Quick start

This page walks you through the shortest path to a running calit instance.

Prerequisites

• Docker and Docker Compose installed on the host.
• A public HTTPS URL pointing to the host (required for production use, e.g. https://book.example.com). For a local trial, http://localhost:8080 works.
• An SMTP server for sending booking confirmation and reminder emails.

Steps

1. Get the files

You don’t need to clone or build anything — calit runs from the prebuilt image on GitHub Container Registry. In an empty directory, grab the two config files:

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/asm0dey/calit/main/docker-compose.yml
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/asm0dey/calit/main/.env.example

2. Create your .env

cp .env.example .env

Open .env and set at minimum:

Variable	Description
DB_PASSWORD	Password for the Postgres database.
APP_BASE_URL	Public origin of the app, e.g. https://book.example.com.
SESSION_ENCRYPTION_KEY	At least 16 characters. Generate with openssl rand -hex 32.
TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY	Exactly 64 hex characters. Generate with openssl rand -hex 32.
MAIL_HOST	SMTP hostname.
MAIL_PORT	SMTP port (commonly 587 or 465).
MAIL_USERNAME	SMTP username.
MAIL_PASSWORD	SMTP password.
MAIL_FROM	From address for outgoing mail.
MAIL_START_TLS	STARTTLS mode: REQUIRED, OPTIONAL, or DISABLED. Use REQUIRED with port 587.
MAIL_TLS	true to use implicit TLS (port 465); false otherwise.

Generate secure keys

Run openssl rand -hex 32 twice — once for SESSION_ENCRYPTION_KEY, once for TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY. Store both securely; all replicas must share the same values.

3. Start

docker compose up -d

This pulls the prebuilt image and starts two containers: app (Quarkus on port 8080) and db (Postgres).

4. Create the first admin user

Open APP_BASE_URL in your browser. Because the database is empty, the app redirects automatically to /setup. Fill in the form to create your first admin account. There is no default password.

Note

The /setup route returns 404 once any user exists. It cannot be used to create additional users after initial setup.

5. Done

You are now logged in as the admin. From the management UI at /me you can:

• Create meeting types with custom slugs, durations, and booking controls.
• Configure your availability and calendar integrations.
• Invite additional users (if you enable sign-ups).

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Next steps

• Configuration reference — all environment variables explained.
• Reverse proxy setup — put Nginx or Caddy in front of calit.
• First-run walkthrough — a guided tour of the initial setup wizard.