What you get

Your own AI server: your documents stay on your machine, you decide which models may see them, and nobody else holds the keys. The installation takes your server there in one go – no prior knowledge of Docker, certificates or databases needed.

What you need

  1. A fresh Linux server – recommended: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS; Debian, RHEL, Rocky, Alma and Fedora work just as well.
  2. Your own domain, with tools., nextcloud. and office. pointing to the server.
  3. Ports 22, 80 and 443 open to the internet.
  4. A mailbox the server can send from, so it can tell you when something needs your attention.

Step 1 – download the installer from GitHub

Sign in to the server as root and type:

bash <(curl -fsSL https://onions.one/install)

The command installs git if it is missing, downloads the installer from GitHub into /opt/onions-server – always the current state, never an old archive – and starts it. No account, no token, nothing reported back to us.

If you prefer to fetch it with git yourself:

git clone https://github.com/chrislingra/onions-server.git /opt/onions-server
cd /opt/onions-server && bash install.sh

Step 2 – let the installer prepare the server

Choose a in the menu. The installer asks a few questions once – your domain, your administrators, your mailbox – and then works through eight steps by itself. Afterwards:

  1. only your administrators can sign in, and the firewall lets in nothing but web and SSH,
  2. every address of your domain has its own certificate,
  3. attacks are blocked automatically and security updates install themselves,
  4. the toolserver runs – with its database, a store for your knowledge and Nextcloud for your files.

Every step can be repeated, so an interruption costs nothing.

Step 3 – sign in and add your modules

At the end the installer shows your address https://tools.<your-domain> and the password of your administrator. Sign in: the Open Core and the base modules are ready to use. Every further module is one click away under Environment > Server-Config > Modules.

Open Core – free and open source

A server you control, kept secure and up to date: users and roles, data protection, hardening, backups and updates. Licensed under AGPL-3.0 – free of charge, and you may use, change and share it.

Base modules – included

  1. Knowledge – your documents become answers, each with its source.
  2. AI Sources – you decide which models may work with which data: local, German or European providers first, others only where you allow it.
  3. Mail – incoming mail sorted by your rules before you read it.

General office helpers

  1. Chat – ask your own documents and get answers you can work with, with templates for recurring tasks.
  2. Bots – an assistant on your website that answers your visitors from your knowledge.
  3. Automation – recurring work runs by itself.
  4. Governance – projects, rules and decisions in one place, so nothing gets lost.
  5. AuditFlow – every audit followed through to the last finding.
  6. Media Studio – your images in one place.

Integrations

  1. Microsoft 365 and SharePoint – mail and attachments land where they belong.
  2. Nextcloud – your files on your own server, edited in the browser; installed with the server.
  3. Gateways for your tools – editors, coding agents and chat apps use your models under your rules; part of the Open Core.
  4. n8n workflows – connect further services to your server.

Specialist modules

  1. Extrusion – know-how on dies, presses and stock for aluminium extrusion, with its own assistant.
  2. Editorial – a magazine archive you can search in any language.
  3. Customer – accounts, contacts and research in one place.

Every extension module – office helpers, Microsoft 365, n8n and specialist modules – comes complete as a demo: you try it in full before you decide, and a licence file unlocks it.

Staying up to date

Your server fetches its updates from the same source on GitHub – under Environment > Installation > Updates, with a way back if you need it.

Until the first public release

The Open Core will be published on GitHub with release 1. Until then the installer prepares any server (steps 1 to 6); the toolserver itself (step 7) we set up together with you – write to us, the address is in the imprint.