Automation

Docker

Deploy Activepieces on a VPS

Open-source workflow automation platform — a self-hosted alternative to Zapier with a visual drag-and-drop flow builder.

Prerequisites

A RamNode VPS running Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 (1 GB RAM minimum, 2 GB recommended)
A domain or subdomain pointed at your VPS IP
Docker and Docker Compose installed
Root or sudo access

Recommended: RamNode's 2 GB KVM plan comfortably handles Activepieces, PostgreSQL, and Redis with room for concurrent automations.

Point Your Domain

Create a DNS A record pointing your subdomain to your VPS IP:

Example DNS record

automations.yourdomain.com  A  YOUR_VPS_IP

Verify DNS propagation

dig +short automations.yourdomain.com

Install Docker and Docker Compose

Install Docker and dependencies

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install -y ca-certificates curl gnupg

sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | \
  sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] \
  https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-compose-plugin

Verify and configure

docker --version
docker compose version
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker

Create the Project Directory

Create directory

mkdir -p /opt/activepieces
cd /opt/activepieces

Generate Secrets

Activepieces requires an encryption key for stored credentials and a JWT secret for authentication tokens:

Generate secrets

# Encryption key (16 bytes / 32 hex chars)
openssl rand -hex 16

# JWT secret (32 bytes / 64 hex chars)
openssl rand -hex 32

# PostgreSQL password
openssl rand -hex 16

Save all three values — you will need them in the next step.

Create the Environment File

Create .env

nano /opt/activepieces/.env

/opt/activepieces/.env

# Domain
AP_FRONTEND_URL=https://automations.yourdomain.com

# PostgreSQL
AP_DB_TYPE=POSTGRES
AP_POSTGRES_DATABASE=activepieces
AP_POSTGRES_USERNAME=ap_user
AP_POSTGRES_PASSWORD=CHANGE_ME_PASTE_GENERATED_PASSWORD
AP_POSTGRES_HOST=postgres
AP_POSTGRES_PORT=5432

# Redis
AP_REDIS_TYPE=REDIS
AP_REDIS_HOST=redis
AP_REDIS_PORT=6379

# Security
AP_ENCRYPTION_KEY=CHANGE_ME_PASTE_16_BYTE_HEX
AP_JWT_SECRET=CHANGE_ME_PASTE_32_BYTE_HEX

# Sign-up mode: EMAIL (open), INVITATION (invite-only)
AP_SIGN_UP_ENABLED=true

Restrict permissions

chmod 600 /opt/activepieces/.env

Write the Docker Compose File

/opt/activepieces/docker-compose.yml

services:
  activepieces:
    image: activepieces/activepieces:latest
    container_name: activepieces
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:8080:80"
    env_file:
      - .env
    volumes:
      - ap_cache:/usr/src/app/cache
    depends_on:
      postgres:
        condition: service_healthy
      redis:
        condition: service_healthy
    networks:
      - ap_network

  postgres:
    image: postgres:16
    container_name: ap_postgres
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: ${AP_POSTGRES_DATABASE}
      POSTGRES_USER: ${AP_POSTGRES_USERNAME}
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${AP_POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
    volumes:
      - ap_postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U ${AP_POSTGRES_USERNAME} -d ${AP_POSTGRES_DATABASE}"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5
    networks:
      - ap_network

  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    container_name: ap_redis
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - ap_redis_data:/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "redis-cli", "ping"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5
    networks:
      - ap_network

volumes:
  ap_postgres_data:
  ap_redis_data:
  ap_cache:

networks:
  ap_network:
    driver: bridge

Security note: Activepieces binds only to 127.0.0.1:8080, preventing direct public access. All traffic goes through Nginx.

Configure Nginx as a Reverse Proxy

Install Nginx and Certbot

sudo apt install -y nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx

/etc/nginx/sites-available/activepieces

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name automations.yourdomain.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;

        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;

        # WebSocket support (required for live flow editor)
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";

        # Increase timeouts for long-running automation runs
        proxy_read_timeout 300s;
        proxy_connect_timeout 75s;
    }
}

Enable and test

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/activepieces /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Issue an SSL Certificate

Certbot SSL

sudo certbot --nginx -d automations.yourdomain.com

Verify renewal timer

sudo systemctl status certbot.timer

Start Activepieces

Start and watch logs

cd /opt/activepieces
docker compose up -d
docker compose logs -f activepieces

On first launch, Activepieces runs database migrations (30–60 seconds). You'll see Activepieces is running when it's ready.

Create Your Admin Account

Open https://automations.yourdomain.com in your browser. The first account you create becomes the platform administrator.

Firewall Configuration

UFW rules

sudo ufw allow 22/tcp
sudo ufw allow 80/tcp
sudo ufw allow 443/tcp
sudo ufw enable
sudo ufw status

Upgrading Activepieces

Back up PostgreSQL first

Backup database

docker exec ap_postgres pg_dump -U ap_user activepieces > \
  /opt/activepieces/backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).sql

Pull and restart

Upgrade

cd /opt/activepieces
docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

Activepieces runs database migrations automatically on startup. Watch the logs after upgrading to confirm migrations complete without errors.

Useful Management Commands

Task	Command
View container status	`docker compose ps`
Tail logs	`docker compose logs -f activepieces`
Restart all services	`docker compose restart`
Stop all services	`docker compose down`
Stop and remove volumes	`docker compose down -v`
Connect to PostgreSQL	`docker exec -it ap_postgres psql -U ap_user -d activepieces`

Troubleshooting

502 Bad Gateway on first visit

Activepieces is still running migrations. Wait 60 seconds and refresh. Check progress with docker compose logs -f activepieces.

Container exits immediately

Check for missing or incorrect environment variables. A missing AP_ENCRYPTION_KEY or malformed AP_POSTGRES_PASSWORD will cause an immediate crash.

Webhooks not triggering

Verify AP_FRONTEND_URL matches the public URL exactly, including https://. A mismatch will cause incoming webhooks to fail.

Flows time out on long tasks

The Nginx proxy_read_timeout 300s setting handles most cases. If flows take longer than 5 minutes, increase this value and reload Nginx.

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