Step 2
Prerequisites
Before you start, make sure your machine or server meets these minimum requirements.
Hardware
| Resource | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 2 cores | 4 cores |
| RAM | 2 GB | 4 GB or more |
| Disk | 10 GB free | 40 GB SSD |
| Network | Stable internet | Symmetric uplink for livestreaming |
!
Livestreams need more bandwidth
If your buyers will use the livestream feature heavily, plan for at least 100 Mbps uplink. LiveKit forwards every viewer.
Operating system
Fchat is a Dockerised application, so the host operating system is mostly irrelevant. Officially supported:
- macOS 12 Monterey or later
- Linux Ubuntu 22.04+ / Debian 12 / Rocky / Alma / Fedora 38+ / Arch
- Windows 10 / 11 with WSL2 enabled
Docker
Fchat ships as Docker containers. Our installer will download and configure Docker for you if it is missing:
- On Linux: installs Docker Engine via the official
get.docker.comscript. - On macOS: downloads Docker Desktop and opens the installer.
- On Windows: downloads Docker Desktop and runs the silent installer (you may need one reboot to finish WSL2 setup).
i
Already have Docker?
The installer detects an existing Docker install and just uses it. Minimum version: Docker 24, Docker Compose v2.
Domain (production only)
You can run Fchat on localhost for testing without any domain at all. To go live publicly you need:
- A domain name (e.g.
fchat.example.com) - any registrar works. - Two DNS A records: one for the apex, one wildcard for tenant subdomains.
| Hostname | Type | Value |
|---|---|---|
fchat.example.com | A | YOUR.SERVER.IP |
*.fchat.example.com | A | YOUR.SERVER.IP |
HTTPS is handled automatically by Caddy - no certificate files to manage. See the DNS & SSL chapter for details.
Ports
The full Docker stack exposes the following ports on the host. Make sure your firewall lets them through.
| Port | Service | Required? |
|---|---|---|
| 80 | HTTP (Caddy) | Yes |
| 443 | HTTPS (Caddy) | Yes |
| 7881 | LiveKit signaling | If using livestream |
| 3478/udp | STUN / TURN | If using livestream behind firewall |
| 41000-41050/udp | LiveKit media | If using livestream |
!
Cloud firewall
AWS, GCP, Azure, OVH and Hetzner have a network-level firewall in addition to the OS-level one. Open the same ports there too.