Self-hosted CMS with an integrated visual editor. The app serves the public website, admin editor, CMS API, published pages, and uploaded media from one Bun server. Supports Postgres and SQLite — selected by DATABASE_URL.

The project is open source under the MIT license. Source is published at github.com/corebunch/instatic, and production images are published as ghcr.io/corebunch/instatic.

Install dependencies:

bun install

Start with zero external dependencies (SQLite, no Docker required):

bun run dev

Or run the full stack in containers (production-like Dockerfile + Postgres + persistent volumes):

docker compose -f compose.prod.yml -f compose.build.yml up --build

Open:

http://localhost:3001/admin

The first visit creates the site and admin account.

bun run dev defaults to SQLite at .tmp/dev.db. Set DATABASE_URL=postgres://... to use Postgres instead.

To try the app locally in production mode (built admin SPA from ./dist, no Vite, no --watch, same SQLite dev DB):

bun run start

Builds the admin SPA, then starts the server on http://localhost:3001. If port 3001 is already held by a dev server (or a previous bun run start), you'll be prompted whether to kill the holder and take over. bun run dev uses the same prompt for ports 3001 and 5173.

The default self-host install is SQLite + one container — recommended for most users (single sites, hobby and small-business installs, single-author or small editorial teams). No .env file required:

docker compose -f compose.prod.yml -f compose.sqlite.yml up -d

If you have a multi-author editorial team, need horizontal app scale-out, or already operate Postgres, run with bundled Postgres instead (two containers). Postgres mode requires setting POSTGRES_PASSWORD:

cp .env.production.example .env       # set POSTGRES_PASSWORD to a real secret
docker compose -f compose.prod.yml up -d

To put HTTPS in front (Caddy + Let's Encrypt, auto-provisioned), layer compose.tls.yml on top of either DB mode and set DOMAIN in .env:

# SQLite + TLS (default)
docker compose -f compose.prod.yml -f compose.sqlite.yml -f compose.tls.yml up -d
# Postgres + TLS
docker compose -f compose.prod.yml -f compose.tls.yml up -d

Without compose.tls.yml, the app is reachable on http://server-ip:3001/admin. With it, only Caddy is exposed (ports 80 / 443) and the cert is auto-provisioned for ${DOMAIN} on the first request.

Engine selection is one env var (DATABASE_URL) — same image, same code. Docker is purely packaging; both engines also run with bun run server/index.ts directly on the host. See docs/deployment/README.md for the full decision matrix.

Production servers should normally pull the published Docker image configured in .env.production.example. Developers can build locally from source with:

docker compose -f compose.prod.yml -f compose.build.yml up -d --build

For managed hosts, deploy the Dockerfile from GitHub or a published image and connect it to managed Postgres with DATABASE_URL.

Deployment docs:

• Production Docker image
• VPS Docker Compose
• SQLite deployment
• HTTPS via Caddy
• Managed hosts
• Backup and restore
• Release and image publishing workflow

Back up both:

• Database — Postgres (pg_dump) or SQLite (copy the .db file, or use Litestream for continuous replication)
• uploads directory or uploads volume

Do not run docker compose -f compose.prod.yml down -v unless you intentionally want to delete CMS data.

bun run build
bun test
docker build -t instatic:local .
docker compose -f compose.prod.yml pull app
curl http://localhost:3001/health