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How to Install Affine Workspace Notes App in Your Homelab — Step-by-Step Tutorial

Affine Hardware Requirements​

  1. 100 MB storage growth per 1k documents with 1k words each — plan storage accordingly (leave ~10 GB for OS/docker).
  2. 4 CPU cores (usage varies, mostly when doing heavy tasks).
  3. 4 GB RAM for large docs (>10k words), 2 GB for normal use.
  4. Reverse proxy setup, recommended Nginx Proxy Manager (video here).

Create LXC on Proxmox​

Create an LXC container in Proxmox with the specs above.

Install Docker and Docker Compose​

  1. Add Docker's official GPG key and repository:
# Add Docker's official GPG key:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

# Add the repository to Apt sources:
echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
sudo apt-get update
  1. Install Docker:
sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin
  1. Verify installation:
sudo docker run hello-world
  1. Check Docker Compose version:
docker compose version

Installing Affine​

Create a dedicated directory for Affine:

mkdir affine
cd affine

Download latest docker-compose file:

wget -O docker-compose.yml https://github.com/toeverything/affine/releases/latest/download/docker-compose.yml

Download the example .env configuration:

wget -O .env https://github.com/toeverything/affine/releases/latest/download/default.env.example

Editing the .env file​

Open the .env file to configure:

nano .env

Default content includes:

# select a revision to deploy, available values: stable, beta, canary
AFFINE_REVISION=stable

# set the port for the server container it will expose the server on
PORT=3010

# set the host for the server for outgoing links
# AFFINE_SERVER_HTTPS=true
# AFFINE_SERVER_HOST=affine.yourdomain.com
# or
# AFFINE_SERVER_EXTERNAL_URL=https://affine.yourdomain.com

# position of the database data to persist
DB_DATA_LOCATION=~/.affine/self-host/postgres/pgdata
# position of the upload data(images, files, etc.) to persist
UPLOAD_LOCATION=~/.affine/self-host/storage
# position of the configuration files to persist
CONFIG_LOCATION=~/.affine/self-host/config

# database credentials
DB_USERNAME=affine
DB_PASSWORD=
DB_DATABASE=affine

Start Affine​

Start or restart Affine with:

docker compose down
docker compose up -d

Adding Affine to Nginx Proxy Manager​

  1. Log in to Nginx Proxy Manager.
  2. Go to Hosts > Proxy Hosts.
  3. Click Add Proxy Host (top right).
  4. Input domain from .env (AFFINE_SERVER_HOST).
  5. Enter server IP and port 3010.
  6. Keep HTTP option as is.
  7. Enable websockets support.
  8. Add SSL certificate under SSL tab.
  9. Save.
  10. Click domain to access.

Logging in to Affine​

Access the admin panel at:

http://<ip>:3010/admin

Or access the normal page without /admin.

About "Accept Affine Cloud" Message​

The self-hosted instance stores data locally in PostgreSQL despite the message suggesting cloud sync.

Upgrading Affine​

Follow official upgrade docs here.

Full docs at Affine Documentation.

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