Your First Deployment
By the end of this page, you’ll have Uptime Kuma — a beautiful uptime monitor — running on your machine. It takes about 5 minutes.
We’re starting with Uptime Kuma because:
- It’s a single Docker command (no compose file needed)
- It has a gorgeous UI you’ll actually enjoy using
- It’s immediately useful — it monitors your other self-hosted tools
- It proves that self-hosting isn’t scary
Prerequisites
- Docker installed on your machine (install guide )
- A terminal (Terminal on Mac, PowerShell on Windows, or any Linux terminal)
💡 Why? Docker is how we package and run software without dependency hell. If you haven’t installed it yet, the link above takes 3 minutes.
Let’s Ship It
Open your terminal and run this single command:
docker run -d \
--restart=unless-stopped \
-p 3001:3001 \
-v uptime-kuma:/app/data \
--name uptime-kuma \
louislam/uptime-kuma:1That’s it. Not kidding.
What just happened?
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
-d | Runs in the background (detached) |
--restart=unless-stopped | Auto-restarts if your server reboots |
-p 3001:3001 | Makes it accessible on port 3001 |
-v uptime-kuma:/app/data | Saves your data in a Docker volume (survives restarts) |
--name uptime-kuma | Gives the container a human-readable name |
See It Live
Open your browser and go to:
http://localhost:3001You should see the Uptime Kuma setup screen. Create an admin account, add a monitor for https://google.com to test it, and watch the green dots roll in.
Congratulations. You just self-hosted your first tool. 🎉
You Did It. Now What?
You just proved to yourself that self-hosting works. Here’s where to go next:
- Choosing a Server — Move from localhost to a real VPS so others can access your tools
- Docker Basics — Understand what Docker Compose is (spoiler: it’s the next level)
- Deploy Plausible — Replace Google Analytics entirely
- The Bootstrapper Stack — Deploy an entire SaaS toolkit for $0/mo
🏆 The Verdict: If this felt easy, that’s because it is easy. The rest of our guides follow the same pattern: copy a config, run a command, own your software.