Deploy Proliferate on a single AWS EC2 instance using Docker Compose.
Prerequisites
AWS account with EC2 access
Domain name (optional, for HTTPS)
API keys:
Anthropic API key
Sandbox provider credentials (Modal or E2B)
Step 1: Launch EC2 Instance
Go to AWS EC2 Console
Click Launch Instance
Configure:
Name : proliferateAMI : Amazon Linux 2023 (or Ubuntu 22.04)Instance type : t3.large (recommended)Key pair : Create or select existingSecurity group : Allow SSH (22), HTTP (80), HTTPS (443), and ports 3000, 8787Storage : 50 GB gp3
Click Launch Instance
# Create key pair aws ec2 create-key-pair --key-name proliferate-key \ --query 'KeyMaterial' --output text > proliferate-key.pem chmod 400 proliferate-key.pem # Create security group aws ec2 create-security-group \ --group-name proliferate-sg \ --description "Proliferate security group" # Add rules aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress --group-name proliferate-sg \ --protocol tcp --port 22 --cidr 0.0.0.0/0 aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress --group-name proliferate-sg \ --protocol tcp --port 80 --cidr 0.0.0.0/0 aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress --group-name proliferate-sg \ --protocol tcp --port 443 --cidr 0.0.0.0/0 aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress --group-name proliferate-sg \ --protocol tcp --port 3000 --cidr 0.0.0.0/0 aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress --group-name proliferate-sg \ --protocol tcp --port 8787 --cidr 0.0.0.0/0 # Launch instance aws ec2 run-instances \ --image-id resolve:ssm:/aws/service/ami-amazon-linux-latest/al2023-ami-kernel-default-x86_64 \ --instance-type t3.large \ --key-name proliferate-key \ --security-groups proliferate-sg \ --block-device-mappings '[{"DeviceName":"/dev/xvda","Ebs":{"VolumeSize":50,"VolumeType":"gp3"}}]' \ --tag-specifications 'ResourceType=instance,Tags=[{Key=Name,Value=proliferate}]'
Step 2: Connect to Instance # Get public IP from AWS Console or CLI aws ec2 describe-instances \ --filters "Name=tag:Name,Values=proliferate" \ --query 'Reservations[0].Instances[0].PublicIpAddress' \ --output text # SSH into instance ssh -i proliferate-key.pem ec2-user@ < PUBLIC_I P >
Step 3: Install Docker # Update system sudo dnf update -y # Install Docker sudo dnf install -y docker git sudo systemctl start docker sudo systemctl enable docker sudo usermod -aG docker $USER # Install Docker Compose sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/latest/download/docker-compose-$( uname -s )-$( uname -m )" \ -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose # Log out and back in for docker group exit
You must log out and SSH back in for the docker group membership to take effect.
# Clone repository git clone https://github.com/proliferate-ai/proliferate.git cd proliferate # Copy environment template cp .env.example .env
Edit .env with your settings:
# Deployment profile DEPLOYMENT_PROFILE = self_host # Core URLs NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL = http:// < PUBLIC_IP > :3000 NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL = http:// < PUBLIC_IP > :3000 NEXT_PUBLIC_GATEWAY_URL = ws:// < PUBLIC_IP > :8787 # Database POSTGRES_PASSWORD = change-this-secure-password # Auth secrets (generate with: openssl rand -base64 32) BETTER_AUTH_SECRET =< generate > SERVICE_TO_SERVICE_AUTH_TOKEN =< generate > USER_SECRETS_ENCRYPTION_KEY =< generate-hex-64 > # Optional feature flags NEXT_PUBLIC_BILLING_ENABLED = false NEXT_PUBLIC_INTEGRATIONS_ENABLED = false NEXT_PUBLIC_ENFORCE_EMAIL_VERIFICATION = false # LLM + sandbox (required) ANTHROPIC_API_KEY = sk-ant-... DEFAULT_SANDBOX_PROVIDER = modal # or "e2b" # See Local Setup for provider-specific variables (MODAL_* or E2B_*)
Set the provider-specific variables for Modal or E2B in your .env. See the Local Setup guide for the full list.
Step 5: Launch docker-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d
docker-compose up -d --build
Check status:
docker-compose ps docker-compose logs -f
Step 6: Access Open in your browser: http://<PUBLIC_IP>:3000
Enable HTTPS (Production) For production, use Caddy as a reverse proxy with automatic HTTPS:
Point domain to instance
Create an A record: proliferate.yourdomain.com → <PUBLIC_IP>
Create Caddyfile
proliferate.yourdomain.com { reverse_proxy web:3000 handle_path /gateway/* { reverse_proxy gateway:8787 } }
Create docker-compose.override.yml
services : caddy : image : caddy:2-alpine ports : - "80:80" - "443:443" volumes : - ./Caddyfile:/etc/caddy/Caddyfile - caddy_data:/data depends_on : - web - gateway volumes : caddy_data :
Update .env
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL = https://proliferate.yourdomain.com NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL = https://proliferate.yourdomain.com NEXT_PUBLIC_GATEWAY_URL = wss://proliferate.yourdomain.com/gateway
Restart
docker-compose down docker-compose up -d
Instance Sizing Use Case Instance Type vCPUs Memory Cost/month Testing t3.medium 2 4 GB ~$30 Small team t3.large 2 8 GB ~$60 Production m6i.xlarge 4 16 GB ~$140
Maintenance Update Proliferate cd ~/proliferate git pull docker-compose down docker-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml pull docker-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d
Backup Database docker-compose exec postgres pg_dump -U postgres proliferate > backup.sql
View Logs docker-compose logs -f web docker-compose logs -f gateway docker-compose logs -f worker
Troubleshooting
docker-compose logs docker-compose down && docker-compose up -d
Upgrade to a larger instance
Add swap: sudo fallocate -l 4G /swapfile && sudo mkswap /swapfile && sudo swapon /swapfile
Can't connect to instance
Check security group allows your IP
Verify instance is running in AWS Console
