Quick start

Get Tether running in under 5 minutes using Docker. This is the fastest path to a working installation.

Before you start

Make sure you have Docker and Docker Compose installed:

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# Verify Docker is installed
docker --version
# Expected: Docker version 24.x.x or later

# Verify Compose V2 is installed
docker compose version
# Expected: Docker Compose version v2.x.x

Step 1 — Clone and configure

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git clone https://github.com/atechlab-am/tether
cd tether
cp .env.example .env

Open .env in any text editor and set these values before proceeding:

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# Generate a real secret:
# python -c "import secrets; print(secrets.token_hex(32))"
SECRET_KEY=paste-your-generated-secret-here

BASE_DOMAIN=yourdomain.com      # the domain Tether will run on

ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@yourdomain.com
ADMIN_PASSWORD=choose-a-strong-password

DB_PASSWORD=choose-a-db-password
DB_ROOT_PASSWORD=choose-a-root-password

Step 2 — Start Tether

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docker compose up -d

Docker Compose starts two containers: tether-db (MariaDB 11) and tether-app (the Tether web application). On first boot, MariaDB initialises its data directory, which takes 15–30 seconds. The app container waits for the database healthcheck to pass before starting.

Watch progress with:

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docker compose logs -f

When you see Application startup complete, Tether is ready.

Step 3 — Open Tether

Navigate to http://your-server-ip:8000 in your browser. You should see the Tether login page.

What's next

• First login & setup — what to do after you log in for the first time
• Reverse proxy & HTTPS — put nginx in front of Tether with a valid SSL certificate
• DNS & subdomains — configure wildcard DNS so client subdomains work
• Creating clients — add your first client organisation