Self-hosting Novalink

• Docker, for Postgres 17
• Python 3.14 (what Novalink is developed on)
• Node.js 20.9 or newer
• A Supabase project for sign-in (the free tier works)
• An Anthropic API key, only if you want agent nodes

The compose file starts Postgres on port 5433 with two databases: novalink for development and novalink_test for the test suite.

docker compose up -d

python3 -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
cp .env.example .env
python -c "from app.security.crypto import generate_key; print(generate_key())"
alembic upgrade head
uvicorn app.main:app --port 8000

Set these in backend/.env:

• FERNET_KEY: the key printed above. Credential storage refuses to encrypt without it.
• SUPABASE_URL: your project URL. The API verifies Supabase access tokens against the project's public signing keys, so no secret is needed.
• ANTHROPIC_API_KEY: optional, enables Generate with AI.
• ALLOW_PRIVATE_NETWORK: leave false unless HTTP nodes must reach local services.

Interactive API docs are served at http://localhost:8000/docs.

npm install
npm run dev

Create frontend/.env.local with NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL and NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY. In development, requests to /api are rewritten to the API on port 8000, so no CORS setup is needed.

In your Supabase project, open Authentication, then URL Configuration. Set the Site URL to where the editor runs and add /auth/callback on that origin to the redirect URLs. Email confirmation and Google sign-in both return through that route.

Graphs also run straight from a JSON file, which is the fastest loop when working on the engine:

python scripts/run_graph.py examples/basic.json