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This only works with an Ubuntu machine, so ensure the underlying OS is verified beforehand!
If you’re looking to quickly set up a production instance of Formbricks on an Ubuntu server, this guide is for you. Using a convenient shell script, you can install everything—including Docker, Postgres DB, SpiceDB, and an SSL certificate—in just a few steps. The script takes care of all the dependencies and configuration for your server, making the process smooth and simple.
This setup uses Traefik as a reverse proxy, essential for directing incoming traffic to the correct container and enabling secure internet access to Formbricks. Traefik is chosen for its simplicity and automatic SSL management via Let’s Encrypt.
The bundled RustFS option in this one-click setup is designed for convenience on a single server. It is a good fit for small-scale or low-complexity self-hosted deployments, but it is not the ideal RustFS architecture for high-availability or larger production environments. For stricter production requirements, use external object storage or run a dedicated RustFS deployment separately from the Formbricks one-click stack.
The installer stores generated PostgreSQL, Hub, Cube, and AuthZed credentials in ./formbricks/.env and restricts the file to 0600. PostgreSQL has a raw password for the database plus a URL-encoded companion for connection strings. When bundled RustFS is enabled, its generated credentials are stored there too. Keep that file private, include it in your server backup plan, and avoid checking it into source control or copying it to shared locations.
For better RustFS performance and stability, prefer local SSD or NVMe-backed storage for the host volume behind rustfs-data. Avoid NFS and other network filesystems for bundled RustFS data, and use XFS on dedicated storage disks when you manage the host layout yourself.
For other operating systems or a more customized installation, please refer to the advanced installation guide with Docker.

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Requirements

  • An Ubuntu Virtual Machine with SSH access.
  • A custom domain with an A record pointing to your server.
  • Ports 80 and 443 are open in your VM’s Security Group, allowing Traefik to create an SSL certificate.

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Deployment

Run this command in your terminal:
The v6 one-click stack is based on the production Docker Compose file and includes the Formbricks Hub API, hub-worker, and Cube as part of the baseline (Cube configuration lives under formbricks/cube/). Ensure your generated formbricks/docker-compose.yml contains the worker service and a non-empty HUB_API_KEY, and that formbricks/.env contains CUBEJS_API_SECRET, AUTHZED_TOKEN, and AUTHZED_DATABASE_PASSWORD before treating the stack as ready. The installer generates these values without printing them and restricts .env to 0600. HUB_API_URL should normally stay at http://hub:8080. Bundled SpiceDB is installed for every new setup and does not require an Enterprise license check.
The v5 one-click Traefik setup also exposes Hub-backed FeedbackRecords through Formbricks at /api/v3/feedbackRecords and /v1/feedback-records. Traefik calls the internal Formbricks gateway auth endpoint first, then forwards allowed requests to Hub with the generated HUB_API_KEY. Browser callers should request short-lived gateway tokens from /api/v3/gateway/token with { "service": "feedbackRecords" }.

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Script Prompts

During installation, the script will prompt you to provide some details:
  • Overwriting Docker GPG Keys: If Docker GPG keys already exist, the script will ask whether you want to overwrite them.
  • Domain Name: Enter the domain name where you’ll host Formbricks. The domain will be used to generate an SSL certificate. Do not include the protocol (http/https).
  • HTTPS Certificate Setup: The script will ask if you’d like to create an HTTPS certificate for your domain. Enter Y to proceed (highly recommended for secure access).
  • DNS Setup Prompt: Ensure that your domain’s DNS is correctly configured and ports 80 and 443 are open. Confirm this by entering Y. This step is crucial for proper SSL certificate issuance and secure server access.
  • Email Address for SSL Certificate: Provide an email address to register the SSL certificate. Notifications regarding the certificate will be sent to this address.
  • Enforce HTTPS with HSTS: Enabling HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) ensures all communication with your server is encrypted. It’s a recommended best practice. Enter Y to enforce HTTPS.
  • Email Service Setup Prompt: The script will ask if you want to set up the email service. Enter Y to proceed.(default is N). You can skip this step if you don’t want to set up the email service. You will still be able to use Formbricks without setting up the email service.
That’s it! After running the command and providing the required information, visit the domain name you entered, and you should see the Formbricks home wizard!

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Update

To update Formbricks for a minor or patch release, first go to the directory that contains your formbricks/ folder. Download the current stable updater there, replacing any older formbricks.sh, and then run it:
The script first validates the resolved Compose project and warns — without stopping — when the baseline hub-worker is missing, then pulls images and runs the read-only AuthZed upgrade check. A failed preflight leaves the existing application running. Otherwise it stops the stack, waits for PostgreSQL, completes application migrations, and only then starts the new stack. A failed migration leaves the stack stopped for recovery; preparation is never run against a live installation by the updater. Once those checks pass, the update also publishes the Formbricks container’s port 3000 on 127.0.0.1 only, if your docker-compose.yml or your Compose override file (such as docker-compose.override.yml) still publishes it on every interface (- 3000:3000). Traefik reaches Formbricks over the Compose network and keeps serving it on ports 80 and 443, so outside traffic always passes through Traefik. Each file it changes is kept as <file>.before-loopback-port. Before stopping anything, it renders the Compose files exactly as Docker Compose will load them and checks that they publish port 3000 once, on 127.0.0.1; if not, it restores the files it changed and continues the update with the port as it was. A mapping with an address you chose, such as - 0.0.0.0:3000:3000, is left as it is, and so is everything when .env sets COMPOSE_FILE. On Docker Engine before 28.0, and on 28.2.0 to 28.3.2, other machines on your local network can still reach a port published on 127.0.0.1, so the installer and the update warn you to upgrade Docker. Starting with v5.4, the updater also recognizes the old amd64-only bundled Valkey digest. It backs up your Compose file, replaces only that exact image reference with the native amd64/arm64 digest, and validates the result before pulling. An already-updated or custom Valkey image is left unchanged. The named redis volume and its AOF data are preserved. While the stack is stopped, the updater also refreshes the bundled Cube model (cube/cube.js and cube/schema/FeedbackRecords.js), so analytics charts can use members a release adds. It downloads the files of the release your Formbricks image runs: the stable branch for latest, or the tag the image is pinned to. It keeps the previous files in cube/previous/. The two files change together: if either cannot be downloaded, backed up or replaced, both stay as they were, the update finishes, and the updater prints the command to retry, ./formbricks.sh refresh-cube. An image pinned to anything else, such as a digest, leaves both files unchanged. Existing one-click installations keep the database credentials in their local docker-compose.yml or .env. The update command does not regenerate or rotate them.
Apart from the exact v5.4 Valkey pin migration and the port 3000 narrowing described above, ./formbricks.sh update does not rewrite your existing formbricks/docker-compose.yml. For a major migration such as Formbricks 4.x to 5.0, follow the migration guide first, merge the current v5 Compose changes into your existing deployment, confirm HUB_API_KEY is set, and only then run the update command. If your older one-click install also uses bundled MinIO for file uploads, review that storage path separately before the first v5 restart; newer self-hosting updates move the bundled object-storage path to RustFS, while external S3-compatible storage keeps the same S3_* app contract. The updater warns and continues when the Compose project is missing the release-matched hub-worker; adding it is recommended, and the next major release will require it — see the Hub worker migration. The v6 updater also requires the release-matched AuthZed services and requires .env to contain FORMBRICKS_AUTHZED_V6_MIGRATION_ACKNOWLEDGED=true after a clean preparation.The same applies to pinned third-party images. Because the update command only re-pulls what your Compose file already names, a bundled rustfs service stays on whatever version it was installed with — docker compose pull cannot move a pinned tag. To take a newer RustFS, edit the image: line of the rustfs service in formbricks/docker-compose.yml to match the version in the Docker guide, then run the update command. Your rustfs-data volume is reused as-is; roll back by restoring the previous image: line.

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Add SpiceDB to an Existing One-Click Installation

The update command intentionally preserves your customized Compose file, so it cannot add SpiceDB by itself. Before upgrading to a release that uses AuthZed:
  1. Follow the maintenance upgrade guide: stop writers and controllers, drain in-flight work, then back up configuration, secrets, and databases.
  2. Download the release-matched authzed-postgres-bootstrap.sh into the formbricks directory.
  3. Generate and add AUTHZED_TOKEN and AUTHZED_DATABASE_PASSWORD to .env using openssl rand -hex 32.
  4. Merge authzed-db-bootstrap, spicedb-migrate, spicedb, authzed-initialize, and the profiled authzed-ops service from the released Compose file while preserving installer-added Traefik, storage, and mail configuration. Add the six application variables and use AUTHZED_CONSISTENCY=fully_consistent.
  5. Validate the target Compose file privately and pull the pinned images from the formbricks directory. Keep maintenance active and writers stopped.
  6. Wait for the datastores, then run migrations, preparation, and verification using the target image:
    A mismatched non-empty schema requires the reviewed digest described in the maintenance guide.
  7. If preparation exits 0, add FORMBRICKS_AUTHZED_V6_MIGRATION_ACKNOWLEDGED=true to .env and run ./formbricks.sh update. Do not bypass a blocked check. Keep maintenance active until access tests pass.
  8. Verify authzed-db-bootstrap, spicedb-migrate, and authzed-initialize completed and spicedb is healthy.
  9. Back up the authorization database with docker compose exec -T postgres pg_dump -U postgres -d spicedb > spicedb-backup.sql and add it to your regular backup procedure.
Do not use docker compose down -v during this migration or rollback because the existing PostgreSQL volume stores both Formbricks and SpiceDB data. For upgrades, restoration, schema changes, and relationship repair, follow the canonical AuthZed Operations guide.

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Stop

To stop Formbricks, simply run the following command:
The script will automatically stop all the Formbricks related containers and brings the entire stack down.

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Restart

To restart Formbricks, simply run the following command:
The script will automatically restart all the Formbricks related containers and brings the entire stack up with the previous configuration.

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Cleanup RustFS init (optional)

During the one-click setup, a temporary rustfs-init service configures RustFS (bucket, policy, service user). It is idempotent and safe to leave in place; it will do nothing on subsequent starts once the configuration exists. If you prefer to remove the rustfs-init service and its references after a successful setup, run:
./formbricks.sh cleanup-minio-init is still available as a backward-compatible alias. This only removes the init job and its Compose references; it does not delete any data or affect your RustFS configuration.

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Uninstall

To uninstall Formbricks, simply run the following command, but keep in mind that this will delete all your data!
The script will automatically stop all the Formbricks related containers, remove the Formbricks directory, and delete the Docker network.

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Debug

If you encounter any issues, you can check the logs of the containers with:

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Troubleshooting

If you encounter any issues, consider the following steps:
  • Inbound Rules: Make sure you have added inbound rules for Port 80 and 443 in your VM’s Security Group.
  • A Record: Verify that you have set up an A record for your domain, pointing to your VM’s IP address.
  • Check Docker Instances: Run docker ps to check the status of the Docker instances.
  • Check Formbricks Logs: Run cd formbricks && docker compose logs to check the logs of the Formbricks stack.
If you have any questions or require help, feel free to reach out to us on GitHub Discussions. 😃