Getting Started

Welcome to BoxedAI! This guide will help you install and set up your private AI platform.

Note: This documentation primarily covers BoxedAI Self Hosted, which gives you full control over your data and infrastructure.

Prerequisites

• Docker & Docker Compose: Ensure you have Docker installed on your machine or server.
• Hardware: A server or VM with at least 4GB RAM (8GB+ recommended for production).
• OpenAI/OpenRouter API Key: You will need an API key from an LLM provider to power the inference engine.

Installation

BoxedAI is distributed as a set of Docker containers. The easiest way to get running is using docker-compose.

1. Clone the Repository (or download the release bundle):

   git clone https://github.com/your-org/boxedai.git
   cd boxedai

2. Configure Environment Variables: Copy the example environment file to .env:

   cp .env.example .env

   Open .env and configure the essential settings:

   • POSTGRES_PASSWORD: Set a strong password for the database.
   • SECRET_KEY: Set a long, random string for server-side security.
   • OPENAI_API_KEY (Optional): You can set this now or later in the Admin UI.

3. Start the Services: Run the following command to download images and start the system:

   docker compose up -d

   This will start:

   • PostgreSQL: The database for user data and vector embeddings.
   • BoxedAI Backend: The core API server (Go).
   • BoxedAI Frontend: The web interface (React).

4. Verify Installation: Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:80 (or your server's IP). You should see the login screen.

Troubleshooting

• Containers not starting? Check logs with docker compose logs -f.
• Database errors? Ensure the data/db directory has write permissions if mapped locally.