Getting Started

System Requirements

• 64-bit Linux server or Docker Desktop environment
• At least 4 GB RAM
• Docker Engine and Docker Compose v2
• A valid ComPDF License Key is required for production use

Get Project

Clone the project repository and enter the directory:

git clone https://github.com/ComPDFKit/compdf-self-hosted.git
cd compdf-self-hosted

Configure Environment

Before starting the service, you need to prepare the environment configuration file. Copy the default configuration file:

cp .env.example .env

The .env file has a built-in free License by default, which can be used directly for local development, feature experience, and API verification. If you have applied for an Enterprise License Key, please replace the COMPDF_LICENSE_KEY field in the file.

Start Service

Run the following command to start the full service stack in the background:

docker compose up -d

Health Check

After the service starts, you can check the container status using the following commands:

docker compose ps
docker compose logs -f

First Login

After the service starts, access the following addresses in your browser:

• ComPDF Web: http://localhost:8080/
• Dashboard Console: http://localhost:8080/admin

Upon initial deployment, the default administrator account and password for the Dashboard are:

Account: admin Password: admin

First Call

You can upload documents directly through the ComPDF Web interface for processing. If you need to make API calls, the API base address for the development environment is:

Server API: http://localhost:8080/api/v1/

Production Check

Production deployment stores persistent data in Docker volumes and mounts ./configs to the Server container. If you modify the source code, you need to repackage the production environment image:

docker compose -f docker-compose.yml up -d --build compdf-infra compdf-app compdf-server

Learn More

For complete configuration details and advanced usage, please visit our GitHub repository.