# Installation Guide (Jaws Deploy Stack)

Source: https://www.jawsdeploy.net/guides/installation-guide

Stack is the self-hosted form of Jaws Deploy. Same product, same workflow, your infrastructure.

Jaws Deploy Stack is a self-hostable distribution of Jaws Deploy. It runs the same control plane and shares the same workflow as Cloud. It targets teams with private networks, compliance requirements, or a preference for owning the platform.

## Before running the installer

- One server: Windows Server 2019+ or a current Ubuntu/Debian/RHEL.
- Database: MySQL 8 or Postgres 14+. Same host is fine for small installs; separate host is recommended for production.
- Outbound HTTPS for license validation; otherwise no internet access required after install.
- A DNS name and a TLS certificate for the Stack URL.

## 1. Run the installer

Download the Stack installer for your OS. On Windows it's an MSI; on Linux it's a deb/rpm package. The installer creates a `jawsdeploy` service, lays out the application files under `/opt/jawsdeploy` (Linux) or `C:\Program Files\JawsDeploy` (Windows), and writes a templated config file.

## 2. Configure the database connection

Edit `/opt/jawsdeploy/config.yaml` (or the Windows equivalent) and set the database connection string. Start the service. The first start runs schema migrations against the database.

## Just the database, the bind address, and the public URL

TLS termination is typically handled by a reverse proxy - see the proxy guide.

```
database:
  driver: mysql
  host: db.internal
  port: 3306
  name: jawsdeploy
  user: jawsdeploy
  password: "..."

server:
  bind: "0.0.0.0:8080"
  publicUrl: "https://deploy.acme.internal"

storage:
  packages: "/var/lib/jawsdeploy/packages"
```

## 3. Bootstrap the first admin

The installer prints a one-time bootstrap token on the first start. Visit the public URL, paste the token, create the first admin user. From then on, all access is through normal login.

> **// Next steps - After Stack is up, the next two pieces are usually a proxy and SSO.**
> 
> See the proxy guide for putting Stack behind nginx/IIS with TLS, and the OIDC guide for wiring Entra ID, Okta, or Google Workspace as your login provider.