Self-hosting

Straden is deployed with Docker Compose from a single image, ghcr.io/kwasii1/straden. Every setting is optional — the defaults give you a working local instance.

Quick start (local)

BASH
mkdir straden && cd straden
curl -fsSLO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kwasii1/straden/main/deploy/compose.yaml
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kwasii1/straden/main/deploy/.env.example -o .env
docker compose up -d

Open http://localhost:8000 and create the admin account in the setup wizard.

Services

Service	What it does
`app`	Web UI + MCP server (FrankenPHP/Caddy). Proxies websockets to Reverb and handles HTTPS. Runs database migrations on start.
`reverb`	Websocket server for live run progress, chat streaming and notifications.
`runner`	Queue worker (Horizon) that executes k6 load tests. Ships with k6 v2.0.0.
`scheduler`	Checks running tests and finalises them.
`postgres`	Application database.
`redis`	Cache, sessions and queues.
`influxdb`	InfluxDB 1.8 — k6 time-series metrics.

The reverb, runner and scheduler services wait for app to become healthy, so secrets and migrations are always in place before they start.

Running on a VPS with HTTPS

Point a DNS record (e.g. straden.example.com) at the server.

In .env:

DOTENV
STRADEN_DOMAIN=straden.example.com
APP_URL=https://straden.example.com
HTTP_PORT=80
HTTPS_PORT=443
DB_PASSWORD=change-me-before-first-start

docker compose up -d

Caddy obtains and renews the Let's Encrypt certificate automatically. Websockets use the same origin (wss://straden.example.com/app/...), so there is no extra port to open.

Behind your own reverse proxy

If nginx, Traefik or a load balancer already terminates TLS, keep STRADEN_DOMAIN=:80, set APP_URL to the public HTTPS URL, and proxy everything — including websocket upgrades on /app/* — to the app container's port 80.

Environment reference

Variable	Default	Description
`STRADEN_DOMAIN`	`:80`	`:80` serves plain HTTP. A hostname enables automatic HTTPS.
`APP_URL`	`http://localhost:8000`	Public URL, used in links and emails.
`HTTP_PORT` / `HTTPS_PORT`	`8000` / `8443`	Host ports mapped to the app container.
`STRADEN_VERSION`	`latest`	Image tag. Pin it in production.
`STRADEN_ADMIN_NAME` / `_EMAIL` / `_PASSWORD`	—	Create the first admin without the browser. Only used while there are no users.
`DB_PASSWORD`	`straden`	Postgres password. Set before the first start.
`APP_KEY`, `REVERB_APP_ID`, `REVERB_APP_KEY`, `REVERB_APP_SECRET`	generated	Override the auto-generated secrets.
`MAIL_*`	—	SMTP settings for password reset and email verification. In-app notifications don't need mail.
`LOG_LEVEL`	`info`	Log verbosity (logs go to stderr).

Admin accounts

There is no public registration. The admin adds users under Settings → Users.

To create the admin non-interactively, set STRADEN_ADMIN_EMAIL and STRADEN_ADMIN_PASSWORD before the first start. Locked out? Create or promote an admin and reset their password from the CLI:

BASH
docker compose exec app php artisan straden:admin you@example.com

A random password is printed unless you pass --password=. See Users & Security for managing accounts.

Secrets

APP_KEY and the Reverb credentials are generated on first start and stored in the storage volume at storage/app/.straden-secrets. AI provider keys are encrypted with APP_KEY — lose it and they become unreadable, so back this volume up.

Upgrading

BASH
docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

Migrations run automatically. Pin STRADEN_VERSION (e.g. 1.2.0) in production and bump it deliberately.

Backups

BASH
# Database
docker compose exec postgres pg_dump -U straden straden > straden.sql
# Scripts, run logs, cloned repositories and secrets
docker run --rm -v straden_storage:/data -v "$PWD":/backup alpine tar czf /backup/storage.tgz -C /data .
# Metrics
docker run --rm -v straden_influxdb:/data -v "$PWD":/backup alpine tar czf /backup/influxdb.tgz -C /data .

Load generator capacity

k6 runs inside the runner container, so the host's CPU and network bandwidth limit how much load you can generate. On a shared host, uncomment the deploy.resources block in compose.yaml:

YAML
runner:
  deploy:
    resources:
      limits: { cpus: "2", memory: 2g }

For the most accurate results, run Straden on a different machine from the system under test.

Building the image yourself

BASH
git clone https://github.com/kwasii1/straden && cd straden/deploy
docker compose -f compose.yaml -f compose.build.yaml up -d --build