Server

Do this once, on the Linux box that will host your sites.

Get a server & note its IP

Any Linux box with systemd, a small VPS is plenty. Note its public IP address; the local tool and your domains will point at it.

Install Caddy & Node v20+

From your package manager: Caddy (from a package, so its systemd unit exists) and Node. The installer only checks for these, it never installs them.

Ubuntu & Debian

Caddy comes from its official apt repository (so you get the systemd unit); Node v20 from NodeSource.

# Caddy — official apt repository
sudo apt install -y debian-keyring debian-archive-keyring apt-transport-https curl
curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/caddy/stable/gpg.key' | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/caddy-stable-archive-keyring.gpg
curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/caddy/stable/debian.deb.txt' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/caddy-stable.list
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y caddy

# Node v20 — NodeSource
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs

Arch Linux

Both are in the official repositories, and Caddy ships with its systemd unit.

sudo pacman -S --needed caddy nodejs npm

On any distro, confirm you are ready with caddy version and node --version (expect v20 or newer).

Run the installer

Either pipe it straight to root, or download and verify it first, both produce an identical server.

Either: Automatic install

Fetches the bundle, checks its SHA-256, unpacks it to /opt/sitehoster-src and runs the bundled installer for you, one line with nothing to verify by hand.

curl -fsSL https://sitehoster.org/install.sh | sudo bash

Run from the command line of your server.

[sitehoster] downloading bundle from https://sitehoster.org ...
[sitehoster] verifying checksum ...
[sitehoster] unpacking to /opt/sitehoster-src ...
[sitehoster] running installer ...
[sitehoster] installing code to /opt/sitehoster/1.0.0 ...
[sitehoster] generated master token at /etc/sitehoster/token:
7f3c1a9e5b2d6084c1f7ae90d3b45c28e6a1f0d9b7c34e28a5f16b0c9d8e2a4f
[sitehoster] done. API is running as sitehoster-api; Caddy fronts your site domains.

Expected output. Copy the token, it is printed once and the local tool needs it.

If it stops, the message names the cause:

run as root: … | sudo bash: you piped the script to bash instead of sudo bash; the installer must be root.

curl is required: curl is not installed; add it with your package manager and retry.

checksum verification FAILED — refusing to install: the download was corrupted or tampered with; re-run to fetch a fresh copy.

Caddy not found / Node v20+ required: a prerequisite from step 2 is missing. The installer only checks for these, it never installs them; add the missing one and retry.

Or: Manual install

Download the bundle and its checksum, verify it yourself, then unpack and run the installer. Use this if you would rather not pipe a script to root.

curl -fsSLO https://sitehoster.org/downloads/sitehoster.tar.gz
curl -fsSLO https://sitehoster.org/downloads/sitehoster.tar.gz.sha256
sha256sum -c sitehoster.tar.gz.sha256
tar xzf sitehoster.tar.gz && sudo sitehoster/deploy/install.sh

Run from the command line of your server.

sitehoster.tar.gz: OK
[sitehoster] installing code to /opt/sitehoster/1.0.0 ...
[sitehoster] generated master token at /etc/sitehoster/token:
7f3c1a9e5b2d6084c1f7ae90d3b45c28e6a1f0d9b7c34e28a5f16b0c9d8e2a4f
[sitehoster] done. API is running as sitehoster-api; Caddy fronts your site domains.

Expected output. OK from sha256sum confirms the download is genuine before anything runs.

If it fails, the message names the cause:

sha256sum: sitehoster.tar.gz.sha256: No such file or directory: the checksum file did not download, or you are in the wrong directory; grab both files first.

sitehoster.tar.gz: FAILED: the archive does not match its checksum; delete it and download again.

sudo: sitehoster/deploy/install.sh: No such file or directory: the archive was not unpacked (the tar step failed), so there is nothing to run.

Both paths lay out the service, generate a self-signed cert, and print an API token once, copy it; the local tool needs it.

Point your domains at it

Add an A record for each domain → your server's IP. That's all Caddy needs to issue a certificate on the first visit.

Manage the service with sudo deploy/start.sh / sudo deploy/stop.sh. Upgrade by re-running the installer (it keeps your token and sites).

Uninstall

An uninstall script ships with the bundle. It stops and disables the service and removes the installed code, but deliberately leaves your sites and logs in place so a reinstall picks up exactly where it left off. Run it from where you unpacked the bundle (the automatic install leaves it under /opt/sitehoster-src).

sudo deploy/uninstall.sh

Run from the command line of your server.

[sitehoster] stopping and disabling the service ...
[sitehoster] removing installed code ...
[sitehoster] done. data kept under /srv/sitehoster* and /etc/sitehoster (use --purge to remove).
[sitehoster] note: the Caddyfile at /etc/caddy/Caddyfile was left in place; edit it if you no longer front site domains.

Expected output.

What stays behind, so nothing you care about is lost:

Your sites at /srv/sitehoster.
Access and error logs at /srv/sitehoster-logs, and server stats at /srv/sitehoster-server-stats.
The master token and self-signed cert in /etc/sitehoster.
Caddy itself and its config at /etc/caddy/Caddyfile, plus the system sitehoster user.

To wipe all of that too, run sudo deploy/uninstall.sh --purge; it deletes /srv/sitehoster*, /etc/sitehoster and the sitehoster user. There is no undo.

Next Steps

Once you have set up your server, you are ready to start synchronising your sites.