mem0/docs/open-source/setup.mdx

---
title: "Self-Hosted Setup"
description: "Stand up the Mem0 REST server and dashboard in a few minutes — admin account, API keys, and a live audit log included."
icon: "rocket-launch"
---

The self-hosted bundle ships the REST API and a web dashboard together. Configure your LLM provider and secrets in a `.env` file, start the containers, then choose how to create your admin account: through the browser-based setup wizard, or from the command line.

<Info>
  **Use this page when…**
  - You want a self-hosted Mem0 with a dashboard, not just the Python or Node library.
  - You need per-user API keys and a request audit log for your team.
  - You're upgrading from a pre-1.x server that relied on `ADMIN_API_KEY` or open endpoints.
</Info>

<Warning>
  **Upgrading from 1.x?** Auth is now on by default. Deployments that ran with an empty `ADMIN_API_KEY` will return `401` on every protected endpoint until you either set `ADMIN_API_KEY`, register an admin through the wizard, or set `AUTH_DISABLED=true` for local development. See [Upgrade notes](#upgrade-notes) below.
</Warning>

---

## Prerequisites

- Docker and Docker Compose (the reference path).
- An `OPENAI_API_KEY` (or equivalent — the server reads the same component config as the library).
- A free port `8888` for the API and `3000` for the dashboard.

---

## Configure the environment

Copy `server/.env.example` to `server/.env` and fill in the required values. The server refuses to start if `JWT_SECRET` is unset once auth is enabled.

| Variable | Required | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| `OPENAI_API_KEY` | Yes | Default LLM and embedder provider. |
| `JWT_SECRET` | Yes | Signs access and refresh tokens. Use a long random value. A missing secret causes auth endpoints to return `500`. |
| `ADMIN_API_KEY` | Optional | Legacy shared admin key. Kept for back-compat; prefer per-user keys for new setups. |
| `AUTH_DISABLED` | Optional | `true` turns off auth for local development only. Never enable in production. |
| `DASHBOARD_URL` | Optional | Origin the API accepts for CORS. Defaults to `http://localhost:3000`. Set this when you front the dashboard on a custom domain. |
| `POSTGRES_*` | Optional | Override the bundled Postgres / pgvector connection. |

<Tip>
  Generate a `JWT_SECRET` with `openssl rand -base64 48` or `python -c "import secrets; print(secrets.token_urlsafe(48))"`.
</Tip>

---

## Start the stack

Pick the path that fits your workflow.

### Browser-first (setup wizard)

```bash
cd server
make up
```

This starts the containers and runs database migrations. The REST API listens on `http://localhost:8888` and the dashboard on `http://localhost:3000`.

Open `http://localhost:3000` — since no admin account exists yet, the dashboard redirects to the one-time setup wizard at `/setup`. See [Run the setup wizard](#run-the-setup-wizard) below.

### Agent-first (command line)

First, set `OPENAI_API_KEY` (or `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` / `GOOGLE_API_KEY`) in `server/.env`. `make bootstrap` does not prompt for it, and the runtime test will fail without a valid provider key.

```bash
cd server
make bootstrap
```

`make bootstrap` starts the same containers, then automatically creates the admin account and generates the first API key via the CLI. The admin credentials and API key are printed to your terminal — no browser required.

You can override the generated credentials:

```bash
make bootstrap EMAIL=admin@company.com PASSWORD='strong-password' NAME='Admin'
```

Because `make bootstrap` already creates the admin, the setup wizard is skipped. Opening `http://localhost:3000` takes you straight to the login page.

<Tip>
  For machine-readable output (useful in CI), run `OUTPUT=json make seed` after `make up`.
</Tip>

---

## Run the setup wizard

<Info>
  This section applies to the **browser-first** path (`make up`). If you used `make bootstrap`, the admin and API key were already created — skip ahead to [What the dashboard gives you](#what-the-dashboard-gives-you).
</Info>

On a fresh install the dashboard redirects to `/setup`. Each step submits on Enter.

**1. Create the admin account.** Name, email, password. This account becomes the first admin. Registration closes after the first admin is created; additional accounts are provisioned by the existing admin.

**2. Review the effective config.** Read-only display of the LLM and embedder the server is running with, sourced from your environment. If anything is wrong here, stop the stack, fix the `.env`, and restart — the dashboard intentionally does not let you change provider secrets at runtime.

**3. Generate your first API key.** The full `m0sk_...` value is shown **once**. Copy it immediately — the server only stores the prefix and a bcrypt hash.

**4. Tell us your use case.** Pick a preset or describe your use case in a few words. Mem0 generates custom instructions that tell the memory system what to prioritize. You can edit the instructions before saving, or skip this step entirely.

**5. Test the key.** A ready-to-paste `curl` exercises `POST /memories` against your new key. Click "Run Test" to fire it from the browser. Success lands you in the dashboard at `/dashboard/requests`, where you'll see the test call in the live audit log.

---

## What the dashboard gives you

| Page | What it does |
|---|---|
| **Requests** | Default landing page. Live audit log of every API call, with status, latency, and auth mode. |
| **Memories** | Browse and search the memories your server has stored. |
| **Entities** | Distinct `user_id` / `agent_id` / `run_id` values with memory counts and cascade-delete. |
| **API Keys** | Issue per-user keys, label them, and revoke. |
| **Configuration** | Runtime override for LLM and embedder. Changes persist to the app database and reapply on restart, layered over the values from your `.env`. |
| **Settings** | Account and session controls. |

For the underlying endpoints (including `/auth/*`, `/api-keys`, `/requests`, `/entities`), see the [REST API reference](/open-source/features/rest-api).

---

## Supported providers

The shipped container bundles the Python packages for:

- **LLMs** — `openai`, `anthropic`, `gemini`
- **Embedders** — `openai`, `gemini`

The Configuration page and `POST /configure` only accept providers from these lists. Anything else returns a 400 up front instead of failing at the first memory write.

**To add another provider**, for example to run embeddings locally with `sentence-transformers`:

1. Add the package to `server/requirements.txt` (e.g. `sentence-transformers>=2.0`).
2. Extend `BUNDLED_LLM_PROVIDERS` or `BUNDLED_EMBEDDER_PROVIDERS` in `server/main.py`.
3. Rebuild the image (`make up` or `docker compose build`).

Heavy providers (`sentence-transformers` pulls in PyTorch, ~2 GB) are intentionally kept out of the default image.

---

## Upgrade notes

### Upgrading from a pre-auth build

Previous self-hosted builds allowed open access when `ADMIN_API_KEY` was unset. This build enables auth by default. After pulling the new image, pick **one**:

1. **Fastest, zero client changes** — set `ADMIN_API_KEY` to a long random value (16+ characters). Existing clients that send `X-API-Key: <your-key>` keep working unchanged.
2. **Recommended for teams** — visit `http://<host>:3000`, run the setup wizard, and switch clients to per-user API keys. You get the audit log and revocation for free.
3. **Local development only** — set `AUTH_DISABLED=true`. The server logs a warning on every boot. Never use this in production.

The server prints an unmissable startup banner when it detects the "upgraded but not configured" state so you know exactly which option to pick.

### Other changes in this release

- Dashboard ships as a second container in the reference Compose stack, wired to the API over the internal Docker network.
- New tables: `users`, `api_keys`, `request_logs`. Alembic handles the migration automatically on first boot.

If `alembic upgrade head` fails on first boot, see the [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting) section below.

---

## Troubleshooting

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Port 3000 or 8888 is already in use">
    Find the owning process on either port:
    ```bash
    lsof -iTCP:3000 -sTCP:LISTEN
    lsof -iTCP:8888 -sTCP:LISTEN
    ```
    Kill it (`kill <PID>`) or change the host port in `server/docker-compose.yaml`.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="JWT_SECRET is required">
    The server refuses to start without one. Generate a secret and add it to `server/.env`:
    ```bash
    echo "JWT_SECRET=$(openssl rand -base64 48)" >> server/.env
    ```
    `AUTH_DISABLED=true` is valid for local dev only, never production.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title=".env changes aren't applied after editing">
    `docker compose restart` does not re-read `env_file`. To pick up changes:
    ```bash
    cd server && docker compose up -d --force-recreate mem0
    # or
    cd server && make up
    ```
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Provider returns 401 (bad API key)">
    Provider credential errors surface as `502 Upstream provider error.`. Check `docker compose logs mem0` for the full trace, then fix the key on the Configuration page and hit **Save**.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Alembic migrations fail on startup">
    Inspect the logs:
    ```bash
    docker compose logs mem0 | grep -i alembic
    ```
    If the database is unrecoverable, reset the volume (**this destroys all memories and users**):
    ```bash
    docker compose down -v
    ```
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

---

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="REST API reference" icon="code" href="/open-source/features/rest-api">
    Endpoint tables, auth modes, and example requests.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Configure components" icon="sliders" href="/open-source/configuration">
    Swap LLMs, embedders, vector stores, and rerankers.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>