Getting started

  1. Quick start guide
  2. Running convos
  3. Upgrading
  4. Optional modules
  5. Hypnotoad and Prefork
  6. Alternative install methods
    1. Docker
    2. Git clone
    3. Snap Install
  7. Next

Quick start guide

This guide will give an introduction on how to install and run Convos. It is very easy to get started, but you can also tweak many settings to make Convos fit your needs.

The two commands below will download and start Convos:

curl https://convos.chat/install.sh | sh -
./convos/script/convos daemon

That's it! After the commands above, you can point your browser to http://localhost:3000 to sign up, and start chatting.

You can invite new users to Convos, by sharing an invite link.

Running convos

./script/convos daemon --help

The command above will provide more information about command line arguments. One useful switch is how to specify a listen port and make Convos bind to a specific address:

./script/convos daemon --listen http://127.0.0.1:8080

See also the configuration guide for more --listen options or the FAQ for how to run Convos behind your favorite web server.

Upgrading

Upgrading Convos is as simple as installing it. It is suggested to stop Convos before fetching the latest version, but either way a restart is required to load in the new version.

killall convos
./convos/script/convos upgrade
./convos/script/convos daemon

See the FAQ for more information.

Optional modules

There are some optional modules that can be installed to enhance the experience. The command below will show if the modules are installed or not:

./script/convos version

One very useful addition is EV, which makes Convos faster. It can be installed with the command below:

./script/convos cpanm EV

Hypnotoad and Prefork

It is not possible to run Convos with hypnotoad nor the prefork server. The reason for this is that the Convos core requires shared memory, which a forked environment contradicts.

You need to run Convos in single process, using the "daemon" sub command shown above.

Alternative install methods

Docker

You can use the command below to pull and run convos:

docker pull ghcr.io/convos-chat/convos:stable
mkdir -p $HOME/convos/data
docker run -it -p 8080:3000 -v $HOME/convos/data:/data ghcr.io/convos-chat/convos:stable

The last command will make Convos available on http://localhost:8080, and persist data in $HOME/convos/data.

For Linux distributions with SELinux Enforcing policy (e.g. CentOS, Fedora or RHEL) append :z to volumes:

-v $HOME/convos/data:/data:z

There are some alternative tags available, but we suggest using the "stable" release.

Git clone

Git can be used to get full flexibility. The command below will only clone the stable branch. Omit the --single-branch --no-tags to get everything

# Get the code and install dependencies
cd $HOME;
git clone https://github.com/convos-chat/convos.git \
  --branch stable --single-branch --no-tags
cd $HOME/convos;
./script/convos install

# Start the server
./script/convos daemon

# Update and restart
git pull origin stable
kill $(pgrep convos)
./script/convos daemon

Using the git repo allows you to make changes and build your own frontend. See the developement guide for more details.

Snap Install

Install Convos in seconds on Ubuntu and other snap supported Linux distributions with:

snap install convos

Installing a snap is very quick. Snaps are secure. They are isolated with all of their dependencies. Snaps also auto update when a new version is released.

Check out the official page in the snap store for more information.

Next

Want to learn more? Check out the configuration guide, the FAQ or the documentation index.