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Self-Host GudForm with Docker in 5 Minutes

•By GudForm Team

GudForm is designed to be self-hosted. Whether you want to keep form data on your own infrastructure or customize the platform for your team, running your own instance takes just a few minutes with Docker.

Prerequisites

You'll need:

  • Docker and Docker Compose installed
  • A PostgreSQL database (or use our Docker Compose example)
  • 10 minutes

Quick Start with Docker Compose

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/gudlab/gudform-core.git
cd gudform-core

Copy the example environment file:

cp .env.example .env

Update your .env with:

  • DATABASE_URL pointing to your Postgres instance
  • NEXTAUTH_SECRET (generate with openssl rand -base64 32)
  • NEXTAUTH_URL set to your domain

Start the services:

docker-compose up -d

GudForm will be available at http://localhost:3000.

Database Setup

Run migrations to set up your database schema:

docker-compose exec web pnpm prisma migrate deploy

Optionally seed default integrations:

docker-compose exec web pnpm db:seed-integrations

Production Deployment

For production, you'll want to:

  1. Use a managed database like Neon or AWS RDS
  2. Set up auth providers (GitHub OAuth, email, etc.)
  3. Configure S3 storage for file uploads
  4. Enable HTTPS with a reverse proxy

The open-source edition includes all core features: conversational and classic display modes, webhooks, analytics, and the MCP server for AI agents.

SaaS vs Self-Hosted

Our hosted version at gudform.com includes:

  • Zero-config deployment
  • Managed infrastructure
  • Zapier, Make, and integration marketplace
  • Team collaboration features

Self-hosting gives you full control, no usage limits, and the ability to customize the codebase.

Community & Support

Join our GitHub issues for help with deployment, feature requests, or to share what you've built with GudForm.

We also accept contributions — check out CONTRIBUTING.md in the repo to get started.