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Who this guide is for

This guide assumes you:

• Have a Linux server (bare metal, a homelab machine, or a rented VPS)
• Are comfortable with SSH and the command line
• Want to manage the full deployment yourself

If you'd prefer a simpler start, see the Hostinger or Railway guides instead.

Server requirements

Minimum: 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 10 GB storage

Recommended: 2 vCPU, 2 GB RAM for comfortable operation with multiple users

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or Debian 12 are the best-supported distributions.

Step 1: Prepare the server

Create a non-root user for running Paperclip, update the system, and configure your firewall.

adduser paperclip
usermod -aG sudo paperclip
apt update && apt upgrade -y
ufw allow OpenSSH
ufw allow 80
ufw allow 443
ufw enable

Step 2: Install Node.js, Git, and nginx

Install the required runtime and reverse proxy. nginx will handle SSL and forward traffic to your Paperclip process.

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | bash -
apt install -y nodejs git nginx
nginx -v

Step 3: Clone, configure, and build

Switch to the paperclip user, clone the repository, and configure your environment.

su - paperclip
git clone https://github.com/paperclip-app/paperclip.git
cd paperclip
npm install
cp .env.example .env
nano .env  # fill in your values
npm run build

Step 4: Configure nginx as a reverse proxy

Create an nginx site config to proxy requests to your Paperclip instance. Replace YOUR_DOMAIN with your actual domain or server IP.

# /etc/nginx/sites-available/paperclip
server {
  listen 80;
  server_name YOUR_DOMAIN;
  location / {
    proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
    proxy_http_version 1.1;
    proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
    proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
    proxy_set_header Host $host;
    proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
  }
}

Step 5: Run as a systemd service

Use a systemd unit file to keep Paperclip running and restart it automatically after reboots or crashes.

# /etc/systemd/system/paperclip.service
[Unit]
Description=Paperclip
After=network.target

[Service]
User=paperclip
WorkingDirectory=/home/paperclip/paperclip
ExecStart=/usr/bin/npm start
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Then enable and start it:

systemctl enable paperclip
systemctl start paperclip

Keeping Paperclip updated

To update your self-hosted instance, pull the latest changes, reinstall dependencies if needed, rebuild, and restart the service.

cd /home/paperclip/paperclip
git pull
npm install
npm run build
systemctl restart paperclip

This is an independent guide. Paperclip Hosting is not affiliated with the official Paperclip project. Guide steps are based on real deployments and are subject to change as the software evolves.