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Coolify is an open-source, self-hosted platform-as-a-service that makes deploying applications simple. This guide covers deploying Cap on Coolify.

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What is Coolify?

Coolify is a self-hosted alternative to Heroku, Netlify, and Vercel. It provides:
  • Git-based deployments
  • Automatic SSL certificates
  • Built-in reverse proxy (Traefik)
  • Docker Compose support
  • Environment management
  • Zero-downtime deployments

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Prerequisites

  • Coolify instance running (v4.0+)
  • Domain name pointed to your Coolify server
  • At least 4GB RAM available on Coolify server
Install Coolify on a fresh Ubuntu/Debian server:
curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/install.sh | bash
Access Coolify at http://your-server-ip:8000See Coolify docs for detailed installation.

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Deployment Methods

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Deploy from GitHub

1

Create New Project

  1. Log in to your Coolify instance
  2. Click New Project
  3. Name it “Cap” and click Continue
2

Add Docker Compose Resource

  1. Click New Resource
  2. Select Docker Compose
  3. Choose Public Repository
3

Configure Repository

Enter repository details:
  • Git Repository URL: https://github.com/CapSoftware/Cap
  • Branch: main
  • Docker Compose File: docker-compose.coolify.yml
  • Build Pack: Docker Compose
Click Continue
4

Set Environment Variables

Coolify will show environment variable inputs. Configure these:Required Variables:
# Public URLs (Coolify will provide domains)
WEB_URL=https://cap.yourdomain.com
S3_PUBLIC_ENDPOINT=https://s3.yourdomain.com

# Security (generate with: openssl rand -hex 32)
DATABASE_ENCRYPTION_KEY=
NEXTAUTH_SECRET=
MEDIA_SERVER_WEBHOOK_SECRET=

# Database
MYSQL_PASSWORD=
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=

# MinIO
MINIO_ROOT_USER=capadmin
MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD=
S3_BUCKET=cap
You can also copy variables from docker-compose.coolify.env.example in the Cap repository.
5

Generate Secrets

Open a terminal and generate secure secrets:
# Run this 3 times for different secrets
openssl rand -hex 32
Use the output for:
  • DATABASE_ENCRYPTION_KEY
  • NEXTAUTH_SECRET
  • MEDIA_SERVER_WEBHOOK_SECRET
Never use the default placeholder values from the example file in production.
6

Configure Domains

Coolify requires domains for services:
  1. cap-web: Add your main domain (e.g., cap.yourdomain.com)
  2. minio: Add S3 domain (e.g., s3.yourdomain.com)
Coolify will automatically:
  • Configure Traefik reverse proxy
  • Generate SSL certificates via Let’s Encrypt
  • Set up automatic HTTPS redirects
7

Deploy

Click Deploy to start the deployment.Coolify will:
  • Clone the repository
  • Pull Docker images
  • Set up networking
  • Configure SSL certificates
  • Start all services
First deployment takes 3-5 minutes.
8

Monitor Deployment

Watch the deployment logs in real-time:
  1. Click on the deployment in progress
  2. View build and startup logs
  3. Wait for “Deployment successful” message
9

Access Cap

Once deployed, access Cap at your configured domain:
https://cap.yourdomain.com
SSL should work automatically.
10

Get Login Link

Without email configured, find login links in logs:
  1. Click on cap-web service
  2. Click Logs
  3. Look for:
Login link: https://cap.yourdomain.com/api/auth/callback/email?token=...

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Understanding docker-compose.coolify.yml

Cap provides a Coolify-specific compose file:
docker-compose.coolify.yml
services:
  cap-web:
    image: ghcr.io/capsoftware/cap-web:latest
    environment:
      WEB_URL: ${WEB_URL}
      DATABASE_ENCRYPTION_KEY: ${DATABASE_ENCRYPTION_KEY}
      # ... other variables from Coolify UI
Key differences from standard docker-compose.yml:
  • Uses environment variable placeholders (no defaults)
  • Configured for Coolify’s networking
  • Optimized for Traefik reverse proxy
  • Includes health checks for zero-downtime deploys

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Configure Email

Add email support to send login links:
1

Get Resend API Key

  1. Sign up at resend.com
  2. Verify your domain
  3. Create an API key
2

Add Variables in Coolify

  1. Go to your Cap project in Coolify
  2. Click Environment Variables
  3. Add:
RESEND_API_KEY=re_xxxxxxxxxxxxx
RESEND_FROM_DOMAIN=yourdomain.com
3

Redeploy

Click Redeploy to apply changes.
See Email Setup for details.

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Add AI Features

1

Get API Keys

Sign up for:
  • Deepgram - Audio transcription
  • Groq - Fast AI summaries (recommended)
  • OpenAI - Alternative for AI summaries
2

Add to Coolify

In Environment Variables:
DEEPGRAM_API_KEY=your-deepgram-key
GROQ_API_KEY=your-groq-key
OPENAI_API_KEY=your-openai-key
3

Redeploy

Click Redeploy for changes to take effect.

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Storage Configuration

The Coolify deployment uses MinIO by default. For production:

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Option 1: Coolify Persistent Storage (Default)

Coolify creates Docker volumes for:
  • MySQL data
  • MinIO data (videos)
Volumes persist across deployments.
Back up these volumes regularly. Coolify doesn’t provide automatic backups.

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Option 2: External S3

For better reliability, use external S3:
1

Choose S3 Provider

  • AWS S3
  • Backblaze B2
  • Cloudflare R2
  • Wasabi
2

Create Bucket

Create a public bucket in your S3 provider.
3

Update Environment Variables

CAP_AWS_BUCKET=your-bucket-name
CAP_AWS_REGION=us-east-1
CAP_AWS_ACCESS_KEY=your-access-key
CAP_AWS_SECRET_KEY=your-secret-key
S3_PUBLIC_ENDPOINT=https://s3.amazonaws.com
S3_PATH_STYLE=false
4

Remove MinIO Service (Optional)

Edit docker-compose.coolify.yml to remove MinIO services and redeploy.
See S3 Storage for provider-specific guides.

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Updates & Redeployment

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Manual Update

1

Pull Latest

Coolify automatically pulls the latest code from GitHub.
2

Redeploy

Click Redeploy in the Coolify UI.
3

Monitor

Watch logs for successful deployment.

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Automatic Updates

Enable automatic deployments on git push:
  1. Go to project Settings
  2. Enable Automatic Deployment
  3. Choose deployment trigger:
    • On git push to branch
    • On webhook
    • Scheduled (cron)
For stability, we recommend manual updates for production.

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Monitoring

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Service Logs

  1. Click on service (e.g., cap-web)
  2. Click Logs
  3. View real-time logs or filter by time

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Resource Usage

Coolify shows:
  • CPU usage per service
  • Memory usage
  • Network traffic
  • Container status
Access via service Metrics tab.

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Health Checks

Coolify monitors health check endpoints:
  • Cap Web: http://127.0.0.1:3000/
  • Media Server: http://localhost:3456/health
  • MySQL: Built-in health check
  • MinIO: Built-in health check
Unhealthy services are automatically restarted.

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Backups

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Database Backup

Create scheduled backup: 
# SSH into Coolify server
ssh user@coolify-server

# Find MySQL container
docker ps | grep mysql

# Create backup
docker exec cap-mysql mysqldump -u cap -p cap > /backups/cap-$(date +%Y%m%d).sql
Schedule with cron: 
# Daily backup at 2 AM
0 2 * * * /path/to/backup-script.sh

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MinIO Backup

If using Coolify MinIO: 
# Install mc (MinIO client)
docker run -it --rm --network coolify minio/mc \
  cp -r cap-minio/cap /backups/minio-$(date +%Y%m%d)
For production, external S3 with versioning is more reliable than manual backups.

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Scaling

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Vertical Scaling

Increase resources for a service:
  1. Click service in Coolify
  2. Go to Resource Limits
  3. Set:
    • Memory limit (e.g., 4GB)
    • CPU limit (e.g., 2 cores)
  4. Restart service

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Horizontal Scaling

Coolify supports Docker Swarm for multi-container scaling:
  1. Convert Coolify to Swarm mode
  2. Scale services: 
    docker service scale cap_cap-web=3
See Scaling guide for details.

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Troubleshooting

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Service Won’t Start

  1. Check logs for errors
  2. Verify environment variables are set
  3. Check if ports are available
  4. Restart service in Coolify UI

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SSL Certificate Issues

  1. Verify domain DNS points to Coolify server
  2. Check Traefik logs: 
    docker logs coolify-proxy
  3. Ensure ports 80 and 443 are open
  4. Manually trigger certificate renewal in Coolify

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Database Connection Errors

  1. Check if MySQL service is running
  2. Verify DATABASE_URL format
  3. Check network connectivity: 
    docker exec cap-web ping mysql

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Out of Disk Space

  1. Check Docker disk usage: 
    docker system df
  2. Clean up unused images: 
    docker system prune -a
  3. Consider external S3 to save space

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MinIO Not Accessible

  1. Verify MinIO domain is configured
  2. Check MinIO logs in Coolify
  3. Test bucket access: 
    docker exec cap-minio mc ls local/

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Migration to Coolify

Migrate from Docker Compose or Railway:
1

Export Data

From your existing deployment:
# Export database
docker exec mysql mysqldump -u cap -p cap > backup.sql

# Export MinIO data
docker exec minio mc mirror local/cap ./backup
2

Deploy on Coolify

Follow the deployment steps above.
3

Import Data

# Import database
cat backup.sql | docker exec -i cap-mysql mysql -u cap -p cap

# Import MinIO
docker exec minio mc mirror ./backup local/cap
4

Update DNS

Point your domain to the Coolify server.
5

Test

Verify videos load and users can log in.

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Advanced Configuration

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Custom Traefik Rules

Add custom routing or middleware:
  1. Edit service in Coolify
  2. Add Traefik labels in Advanced section
  3. Example for rate limiting: 
    labels:
  - "traefik.http.middlewares.ratelimit.ratelimit.average=100"

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Connect to External Database

Use managed database service:
  1. Remove MySQL from docker-compose.coolify.yml
  2. Update DATABASE_URL: 
    DATABASE_URL=mysql://user:[email protected]:3306/cap
  3. Redeploy

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Multiple Environments

Deploy staging and production:
  1. Create two Coolify projects: “Cap Production” and “Cap Staging”
  2. Use different branches:
    • Production: main
    • Staging: develop
  3. Use different domains
  4. Configure separate environment variables

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Next Steps

Email Setup

Configure email with Resend

S3 Storage

Switch to external S3

Environment Variables

Complete configuration reference

Troubleshooting

Common issues and solutions

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