This page moved. The canonical install instructions now live at Self-host → Install. Everything below is a short overview pointing at the new home so the published URL keeps working.
LevelChat self-host runs the same images as the managed cloud. The only difference is the license token: caps, watermark, recording, broadcast, and SSO toggle on the moment a paid license is active.
Get started in one command
curl -fsSL https://get.levelchat.io/install.sh | sudo bashThat launches the interactive LevelChat installer & operator CLI — a branded terminal menu (Install · Activate license · Join cluster · Status · Restart · Upgrade). Pick Install, then choose:
- Community — free, 5 participants per room, no recording, no broadcast, watermark on every tile. Great for trying the stack on a dev box before you subscribe.
- Licensed — paste a paid license token when prompted to unlock the full feature set.
You don't need a license to start. Install in Community mode now, then later run the CLI's Activate license action to paste a token and unlock the paid tier — no reinstall.
Buying a self-host subscription
Self-host is a recurring per-server monthly subscription (Pro is priced per server per month), not a one-time purchase. Buy it in the Studio Console:
- Sign in to the Studio Console at app.levelchat.io/console.
- Open the Billing page, pick a server count, and subscribe via Stripe.
- The license token is shown on the Billing page with a copy button — and is also emailed. Paste it into the installer CLI's Install or Activate license flow.
Read this next
- /self-host/install — full installer reference, every supported env var, what runs on what port, post-install checklist (Stripe webhook URL, backup verification, SMTP smoke).
- /self-host/license — how the JWT works, how renewal happens, what an expired license falls back to.
- /self-host/upgrade — moving between versions without dropping live rooms.
- /self-host/architecture — what each container does and why, sizing per concurrent participant count.
If you landed here from an old blog post or an internal wiki, the new install page covers everything this page used to and more.