Your data stays yours
Messages, media and accounts live on your disk, under your jurisdiction and your backup policy.
Self-hosting
Run Lyra on your own machine.
One compose file, a domain, one command. Your data stays on hardware you control, and the same code runs on your node as on the hosted one.
Why operators do it
No usage ceiling
No seat count, no message cap, no feature held back for a higher plan.
Your moderation rules
You decide what is allowed and who enforces it, without arbitration from a third party.
It cannot be taken away
No account suspension, no pricing change, no shutdown notice on someone else’s timeline.
What you need
A Linux server
Debian or Ubuntu, 2 vCPU and 4 GB of RAM for a comfortable small instance.
Docker and Compose
Installed by the bootstrap script if they are missing.
A domain name
Pointed at the server for trusted TLS; federation trials need additional qualification and are outside V1.
About twenty minutes
Most of it spent waiting for images to pull.
git clone <REPOSITORY_URL> lyranodecd lyranodesudo ./scripts/first-install.sh --operator "$USER" \--domain chat.example.com --letsencrypt-email ops@example.com
The whole installation
Replace the repository URL, domain and email with yours. The command is copied from the repository README; the script checks the host, installs prerequisites, generates secrets, obtains a certificate and starts the stack.
View sourceLiving with it
Updates
A single command pulls a revision, backs up first and rolls the code back automatically if the stack fails to come up.
Backups
Restic-based snapshots of MongoDB, Redis and media, with verification and a tested in-place restore.
Monitoring
Prometheus metrics and healthchecks on every service, plus a read-only doctor command.
Modest hardware
A small-instance profile bounds memory and CPU for a 2 GB VPS or a Raspberry Pi.
Different homes.
One open neighbourhood.
Open by construction
Your community should not depend on one company’s mood.
Run Lyra yourself, inspect the code, or join a hosted node. Federation is designed to connect independent nodes while each operator keeps control of infrastructure and policy.
- ✓Source available
- ✓Self-hostable
- ✓Experimental federation research
Hosted or your own?
Use the hosted node
Nothing to operate, no server bill, updates handled. Best if you want to run a community, not a server.
Run your own
Full control of data, policy and infrastructure. Best if that control is the point, or if you already operate servers.
Both run the same software, and a community can move between them.
Run the same Lyra software on your own infrastructure.
Review the requirements, follow the installation steps and keep control of your node.