Colanode Self-Hosted Collaboration Workspace

This is a repackaged open source software product wherein additional charges apply for cloudimg support services.

## Deploy a Private Collaboration Workspace in Minutes

Colanode is an open-source, self-hosted collaboration workspace that brings real-time team chat, collaborative pages and documents, flexible structured databases, and file sharing together in one place - a self-hosted alternative to tools like Slack and Notion. This AMI delivers Colanode fully installed and running behind a hardened nginx reverse proxy, so your workspace is answering over HTTPS within minutes of launch.

Local-first architecture means the web and desktop clients keep a full local copy of your workspaces. The app stays fast and keeps working offline, then syncs changes back to the server when you reconnect. Because every workspace lives on your own server, your conversations, documents, and files never leave your environment.

## Why This AMI Instead of Self-Deploy

Standing up Colanode from source means installing Docker, wiring a reverse proxy, running a Postgres (pgvector) database and a Valkey cache, provisioning persistent storage, generating datastore secrets, and closing the default open registration and terminating TLS so the browser client actually works. This AMI removes all of it:

• Application containers version-frozen to pinned image digests for reproducible deployments
• Dedicated data disk you can resize independently of the OS disk
• Unique per-instance secrets generated on first boot - no shared or default credentials
• Secure-by-default posture where public signup is closed until you choose to open it
• Full data ownership and operational control on your own AWS infrastructure
• 24/7 cloudimg support for deployment, configuration, and troubleshooting

## Application Stack

Colanode runs as four containers on a private Docker network under a single systemd service:

• Colanode server - Node/Fastify API and sync engine
• Web client - browser-based collaboration interface
• Postgres database with the pgvector extension
• Valkey cache - Redis-compatible in-memory store

The server and web client are bound to the loopback interface and fronted by nginx on port 443, with HTTP-to-HTTPS redirect and WebSocket upgrade pre-configured. The database, cache, and file uploads all live on a dedicated data disk, independently resizable and separate from the operating system disk. The database and cache are never published to a host port - they are reachable only on the internal container network.

## Local-First Workspaces You Control

Teams organise work into workspaces and channels, chat in real time, write and link rich collaborative pages, track anything in structured databases with custom fields and views, and share files - all under one account on infrastructure you own. File uploads are stored on the server's built-in file provider on your own disk, so no third-party object store or external storage credentials are involved.

## Secure by Default

The upstream project defaults to open registration; this image closes it. On first boot a one-shot service generates unique database and cache passwords, writes a per-instance server configuration bound to the instance's own address, generates a self-signed certificate so the browser client runs over HTTPS immediately, and seeds a single administrator account with a random password recorded in a root-only file. Public signup is set to manual so a fresh server is never world-joinable - new registrations stay inert until an administrator activates them. No shared or default secrets ship in the image, and the server and datastores are bound to the local network rather than exposed directly. For a warning-free certificate, point a DNS hostname at the instance and attach Let's Encrypt, or terminate TLS on an AWS Application Load Balancer - the paired cloudimg user guide walks through every step. For data at rest, enable EBS encryption on the dedicated data disk.

## Use Cases

• Teams that want data ownership: Run a private team chat and knowledge base on infrastructure you fully control, so conversations, documents, and files never leave your environment.
• Documentation and knowledge management: Keep documents, notes, and structured databases together in one collaborative workspace as a self-hosted Notion alternative.
• Distributed and offline-tolerant teams: Give your team a fast, local-first workspace that keeps working offline and syncs on reconnect, hosted on your own AWS account.

## cloudimg Support