Self-host an open-source Dify alternative

Self-hosting a Dify alternative on your own server

Self-hosting a Dify alternative means running the whole stack on a server you control, and Kortix, the open-source AI Operating System, installs as one Docker Compose stack. If you already self-host Dify, you know the shape of the job: a Linux box with Docker, DNS that points at it, and provider keys. Kortix follows the same pattern, with one detail to plan for. On a self-hosted Kortix, sessions run on a cloud sandbox provider, so the instance has to be reachable from the internet.

What Dify's Community Edition needs

Dify is an open-source LLM app development platform. Dify's own repository documents its Community Edition running through Docker Compose from the dify/docker directory, on a machine with at least 2 CPU cores and 4 GiB of RAM and Docker Compose v2.24.0 or later. You copy the example environment file and bring the stack up:

cd difycd dockercp .env.example .envdocker compose up -d

The dashboard then opens at http://localhost/install for the first setup.

What a self-hosted Kortix installs

Kortix turns the same job into a command set. The self-hosting docs describe a self-hosted instance as the full Kortix platform on a server you control, one Docker Compose stack that the kortix self-host CLI installs, configures, and updates. You point kortix.example.com and api.kortix.example.com at the server, open ports 80 and 443, then install the CLI, answer the setup questions, and start the stack:

curl -fsSL https://kortix.com/install | bashkortix self-host init --domain kortix.example.com --admin-email you@example.comkortix self-host configurekortix self-host startkortix self-host doctor

Requirements a self-hosted Kortix adds

Beyond Dify's list, a self-hosted Kortix needs A or AAAA records for the domain and its api subdomain before the first start, a wildcard record for sandbox previews, and a sandbox provider key for Daytona, Platinum, or E2B. Sessions run on that provider, not on the server, and the sandbox calls back to the instance's public API URL, so the box needs a public address. You add your model provider key in the web app after the first sign-in, and your own keys stay yours.

What you own after the install

The stack writes docker-compose.yml, .env, a Caddyfile, and updater.sh into ~/.config/kortix/self-host/<instance>/, and one Compose project named kortix-<instance> holds every service. Your agents, skills, company memory, and connectors stay in a git repo you own, not in a vendor's dashboard.