Monica Personal CRM

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

## Overview

Monica is the open source personal relationship manager - a self-hosted CRM for your personal life. Keep track of the people who matter to you: record how and when you interacted with them, set reminders for birthdays and important dates, log gifts, notes, debts, tasks, activities, journal entries and relationships between contacts.

This AMI delivers Monica4.1 fully installed and configured so a complete personal CRM is running within minutes of launch - no manual setup wizard, no schema migration, and no scheduler configuration required.

## Why This AMI Instead of a DIY Deployment

Deploying Monica manually means configuring nginx, PHP-FPM with OPcache, MariaDB, Laravel's task scheduler via cron or systemd, volume layout for uploads and database, credential generation, and application-key rotation. This image eliminates all of that:

• Zero-touch deployment - Launch the instance, browse to its address, and sign in. The schema, reference data, web server, and scheduler are pre-configured.
• Dedicated resizable volumes - Application files, uploads, and the database each reside on independent EBS volumes you can resize without rebuilding.
• Disabled signups - Only the per-instance administrator account exists, so there is no exposure window from open registration.
• Automatic credential generation - A first-boot service creates a unique Laravel application key, MariaDB password, and admin password, then stores the admin login in a root-only file. No shared or default credentials ever ship in the image.

Compared to generic Docker Compose deployments or community images, this AMI provides a hardened, production-ready stack with professional support included.

## Application Stack

Monica is a Laravel application running on PHP 8.3 with OPcache, served by nginx with php-fpm. MariaDB provides the database backend. The Laravel task scheduler runs every minute through a systemd timer to process reminders and queued jobs.

## Secure By Default

On first boot a one-shot systemd service generates a fresh Laravel application key, a fresh MariaDB password, and a fresh administrator account password - all unique to that instance. The instance's own address is set as the application URL automatically. The database is created empty at image build time, so no personal data ships in the image.

## Example Use Case

A solo consultant managing200+ client relationships launches this AMI in a private VPC. After signing in, they import contacts via CardDAV sync from their phone, set birthday and follow-up reminders, and log meeting notes after each call. All data stays within their AWS account - no third-party SaaS involved. The dedicated storage volumes let them scale the database independently as their contact list grows.

## Additional Scenarios

• A family office tracking relationship notes and important dates across generations with full data residency in a chosen AWS Region.
• A healthcare professional logging patient interaction notes under strict privacy requirements, keeping data out of multi-tenant platforms.
• Anyone who wants a private alternative to commercial contact managers while retaining full control over backups and exports.

## cloudimg Support

24/7 technical support by email and live chat. Our engineers help with Monica deployment, upgrades, performance tuning, email relay configuration, CardDAV and CalDAV sync, two-factor authentication setup, and database administration. Critical issues receive a one-hour average response.

## Getting Started

1. Launch the AMI with a recommended instance type (t3.small or larger).

2. Ensure your security group allows inbound traffic on ports 80 and 443.

3. SSH into the instance and retrieve the generated admin credentials from the root-only file.

4. Browse to the instance's public IP or DNS address.

5. Sign in with the admin credentials and begin adding contacts, reminders, and notes.

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