How to install BookStack on a Cloud VPS

BookStack is a simple, self-hosted wiki platform that organizes documentation into books, chapters and pages, perfect for internal knowledge bases.

The self-hosted version removes per-user subscriptions: you pay only for the server, no matter how many teammates use the app.

One-click install on cloudlinux.ro

The fastest way: BookStack installs automatically at the first boot of a new server.

1. Create a Cloud VPS from the control panel.
2. In the configuration step, pick BookStack from the app catalog.
3. Start the server. The install runs in the background for a few minutes and its status shows on the server page.
4. Access details and generated passwords are saved on the server in /root/app-credentials.txt. The app will be available on port 80.

Manual install on any Ubuntu server

If you prefer doing it yourself, below is the exact script our automatic install runs. Execute it as root on a fresh Ubuntu server (24.04 recommended). It stops at the first error, and when it finishes you will find the access details in /root/app-credentials.txt.

export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
DB_PASS=$(openssl rand -base64 24 | tr -dc 'A-Za-z0-9' | cut -c1-20)
APP_KEY=$(openssl rand -base64 32)
IP=$(hostname -I | awk '{print $1}')
docker network create bookstack
docker volume create bookstack_db
docker volume create bookstack_data
docker run -d --name bookstack-db --restart=always --network bookstack \
  -e MARIADB_DATABASE=bookstackapp -e MARIADB_USER=bookstack -e MARIADB_PASSWORD="$DB_PASS" -e MARIADB_RANDOM_ROOT_PASSWORD=1 \
  -v bookstack_db:/var/lib/mysql mariadb:11
docker run -d --name bookstack --restart=always --network bookstack -p 80:80 \
  -e APP_URL="http://${IP}" -e APP_KEY="base64:${APP_KEY}" \
  -e DB_HOST=bookstack-db -e DB_PORT=3306 -e DB_USERNAME=bookstack -e DB_PASSWORD="$DB_PASS" -e DB_DATABASE=bookstackapp \
  -v bookstack_data:/config lscr.io/linuxserver/bookstack:latest
printf 'BookStack: http://%s\nAutentificare initiala: [email protected] / password, schimba parola imediat.\n' "$IP" > /root/app-credentials.txt

You can also save this script as a recipe in your account and reuse it on any new server.