Run Eigen on your own server
Updated 2 Oct 2026
You can run Eigen on a server of your own, with your own domain. Everything runs in Docker, and one command, ./eigen, installs it, updates it, and backs it up. This page shows the way through the articles in this section.
Before you install
Check what you need: a Linux server, Docker, and a domain you control. Then decide two things, because the setup asks about them:
- Who handles HTTPS. Eigen can take ports 80 and 443 and get its own certificate. If your server already runs a web server for other sites, let that one forward to Eigen instead. See Run Eigen behind your own web server.
- Where your mail lives. Eigen can host your mailboxes, or leave your mail where it is, at Proton Mail, Gmail, Google Workspace, Fastmail, or your own mail server. Both are a full install. See Host your mail on Eigen and Keep your existing mail.
Install
Install Eigen on a server takes you from an empty server to your first sign-in. The install is two lines. The setup asks five questions and prints a link that finishes the setup in your browser.
Look after it
- Update Eigen to a new release, or go back to the one before.
- Back up and restore the whole server, and run the backup every night.
- Move Eigen to another server with a backup.
- Commands, logs, and files lists what
./eigendoes and where everything lives. - Reset a password from the server when nobody can sign in to Admin.
- Fix common server problems when something does not start or mail does not arrive.
Eigen is not 1.0 yet, and some things are still missing. What Eigen does not do yet lists them, so you know before you start.
Related
What you need to run EigenThe server, memory, software, domain, disk space, and network ports an Eigen install needs.Install Eigen on a serverInstall Docker, point your domain at the server, run the one-line install, answer the setup questions, and sign in for the first time.Update EigenInstall a new release with one command, know what a breaking release means for your data before 1.0, and go back with a rollback.Back up and restore the whole serverBack up all of Eigen every night while it runs, keep a copy in a bucket of its own, know what a backup leaves out, and put one back with ./eigen restore.