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Quick Start

Get Doable running on your machine in under 5 minutes.

The fastest path: Docker

You only need Docker (version with Compose v2 — almost any recent install).

git clone https://github.com/doable-me/doable.git
cd doable
./docker/setup.sh

When prompted, press Enter to default to localhost. The script will:

  1. Generate docker/.env with secure random secrets.
  2. Build the Docker images.
  3. Start PostgreSQL, the API, the WebSocket server, and the Next.js web app.
  4. Configure nginx with a self-signed SSL certificate.

When it finishes, open https://localhost and accept the self-signed certificate warning.

Why HTTPS even on localhost? Some browser features Doable uses (clipboard, service workers, modern crypto) require a secure context.

Without an AI key Doable still runs — you can browse the dashboard, sign up, create projects — but the chat agent has nothing to talk to. Add at least one of these to docker/.env then restart:

# Pick one:
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
# Or, to use the GitHub Copilot SDK:
COPILOT_CLI_PATH=/usr/local/bin/copilot

Restart the API container after editing:

docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml restart api

See AI / Providers for details on each.

Stop / clean up

# Stop containers (data preserved)
docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml down

# Stop and DELETE all data (database, projects, thumbnails)
docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml down -v

Common issues

Symptom Fix
Browser shows certificate warning Expected for self-signed SSL. Accept it.
502 Bad Gateway right after start Wait 30 seconds — the API is still booting.
Set JWT_SECRET in docker/.env Re-run ./docker/setup.sh or generate manually with openssl rand -hex 32.
Port 80/443 already in use Stop your existing nginx/apache, or run Compose without nginx and proxy yourself.

More in Troubleshooting.

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