Install
Sentinel is self-hosted: it runs on your own infrastructure, and you control the deployment, the database, and the data. Pick the target that matches how you already deploy services.
Requirements
- A container runtime (Docker, or the equivalent on your chosen platform). Sentinel self-configures with embedded storage on first start — no external database is required to get running.
- For production, a networked database instead of the default embedded storage — see Databases for supported engines.
- A license key for production use — Sentinel runs on an automatic 30-day trial without one, but a license is required beyond that. See License.
- An HTTPS-capable ingress or reverse proxy in front of Sentinel for production use — see Reverse Proxy.
Production cluster checklist
Production deployments should run multiple replicas for high availability, which needs four things configured identically on every instance:
| Variable | Purpose |
|---|---|
SECRET_SEED | Derives all signing/session secrets deterministically, so every node agrees on them. |
LICENSE_KEY | A Professional or Enterprise license, required for multi-replica deployments. |
A database URL (POSTGRES_URL, MYSQL_URL, etc.) | Shared main database instead of the embedded default. |
REDIS_URL (or REDIS_CLUSTER_URL) | Shared KV store for rate limiting and cluster coordination. |
See Clustering for a concrete example of all four together, and ENV Variables for the full reference.
Container registries
Whichever installation method you use below, the Sentinel image is pulled from one of three registries; use whichever is fastest to reach from your infrastructure:
ghcr.io/altcha-org/sentinel— GitHub Container Registry (used throughout these docs)public.ecr.aws/n6m6b4n8/altcha-org/sentinel— AWS ECRccr.ccs.tencentyun.com/altcha-org/sentinel— Tencent Cloud (China)
Both amd64 and arm64 are supported and selected automatically.
Deployment targets
- Docker — the quickest way to run a single instance, recommended for getting started.
- Docker Compose — Sentinel plus a database in one stack, useful for local and small production setups.
- Kubernetes — for teams already running workloads on k8s.
- AWS ECS — managed container deployment on AWS.
- Azure App Services — managed deployment on Azure.
- Bunny.net — deployment on Bunny's edge/compute platform.
After installing
Once Sentinel is running, continue to Configure to set up Security Groups, API Keys, and Forms — or follow the end-to-end Get Started guide if you haven't already.