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Quick start

The fastest path to a running Hestia instance is Docker Compose.

1. Get the code​

git clone https://github.com/Wikid82/Hestia.git
cd Hestia

2. Configure the minimum required settings​

cp .env.example .env

Open .env and set:

  • AUTH_SECRET — required, the server won't start without it. Generate one with: 
    openssl rand -base64 32
  • TZ — your household's IANA timezone (e.g. America/New_York). Chore due-dates are computed from the container's local clock, so without this, chores roll over at UTC midnight instead of your local midnight.

Everything else in .env.example is optional for a first run — see environment variables for the full reference if you want to enable outbound email (invites) or open public signup.

3. Start it​

docker compose up -d

Hestia is now available at http://localhost:8080. The SQLite database lives in ./data/hestia.db on the host via a bind-mounted volume — back up that one file to back up your whole household's data.

4. Create your household​

The first account you sign up with becomes that household's Head of Household (HoH) and this instance's system admin. By default, nobody else can self-signup after that — everyone else joins by invite, sent from the admin/household settings screens once you're logged in (this requires outbound email to be configured; see the environment reference above).

5. Add chores​

Once logged in as the HoH:

  1. Add household members (or set up managed/avatar-picker profiles for kids without their own email).
  2. Create a chore — set a name, an optional recurrence (daily, weekly, weekdays, or custom), a point value, and either assign it to a specific person or leave it open for anyone to claim.
  3. Household members check off chores as they complete them and earn points.

Running behind a reverse proxy​

Hestia works out of the box behind Caddy, Traefik, Nginx Proxy Manager, or similar, as long as the proxy forwards the original Host header (all three do this by default). Serving from a domain or subdomain root (e.g. https://hestia.example.com) needs no extra configuration — just proxy to the container's port 8080. Serving from a reverse-proxy subpath isn't supported yet.

Developing locally​

See the README's "Developing locally" section for running the backend and frontend as separate processes instead of via Docker.