# Self-Host

Run YotoShelf on your own hardware or a VPS. A single container image, an SQLite database, and a Yoto API token are all you need.

YotoShelf ships as a single OCI container image from `registry.gitlab.com/yotoshelf/yotoshelf`. It embeds its own static file server and uses SQLite — there are no external databases or caches to run alongside it.

## What you need

- Docker (or Podman) with Compose support
- A Yoto account with at least one Make Your Own card
- Persistent storage for the database and card library (a Docker volume or a bind mount)
- Two random secrets: `YOTOSHELF_SESSION_SECRET` and `YOTOSHELF_ENCRYPTION_KEY` (each at least 32 bytes)

## Sections in this guide

- [Quick Start](/self-host/quick-start) — container run command, required environment variables, first login
- [Build from Source](/self-host/build-from-source) — clone, toolchain setup, the `just dev` loop
- [Configuration](/self-host/configuration) — full environment variable reference with defaults
- [Backup & Restore](/self-host/backup-restore) — built-in CLI subcommands, cron scheduling, restore validation
- [Hardware Notes](/self-host/hardware-notes) — Yoto device constraints: cover dimensions, display pixels, audio pipeline

## Runtime image

The published image is built from the repository `Containerfile` on every push to `main`. It is a three-stage build: Node (frontend) → Go (binary) → Alpine (runtime + ffmpeg). The final layer is minimal — Alpine plus ffmpeg plus the single statically-compiled binary.

The image is tagged `latest` and by commit SHA. Pin to a SHA for production; pull `latest` to track the main branch.