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Self-hosting

Install from a prebuilt release

Download and run Mossy from a release ZIP without building from source.

You can install Mossy without Docker or a build step by downloading a prebuilt ZIP from GitHub. Choose the Node.js archive for the web interface, API, and MCP endpoint, or the static archive for the web interface only. Read Deployment modes for a comparison.

Before you begin

For server mode, you need Node.js 26 or later. For static mode, you need a web server or static hosting service; Node.js isn’t required.

The commands below use a Linux shell with unzip and sha256sum installed. They use version 0.2.0 as an example; replace it with the version you download.

Download and verify

Download the files for your chosen mode and check the archive before extracting it.

  1. Open the Mossy releases page and choose a release.

  2. Under Assets, download one of these archives and the SHA256SUMS file from the same release into an empty folder:

    • mossy-node-v0.2.0.zip for server mode.
    • mossy-static-v0.2.0.zip for static mode.

    Don’t download Source code (zip) or Source code (tar.gz). GitHub generates those archives from the source repository; they aren’t ready-to-run builds.

  3. Open a terminal in that folder and verify the checksum:

    sha256sum --check --ignore-missing SHA256SUMS

    Check that your ZIP’s filename appears with OK. The command skips release assets you haven’t downloaded. If verification fails, don’t use the archive; download it again.

Run server mode

The Node.js archive includes the server and web assets. You don’t need to install npm packages or clone the repository.

  1. Extract the archive and open the installation folder:

    unzip mossy-node-v0.2.0.zip -d mossy-node
cd mossy-node

  2. Start Mossy:

    HOST=0.0.0.0 PORT=8080 node server/entry.mjs

  3. Open http://localhost:8080 in a browser on the same machine. For a remote server, replace localhost with its IP address or hostname.

HOST=0.0.0.0 accepts connections on all network interfaces. Use HOST=127.0.0.1 to accept only local connections, or change PORT if port 8080 is already in use.

Mossy runs in the foreground. Press Ctrl+C to stop it. For a persistent deployment, use a service manager such as systemd to keep it running, and put it behind a reverse proxy with HTTPS before exposing it publicly.

Serve static mode

The static archive contains the complete website. It doesn’t include API or MCP endpoints.

  1. Extract the archive:

    unzip mossy-static-v0.2.0.zip -d mossy-static

  2. Upload the contents of mossy-static/ to your static hosting service, or configure your web server to use that folder as its document root. Serve it at the root of your domain, with index.html as the index file for directory requests.

  3. Open your site’s URL in a browser. Use HTTPS for a public deployment.

Serve the files over HTTP or HTTPS rather than opening index.html directly from your filesystem.

Update Mossy

Download and verify the archive for the new release, then extract it into a new folder. For server mode, stop the old process and start the new version with the same HOST and PORT settings. For static mode, replace the files served by your host with the new archive’s contents.