Next, you'll need to set the correct permissions on the storage/ and bootstrap/cache/ directories.

curl -Lo panel.tar.gz https://github.com/convoypanel/panel/releases/latest/download/panel.tar.gz
tar -xzvf panel.tar.gz
chmod -R o+w storage/* bootstrap/cache/

Tip

If you receive file permission errors like in this picture, try running docker compose exec workspace chmod -R o+w storage/* bootstrap/cache/

Configuration

First, we'll create a copy a new environment file.

cp .env.example .env

For the following configuration steps, you'll need to edit your environment file with an editor of your choice.

# nano
nano .env
# NeoVIM
nvim .env
# VIM
vim .env

Configuring Your Environment File

Accessibility

First up, let's declare where this panel will be hosted. You'll need to edit the APP_URL variable with a URL that your users can access. If you don't have a domain, you can host directly from your IP address by leaving it as APP_URL=http://localhost

Pro-tip

Convoy comes with auto-TLS. If you'd like extra security, make sure to set your protocol to https:. However, auto-TLS requires a registered domain that's pointed to your IP address, and if you're using Cloudflare or proxies, they must be disabled.

APP_URL=http://localhost

Database

Next, we need to configure the database credentials for

• DB_DATABASE
• DB_USERNAME
  • This value cannot be root
• DB_PASSWORD
• DB_ROOT_PASSWORD

If your password contains special characters, please wrap your value with double quotation marks.

DB_DATABASE=convoy
DB_USERNAME=convoy_user
DB_PASSWORD="I can use special characters here!"
DB_ROOT_PASSWORD=im_alphanumeric

Cache Server

Now we need to configure the cache server, which is essential to providing low-latency requests. Please supply a password for the REDIS_PASSWORD variable. Again, if you need to use special characters, please wrap them in double quotation marks.

REDIS_PASSWORD=a_secure_password

Docker Build Step

Next, we need to build the Docker images that'll run Convoy.

docker compose up -d

Installing Dependencies

docker compose exec workspace bash -c "composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader"

Setting an Application Key

After installing the dependencies, you need to also set an application key APP_KEY in your environment file. This key is used to hash your users' password and other cryptographic functions. It's wise to keep this key protected and backed up.

docker compose exec workspace bash -c "php artisan key:generate --force && \
                                       php artisan optimize"

Database Initialization

Now we need to migrate Convoy's database structure to your database. The command below may take a moment to complete.

docker compose exec workspace php artisan migrate --force

Preparing for Production

After you've confirmed that your installation of Convoy is accessible, you'll need to edit your environment file again. Update the APP_ENV and APP_DEBUG variables like in the following snippet:

APP_ENV=production
APP_DEBUG=false

Then, rebuild the Dockerfiles and fully restart the containers.

docker compose down
docker compose up -d --build

Adding a User

Execute the command below and follow the steps that appear in your terminal.

docker compose exec workspace php artisan c:user:make

Deployment FAQ

What if I restart my machine?

Convoy is configured to automatically start up upon booting into your operating system. In an event that it doesn't, you may run the command below.

docker compose up -d

Editing my environment file doesn't do anything

Convoy caches your environment file at build time and runtime. If you made a change, you must rebuild your containers and reset the cache.

docker compose down
docker compose up -d --build
docker compose exec workspace bash -c "php artisan optimize:clear && \
                                       php artisan optimize"