Self-Hosting Guide

Overview

LiveFolio is open-source software. You can run it on your own machine with full control over your data, configuration, and infrastructure.

This section covers everything you need to self-host:

• Quickstart — Clone, install, and run
• Configuration — Environment variables and settings
• Database — Flat-file storage, backups, and migration
• AI Providers — Gemini, Claude, OpenAI, DeepSeek, Ollama
• Public Sharing — Tunnel setup for public folio access
• Upgrading — Pulling updates and handling migrations

Architecture

A self-hosted LiveFolio instance consists of:

your-machine/
├── .env                 # API keys and configuration
├── settings.json        # MCP key, custom tunnel URL
├── database.json        # All folio data (flat-file)
├── content/docs/        # This documentation
├── app/                 # Next.js application
├── lib/                 # Core libraries
└── design-systems/      # 141 design system specs

Key Characteristics

• Local-first — all data stored in a flat database.json file
• No login required — single local user
• Works offline — no internet needed (except for tunnel sharing and AI providers)
• Full MCP support — AI agents publish folios via the MCP server
• Unlimited usage — no rate limits, no usage caps
• Your API keys — bring your own provider keys for AI features

Quick Reference

Command	What it does
npm run dev	Start development server
npm run build	Production build
npm start	Start production server
cp .env.example .env	Create config from template

Data Ownership

Your data stays on your machine. The flat-file database.json contains all your folios, versions, comments, and settings. Back it up with cp database.json database.backup.json. No data leaves your machine unless you explicitly share folios via the public tunnel.