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Getting Started

This guide will walk you through setting up your server and installing all the dependencies needed to run Community Template.

Reminders

You must run this on a VPS or dedicated server. All steps are written for an Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Linux VPS.

Before starting, make sure you have read through Prerequisites and that your domain's A record is pointed to your server's IP.

Update your system and install curl:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install curl

Install Node.js​

Node.js is required to run Community Template. We use NVM (Node Version Manager) to ensure the correct version is installed.

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.3/install.sh | bash

nvm install 24.11.1

You may need to reopen your terminal after installing NVM before the nvm command is available.
Verify Node.js is working: node --version should output v24.x.x.

Install Forever (Optional)​

Forever keeps Community Template running in the background and automatically restarts it if it crashes. It also writes all console output to a log file.

This is optional - you can also use PM2 or run the app directly with node .. This guide assumes you're using Forever.

npm i -g forever

Verify it's installed: forever list

Install Nginx​

Nginx is used to proxy requests from your domain to Community Template.

sudo apt install nginx

Press Y when prompted. Once installed, navigate to http://your_server_ip in a browser - you should see the default Nginx welcome page.

Install Certbot​

Certbot issues and manages free SSL certificates for your domain.

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx

Install MongoDB​

MongoDB is the database Community Template uses to store all data.

Install​

  1. Install gnupg and curl if not already available:

    sudo apt-get install gnupg curl

  2. Import the MongoDB public GPG key:

    curl -fsSL https://www.mongodb.org/static/pgp/server-8.0.asc | \
    sudo gpg -o /usr/share/keyrings/mongodb-server-8.0.gpg \
    --dearmor

  3. Add the MongoDB repository for your Ubuntu version:

     echo "deb [ arch=amd64,arm64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/mongodb-server-8.0.gpg ] https://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu noble/mongodb-org/8.0 multiverse" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-8.0.list

  4. Reload the package database:

    sudo apt-get update

  5. Install MongoDB:

    sudo apt-get install -y mongodb-org

Start MongoDB​

  1. Start the MongoDB service:

    sudo systemctl start mongod

    If you see Failed to start mongod.service: Unit mongod.service not found., run sudo systemctl daemon-reload and try again.

  2. Verify it's running:

    sudo systemctl status mongod

  3. Enable MongoDB to start on reboot:

    sudo systemctl enable mongod