nocodb/packages/noco-docs/content/en/getting-started/installation.md

---
title: 'Installation'
description: 'Simple installation - takes about three minutes!'
position: 10
category: 'Getting started'
menuTitle: 'Installation'
link: https://codesandbox.io/embed/vigorous-firefly-80kq5?hidenavigation=1&theme=dark
---

Simple installation - takes about three minutes!

## Prerequisites

- Must haves
    - [Node.js with version >= 12](https://nodejs.org/en/download) / [Docker](https://www.docker.com/get-started)
- Nice to haves
    - [MySQL](https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/) / [Postgres](https://www.postgresql.org/download/) / [SQL Server](https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/sql-server/sql-server-downloads) / SQLite Database
    - Existing schemas can help to create APIs quickly.
      - An example database schema can be found <a class="grey--text" href="https://github.com/lerocha/chinook-database/tree/master/ChinookDatabase/DataSources"> <u>here</u></a>.
    
## Quick try


### 1-Click Deploy to Heroku

Before doing so, make sure you have a Heroku account. By default, an add-on Heroku Postgres will be used as meta database. You can see the connection string defined in `DATABASE_URL` by navigating to Heroku App Settings and selecting Config Vars.

<a href="https://heroku.com/deploy?template=https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb-seed-heroku">
    <img 
    src="https://www.herokucdn.com/deploy/button.svg" 
    width="300px"
    alt="Deploy NocoDB to Heroku with 1-Click" 
    />
</a>

### NPX

You can run below command if you need an interactive configuration.

```bash
npx create-nocodb-app
```

#### Preview: 

<img width="587" alt="image" src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/35857179/161526235-5ee0d592-0105-4a57-aa53-b1048dca6aad.png">


### Node Application

We provide a simple NodeJS Application for getting started.

```bash
git clone https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb-seed
cd nocodb-seed
npm install
npm start
```

### Docker 

If you are a Docker user, you may try this way!

<code-group>
  <code-block label="SQLite" active>

  ```bash
  docker run -d --name nocodb -p 8080:8080 nocodb/nocodb:latest
  ```
    
  </code-block> 

  <code-block label="MySQL">

  ```bash
  docker run -d -p 8080:8080 \
      -e NC_DB="mysql2://host.docker.internal:3306?u=root&p=password&d=d1" \
      -e NC_AUTH_JWT_SECRET="569a1821-0a93-45e8-87ab-eb857f20a010" \
      nocodb/nocodb:latest
  ```
    
  </code-block> 

  <code-block label="Postgres">

  ```bash
  docker run -d -p 8080:8080 \
      -e NC_DB="pg://host.docker.internal:5432?u=root&p=password&d=d1" \
      -e NC_AUTH_JWT_SECRET="569a1821-0a93-45e8-87ab-eb857f20a010" \
      nocodb/nocodb:latest
  ```

  </code-block> 

  <code-block label="SQL Server">

  ```bash
  docker run -d -p 8080:8080 \
      -e NC_DB="mssql://host.docker.internal:1433?u=root&p=password&d=d1" \
      -e NC_AUTH_JWT_SECRET="569a1821-0a93-45e8-87ab-eb857f20a010" \
      nocodb/nocodb:latest
  ```

  </code-block> 
</code-group> 

<alert type="success">
Tip 1: To persist data in docker you can mount volume at `/usr/app/data/` since 0.10.6. In older version mount at `/usr/src/app`. Otherwise your data will be lost after recreating the container.
</alert>

<alert type="success">
Tip 2: If you plan to input some special characters, you may need to change the character set and collation yourself when creating the database. Please check out the examples for <a href="https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb/issues/1340#issuecomment-1049481043" target="_blank">MySQL Docker</a>.
</alert>

### Docker Compose

We provide different docker-compose.yml files under <a href="https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb/tree/master/docker-compose" target="_blank">this directory</a>. Here are some examples.

<code-group>
  <code-block label="MySQL" active> 
  
  ```bash
  git clone https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb
  cd nocodb/docker-compose/mysql
  docker-compose up -d
  ```

  </code-block>

  <code-block label="Postgres"> 

  ```bash
  git clone https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb
  cd nocodb/docker-compose/pg
  docker-compose up -d
  ```

  </code-block>
  
  <code-block label="SQL Server"> 

  ```bash
  git clone https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb
  cd nocodb/docker-compose/mssql
  docker-compose up -d
  ```

  </code-block> 
</code-group> 

<alert type="success">
Tip 1: To persist data in docker you can mount volume at `/usr/app/data/` since 0.10.6. In older version mount at `/usr/src/app`.
</alert>

<alert type="success">
Tip 2: If you plan to input some special characters, you may need to change the character set and collation yourself when creating the database. Please check out the examples for <a href="https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb/issues/1313#issuecomment-1046625974" target="_blank">MySQL Docker Compose</a>.
</alert>

## Production Setup

By default, SQLite is used for storing meta data. However, you can specify your own database. The connection params for this database can be specified in `NC_DB` environment variable. Moreover, we also provide the below environment variables for configuration.


### Environment variables

| Variable                           | Mandatory | Comments                                                                                                                | If absent                                                                                      |   |
|------------------------------------|-----------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---|
| AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID                  | No        | For Litestream - S3 access key id                                                                                       | If Litestream is configured and NC_DB is not present. SQLite gets backed up to S3              |   |
| AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY              | No        | For Litestream - S3 secret access key                                                                                   | If Litestream is configured and NC_DB is not present. SQLite gets backed up to S3              |   |
| AWS_BUCKET                         | No        | For Litestream - S3 bucket                                                                                              | If Litestream is configured and NC_DB is not present. SQLite gets backed up to S3              |   |
| AWS_BUCKET_PATH                    | No        | For Litestream - S3 bucket path (like folder within S3 bucket)                                                          | If Litestream is configured and NC_DB is not present. SQLite gets backed up to S3              |   |
| DB_QUERY_LIMIT_DEFAULT             | No        | Default pagination limit                                                                                                | 25                                                                                             |   |
| DB_QUERY_LIMIT_MAX                 | No        | Maximum allowed pagination limit                                                                                        | 100                                                                                            |   |
| DB_QUERY_LIMIT_MIN                 | No        | Minimum allowed pagination limit                                                                                        | 1                                                                                              |   |
| DATABASE_URL                       | No        | JDBC URL Format. Can be used instead of NC_DB. Used in 1-Click Heroku deployment                                        |                                                                                                |   |
| DATABASE_URL_FILE                  | No        | path to file containing JDBC URL Format. Can be used instead of NC_DB. Used in 1-Click Heroku deployment                |                                                                                                |   |
| PORT                               | No        | For setting app running port                                                                                            | `8080`                                                                                         |   |
| NC_DB                              | Yes       | See our database URLs                                                                                                   | A local SQLite will be created in root folder                                                  |   |
| NC_DB_JSON                         | Yes       | Can be used instead of `NC_DB` and value should be valid knex connection JSON                                           |                                                                                                |   |
| NC_DB_JSON_FILE                    | Yes       | Can be used instead of `NC_DB` and value should be a valid path to knex connection JSON                                 |                                                                                                |   |
| NC_DASHBOARD_URL                   | No        | Custom dashboard url path                                                                                               | `/dashboard`                                                                                   |   |
| NC_TOOL_DIR                        | No        | App directory to keep metadata and app related files                                                                    | Defaults to current working directory. In docker maps to `/usr/app/data/` for mounting volume. |   |
| NC_PUBLIC_URL                      | Yes       | Used for sending Email invitations                                                                                      | Best guess from http request params                                                            |   |
| NC_AUTH_JWT_SECRET                 | Yes       | JWT secret used for auth and storing other secrets                                                                      | A Random secret will be generated                                                              |   |
| NC_JWT_EXPIRES_IN                  | No        | JWT token expiry time                                                                                                   | `10h`                                                                                          |   |
| NC_CONNECT_TO_EXTERNAL_DB_DISABLED | No        | Disable Project creation with external database                                                                         |                                                                                                |   |
| NC_INVITE_ONLY_SIGNUP              | No        | Allow users to signup only via invite url, value should be any non-empty string.                                        |                                                                                                |   |
| NC_BACKEND_URL                     | No        | Custom Backend URL                                                                                                      | ``http://localhost:8080`` will be used                                                         |   |
| NC_REQUEST_BODY_SIZE               | No        | Request body size [limit](https://expressjs.com/en/resources/middleware/body-parser.html#limit)                         | `1048576`                                                                                      |   |
| NC_EXPORT_MAX_TIMEOUT              | No        | After NC_EXPORT_MAX_TIMEOUT csv gets downloaded in batches                                                              | Default value 5000(in millisecond) will be used                                                |   |
| NC_DISABLE_TELE                    | No        | Disable telemetry                                                                                                       |                                                                                                |   |
| NC_GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID                | No        | Google client id to enable google authentication                                                                        |                                                                                                |   |
| NC_GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET            | No        | Google client secret to enable google authentication                                                                    |                                                                                                |   |
| NC_MIGRATIONS_DISABLED             | No        | Disable NocoDB migration                                                                                                |                                                                                                |   |
| NC_ONE_CLICK                       | No        | Used for Heroku one-click deployment                                                                                    |                                                                                                |   |
| NC_MIN                             | No        | If set to any non-empty string the default splash screen(initial welcome animation) and matrix screensaver will disable |                                                                                                |   |
| NC_SENTRY_DSN                      | No        | For Sentry monitoring                                                                                                   |                                                                                                |   |
| NC_DISABLE_ERR_REPORT              | No        | Disable error reporting                                                                                                 |                                                                                                |   |
| NC_REDIS_URL                       | No        | Custom Redis URL. Example: `redis://:authpassword@127.0.0.1:6380/4`                                                     | Meta data will be stored in memory                                                             |   |
| NC_DISABLE_CACHE                   | No        | If it is set to `true`, then meta data will not be cached.                                                              | `false`                                                                                        |   |

### AWS ECS (Fargate)

#### Create ECS Cluster

```
aws ecs create-cluster \
--cluster-name <YOUR_ECS_CLUSTER>
```

#### Create Log group

```
aws logs create-log-group \
--log-group-name /ecs/<YOUR_APP_NAME>/<YOUR_CONTAINER_NAME>
```

#### Create ECS Task Definiton

Every time you create it, it will add a new version. If it is not existing, the version will be 1. 

```bash
aws ecs register-task-definition \
--cli-input-json "file://./<YOUR_TASK_DEF_NAME>.json"
```

<alert>
This json file defines the container specification. You can define secrets such as NC_DB and environment variables here.
</alert>

Here's the sample Task Definition

```json
{
	"family": "nocodb-sample-task-def",
	"networkMode": "awsvpc",
	"containerDefinitions": [{
		"name": "<YOUR_CONTAINER_NAME>",
		"image": "nocodb/nocodb:latest",
		"essential": true,
		"logConfiguration": {
			"logDriver": "awslogs",
			"options": {
				"awslogs-group": "/ecs/<YOUR_APP_NAME>/<YOUR_CONTAINER_NAME>",
				"awslogs-region": "<YOUR_AWS_REGION>",
				"awslogs-stream-prefix": "ecs"
			}
		},
		"secrets": [{
			"name": "<YOUR_SECRETS_NAME>",
			"valueFrom": "<YOUR_SECRET_ARN>"
		}],
		"environment": [{
			"name": "<YOUR_ENV_VARIABLE_NAME>",
			"value": "<YOUR_ENV_VARIABLE_VALUE>"
		}],
		"portMappings": [{
			"containerPort": 8080,
			"hostPort": 8080,
			"protocol": "tcp"
		}]
	}],
	"requiresCompatibilities": [
		"FARGATE"
	],
	"cpu": "256",
	"memory": "512",
	"executionRoleArn": "<YOUR_ECS_EXECUTION_ROLE_ARN>",
	"taskRoleArn": "<YOUR_ECS_TASK_ROLE_ARN>"
}
```

#### Create ECS Service

```bash
aws ecs create-service \
--cluster <YOUR_ECS_CLUSTER> \
--service-name  <YOUR_SERVICE_NAME> \
--task-definition <YOUR_TASK_DEF>:<YOUR_TASK_DEF_VERSION> \
--desired-count <DESIRED_COUNT> \
--launch-type "FARGATE" \
--platform-version <VERSION> \
--health-check-grace-period-seconds <GRACE_PERIOD_IN_SECOND> \
--network-configuration "awsvpcConfiguration={subnets=["<YOUR_SUBSETS>"], securityGroups=["<YOUR_SECURITY_GROUPS>"], assignPublicIp=ENABLED}" \
--load-balancer targetGroupArn=<TARGET_GROUP_ARN>,containerName=<CONTAINER_NAME>,containerPort=<YOUR_CONTAINER_PORT>
```

<alert>
  If your service fails to start, you may check the logs in ECS console or in Cloudwatch. Generally it fails due to the connection between ECS container and NC_DB. Make sure the security groups have the correct inbound and outbound rules.  
</alert>

## Development Setup

If you want to modify the source code,

- Start the backend locally

```bash
cd packages/nocodb
npm install
npm run watch:run
```

- Start the frontend locally

```bash
cd packages/nc-gui
npm install
npm run dev
```

- Open ``localhost:3000/dashboard`` in browser

<alert>
  nocodb/packages/nocodb includes nc-lib-gui which is the built version of nc-gui hosted in npm registry. <br>
   You can visit localhost:8000/dashboard in browser after starting the backend locally if you just want to modify the backend only.
</alert>

## Sample Demos

### Code Sandbox

<code-sandbox :src="link"></code-sandbox>

### Docker deploying with one command

<youtube id="K-UEecQyiOk"></youtube>

### Using NPX

<youtube id="v6Nn75P1p7I"></youtube>

### Heroku Deployment
<youtube id="WB7yYXfhocY"></youtube>