The complete 5-minute path from nothing to a running ɳSelf stack with PostgreSQL, Hasura GraphQL, Auth, Storage, and Nginx SSL.
curl -sSL https://install.nself.org | bashThe installer places a single Go binary at /usr/local/bin/nself and verifies Docker is available. If Docker is missing, the installer prints the install URL and exits cleanly. No background daemons.
nself init my-app
cd my-appThis writes a minimal .env with sensible defaults. Nothing is running yet, the project is just files.
nself startOn first run, ɳSelf pulls the four required images (Postgres, Hasura, Auth, Nginx), generates docker-compose.yml and nginx configs from your .env, creates self-signed SSL certs for every local subdomain, and boots the stack. Subsequent starts take about 10 seconds.
nself urls # list every service URL with its domain
nself status # check all service healthVisit https://api.local.nself.org for the Hasura GraphQL console. Accept the self-signed cert once and you are in.
In the Hasura console, open the SQL tab and run:
CREATE TABLE todos (
id uuid PRIMARY KEY DEFAULT gen_random_uuid(),
title text NOT NULL,
done boolean DEFAULT false
);Check the Track this table prompt. Now in GraphiQL:
mutation { insert_todos_one(object: { title: "Ship v1.1.0" }) { id } }
query { todos { id title done } }nself command with subcommandsRun nself doctor. It checks Docker, ports, disk space,.env sanity, and prints a clear report. If something is wrong, nself doctor usually tells you exactly what and how to fix it.
Tested 2026-05-08 on a clean Hetzner CX23 VPS running Ubuntu 24.04. Total wall-clock time from curl to first GraphQL query: 4:12.