Self-Host a Cove — Lucid Cove

YOU RUN IT

Self-host

Run the open-source Cove on your own hardware. Full sovereignty, no monthly hosting. The steps are right below.

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WE RUN IT

Host it for you

Same Cove, same software — we stand it up and keep it running. Buy it, name it, claim it. Nothing to install.

It's the same Cove either way. Hosting just decides whose machine it runs on — the software, your data ownership, and how it works are identical. Below is the self-host path.

BEFORE YOU START

Docker + Docker Compose
A model provider — a local Ollama (fully self-hosted, recommended) or an API key (OpenRouter, Google, Groq, Moonshot)
~4 GB free disk for images, plus room for your data

Clone and set your secrets

git clone https://github.com/LucidPrinciples/lucid-cove-core.git cove-core
cd cove-core
cp .env.example .env

Open .env and set, at minimum: COVE_NAME + COVE_ID (a label and slug), strong POSTGRES_PASSWORD + NC_ADMIN_PASSWORD, a long random SHARED_CONTAINER_SECRET, and a model provider (OLLAMA_BASE_URL for local, or one of the *_API_KEY vars). Everything else is optional and feature-gated — leave it blank until you want it.

Provide your Cove config

cp config/cove.yaml.example config/cove.yaml
cp config/agent.yaml.example config/agent.yaml

Edit config/cove.yaml — set your cove.name, cove.id, cove.operator, and (optional) cove.domain if you'll run behind a domain. The repo is the source of everything standard — the team, the tools, the steward. Your config only overrides its own values.

You arrived through 's invite. Add this to your config/cove.yaml so they get credit when your Cove joins the network:

Bring up the stack

cp docker/docker-compose.example.yml docker/docker-compose.yml
cd docker
docker compose up -d --build

This builds the cove-core image and starts four services: the app, Postgres, Nextcloud, and Redis.

Open it

# Mission Control
http://localhost:8200

# Nextcloud  (log in as NC_ADMIN_USER / NC_ADMIN_PASSWORD)
http://localhost:8081

If anything looks off, watch the logs: docker compose logs -f app. That's a running Cove — your steward, your files, your daily tuning.

Going Further

A domain + HTTPS. Put a reverse proxy (Caddy, Traefik, nginx) in front and set cove.domain in cove.yaml. The dashboard's service links build from that domain.
Family mode. Set COVE_MODE=multi in .env and add Presences from the admin view — each family member gets their own operator + agent.
The Lucid Tuning Protocol. Your Cove subscribes to the public daily Drop at drop.lucidprinciples.com. Set LP_KB_PUBLIC_KEY to verify the canonical Knowledge Base; leave LTP_DRY_RUN=true until you're ready.
Local models. Point OLLAMA_BASE_URL at your Ollama; the container reaches a host Ollama via host.docker.internal.

The container carries no source — cove-core is mounted from the repo at runtime and merged into the app, so you update by pulling the repo and recreating the container. Nextcloud uses SQLite in the base setup (fine for one family). This is pre-release software (v1.0.0) — expect rough edges. Code is Apache 2.0; the Canon framework content is CC BY 4.0. Full guide: QUICKSTART.md.

Rather Not Run a Server?

Same Cove, none of the setup. We provision it, route it, and keep it running — you just name it and claim it. Your data ownership and the software are identical to self-hosting.

HOST IT FOR ME VIEW THE REPO

Self-Host Your Cove