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ALTCHA®

Install with Docker Compose

For a self-managed VPS or dedicated server, an automated install script sets up Sentinel as a Docker Compose stack in one command. It's a good fit for a budget-conscious, production-ready single-server deployment — infrastructure costs as low as a few euros a month — without needing Kubernetes or a managed cloud platform.

Prerequisites

  • A VPS or dedicated server
  • Ubuntu Server 24.04

Step 1 — Create a server and SSH in

Provision a server running Ubuntu Server 24.04, then SSH into it.

Step 2 — Run the install script

bash <(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/altcha-org/sentinel-install-scripts/main/install-ubuntu-24-04.sh)

The script installs Docker, sets up a Docker Compose stack pulling the Sentinel image from one of the container registries, and places everything under /home/altcha/altcha/.

Step 3 — Start Sentinel

Management scripts are installed to /home/altcha/altcha/:

  • ./start.sh — start Sentinel
  • ./stop.sh — stop Sentinel
  • ./status.sh — check status and recent logs
  • ./update.sh — update to the latest version
  • ./logs.sh — view live logs

Step 4 — Set up a reverse proxy

For production, put Sentinel behind a reverse proxy so it's served over HTTPS rather than exposed directly. See Reverse Proxy.

Step 5 — Access the application

Once running:

  • Web interface: http://localhost:8080 (or your domain, once proxied)
  • API: /v1
  • API documentation: /v1/docs
  • Health check: /.live

Sign in with the default credentials root / root and change the password immediately.

Production configuration

A single stack works out of the box on its own local database — good for evaluation, but production deployments should run multiple instances for redundancy, which needs four variables set identically on every one. Add them under the altcha_sentinel service's environment: block in docker-compose.yml, then restart the stack (./stop.sh && ./start.sh):

services:
  altcha_sentinel:
    environment:
      - SECRET_SEED=<a long random string, identical on every node>
      - LICENSE_KEY=<license key>
      - POSTGRES_URL=postgresql://user:password@your-db-host:5432/altcha_sentinel
      - REDIS_URL=redis://default@your-redis-host:6379

See Clustering for what each variable does, and ENV Variables for the full reference.

Updating Sentinel

Run ./update.sh, or bump the image tag in docker-compose.yml directly and restart the stack:

services:
  altcha_sentinel:
    image: ghcr.io/altcha-org/sentinel:{TAG}

See Releases for available versions.

Security recommendations

For an internet-facing deployment, also consider:

  • Host header restriction — configure your reverse proxy to only forward requests with the expected Host header, rather than exposing Sentinel to any hostname pointed at the server.
  • IP address restriction — restrict access to the admin interface to known/trusted IP ranges where possible.

Next steps

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