getlago
Fix the gap in the installation guides.
Describe the ISSUE When using the official guide on how to install Lago, the guide seems to target a test environment based on "localhost". That is perfect for playing but not for serious testing, much less for production. Since there are no more options, you are forced to jump into Kubernetes if you want something more serious.
But, unless you are an accounting firm, you have no use for a K8S deployment, but at the same time, you can't run it on "localhost". You need a proper VPS setup on the cloud, or like in my case, you need to run it on a larger server, behind a proxy.
I have requested the pricing for the premium hosted version and while I am certain the price is fair for a larger organization, for many SMB's its a tad steep.
I am certain Lago FOSS is very enticing to many SMBs who also might not have the technical capabilities to deploy on their own without guidance or help. Hence, I suggest expanding the number of guides by adding a VPS guide, a Reverse proxy guide, maybe even a non-compose guide, which could make the architecture much more obvious to a whole lot more people.
In all these cases I would be happy to work on the guides myself if you consider these could in fact be relevant to the project.
NOTE: A development installation guide is also provided and the corresponding compose file found in the repo, which is great but does not solve the issue for staging and production since it is also focused on local development for "app.lago.dev"
Steps to reproduce the behavior:
- Go to the getting started, docker installation guide,
- Follow the steps from any computer other than localhost.
- Resulting deployment will not work.
Expected behavior Clear and concise guides (or even and automated script (or two)) facilitating installation for the most common use cases, whatever those are.
Support
- OS: Linux
- Version: Latest stable
Hello @Martech-WorkShop
I totally understand your point and you're right. We started to work on a Pulumi recipes for AWS some months ago to provide an other deployment option. It's not totally done and still WIP.
We'll work on some other options this year :
- One click deployment
- Better documentation to support those cases
Thanks for responding @jdenquin
Sounds good, let me know if I can be of any help... Feel free to close if there's nothing else to discuss.
Hello @Martech-WorkShop
I totally understand your point and you're right. We started to work on a Pulumi recipes for AWS some months ago to provide an other deployment option. It's not totally done and still WIP.
We'll work on some other options this year :
- One click deployment
- Better documentation to support those cases
I totally agree @jdenquin . Right now Lago will not be able to grow fast since the recipe for installation is broken, as reported #447 One click deployment nowadays would be nice so anyone who have no idea if fits its needs can do it hassle free.
Since I did not get a clear path forward from this issue, I'm going to give it a go on my own. If anyone wants to join, drop me a line here...
@Martech-WorkShop we released a new docker image that embed everything you need, it ease the deployment : https://getlago.com/docs/guide/self-hosted/docker#run-the-app-with-a-one-click-docker-command
More configurations to come for it!
Thanks all — I’d like to propose a structured solution to help bridge the gap between “localhost” and production setups, especially for SMB users running Lago behind a proxy or on a VPS.
✅ Proposed Additions to the Installation Guide
1. Standalone VPS Deployment Guide
- Covers secure deployment on cloud VMs (e.g., Ubuntu 22.04 on DigitalOcean, Hetzner, AWS EC2)
- Includes setting up Docker and Docker Compose from scratch
- Adds secure user setup, ufw firewall, domain pointing, and HTTPS via Let's Encrypt
2. Reverse Proxy Integration (NGINX or Caddy)
- How to place Lago behind NGINX (for subdomain routing or SSL termination)
- Tips on production-ready headers, health checks, and timeout configs
- Optional: Integration with tools like Caddy for dynamic HTTPS
3. Non-Compose (Manual Docker Run) Setup
- Useful for debugging or integrating into custom init scripts
- Makes Docker deployment architecture more transparent
🧱 Optional: One-Click VPS Installer (Shell Script)
We could include a lago-vps-setup.sh script that:
- Installs Docker & Docker Compose
- Clones Lago with config presets
- Configures firewall, HTTPS (via Certbot)
- Outputs public access URL
📄 Why This Matters
Many teams evaluating Lago for production billing won’t use Kubernetes, and while the Docker “localhost” recipe is great for developers, it doesn’t address operational realities like:
- Running behind a reverse proxy
- Hosting on public cloud infrastructure
- Managing persistent data volumes securely
This documentation gap may create friction at the “production adoption” step, especially for smaller teams.
Thanks @jigarpatel1007 This is already something we started to work on : https://github.com/getlago/lago/tree/main/deploy It's not yet documented since it's still under development and test but you can try it out. Basically the deploy.sh file can run with just one curl command (requires Bash) and it will help you with the usage of a docker file (many configurations available)