Introduction to Temps

Temps is your self-hosted deployment platform that makes it effortless to deploy and manage ANY application - from React frontends to Node.js APIs, Python backends, static sites, and everything in between.

Quick Start

Get Temps up and running with a single command. The provisioning wizard handles everything: Docker, database, SSL certificates, DNS, and the Temps binary.

curl -fsSL https://temps.sh/deploy.sh | bash

The wizard walks you through each step interactively:

1. Docker - Installs and verifies Docker Engine
2. Database - Sets up TimescaleDB (PostgreSQL) in a Docker container
3. Domain & SSL - Provisions your domain and TLS certificates (via Temps Cloud auto-subdomain or your own domain with Let's Encrypt)
4. Temps binary - Downloads and configures the Temps server
5. Background service - Creates a systemd service so Temps starts on boot
6. Verification - Generates an API key and confirms the console is reachable

Once complete, open the console URL shown at the end and you're ready to deploy.

Manual Setup (Step by Step)

If you prefer full control, you can install each component yourself.

Prerequisites

• Ubuntu 20.04+ (or any Linux with Docker support)
• Docker installed and running
• A domain pointed to your server (for SSL certificates)
• GitHub token (for deploying from repositories)
• Cloudflare token (optional, for automatic DNS management)

Step 1: Start TimescaleDB

Temps requires PostgreSQL with TimescaleDB for analytics. Start it with Docker:

# Create a persistent volume for your database
docker volume create temps-postgres

# Start TimescaleDB (runs on port 16432 to avoid conflicts)
docker run -d \
  --name temps-postgres \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -v temps-postgres:/var/lib/postgresql/data \
  -e POSTGRES_USER=postgres \
  -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=temps \
  -e POSTGRES_DB=temps \
  -p 16432:5432 \
  timescale/timescaledb:latest-pg18

Wait a few seconds for the database to initialize, then verify it's running:

docker logs temps-postgres

Step 2: Download Temps

curl -LO https://github.com/gotempsh/temps/releases/latest/download/temps-linux-amd64.tar.gz
tar -xzf temps-linux-amd64.tar.gz
sudo mv temps /usr/local/bin/temps
temps --version

Step 3: Run Setup

The setup command configures Temps with your credentials and generates the necessary certificates:

temps setup \
  --database-url "postgresql://postgres:temps@localhost:16432/temps" \
  --admin-email "your-email@example.com" \
  --wildcard-domain "*.yourdomain.com" \
  --github-token "ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxx" \
  --dns-provider "cloudflare" \
  --cloudflare-token "your-cloudflare-api-token"

Step 4: Start Temps

Start the Temps server:

temps serve \
  --database-url "postgresql://postgres:temps@localhost:16432/temps" \
  --address 0.0.0.0:80 \
  --tls-address 0.0.0.0:443 \
  --console-address 0.0.0.0:8081

That's it! Open https://temps.yourdomain.com to access the Temps console.

Step 5: Run as a Service (Optional)

To keep Temps running after you log out, create a systemd service:

sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/temps.service > /dev/null <<EOF
[Unit]
Description=Temps Platform
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/temps serve \
  --database-url "postgresql://postgres:temps@localhost:16432/temps" \
  --address 0.0.0.0:80 \
  --tls-address 0.0.0.0:443 \
  --console-address 0.0.0.0:8081
Restart=always
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now temps

Troubleshooting

Server hangs on startup

If Temps hangs during startup, it's likely waiting for the screenshot provider to initialize. Disable it with:

export TEMPS_SCREENSHOT_PROVIDER=noop
temps serve --database-url "..." --address 0.0.0.0:80

Database connection issues

Make sure PostgreSQL is running and accessible:

# Test connection
psql "postgresql://postgres:temps@localhost:16432/temps" -c "SELECT 1"

Port already in use

If ports 80 or 443 are already in use (e.g., by nginx or Apache), either stop those services or use different ports:

temps serve \
  --database-url "..." \
  --address 0.0.0.0:8080 \
  --tls-address 0.0.0.0:8443 \
  --console-address 0.0.0.0:8081

What Can You Deploy?

Temps supports any application that can run in a container:

Why Temps?

Cost Comparison

Running 5 apps with analytics, error tracking, and monitoring:

Next Steps