Getting Started

Everything you need to go from a fresh server to a running BRAD install.

2 min readoverview

Two paths get you to a running install — pick the one that matches what you bought:

  1. Quickstart — for hosted plans. Pay, wait a few minutes, sign in. The deploy pipeline does everything else.
  2. Installation — for self-hosting on your own server. Configure the database, start the app, finish in the browser with the built-in installer.

What you'll need (self-hosting)

If you're running BRAD yourself:

  • A server with Node.js 20+ (or Bun, or pnpm). Debian 12 is what we recommend; anything that runs a modern Node runtime works — Ubuntu, Fedora, Alpine, macOS, Windows Server, FreeBSD, etc.
  • A PostgreSQL 14+ database, local or managed.
  • A domain you control, pointed at that server.
  • A reverse proxy that can terminate TLS in front of BRAD. Caddy is the easiest; Nginx, Apache, Traefik, and Plesk all work.

That's the entire prerequisites list. There are no other moving parts to install up front — Redis, caches, and queues are optional and only matter at scale.

How the license works

Every BRAD install verifies its license against our servers on first launch and on a rolling 15-day re-check. The check passes silently in the background — there is no online-only mode. If your server can't reach the license endpoint for up to 20 days (15-day TTL plus a 5-day grace window), BRAD keeps running on the last cached response.

You'll see a copy of your license key in the email receipt and on your account dashboard.