Installation¶

Mnemosynce is distributed as a Python package and runs inside Docker in production. Pick the path that suits your setup.

Option A — Docker (recommended for production)¶

Docker is the simplest way to run Mnemosynce on a home server. It bundles Python, rsync, ssh, and the web UI into a single image.

Prerequisites¶

• Docker and Docker Compose installed on your backup server
• Port 5000 available (or change the mapping below)

docker-compose.yml¶

Create a docker-compose.yml wherever you want to manage the service:

services:
  mnemosynce:
    image: ghcr.io/mark-me/backup-server:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "5000:5000"
    volumes:
      - /mnt/backup:/mnt/backup       # your backup storage
      - ./data:/data                  # config, database, SSH keys
    environment:
      SECRET_KEY: "change-me-to-a-random-string"
      ADMIN_USER: "admin"
      ADMIN_PASSWORD: "change-me"
      GMAIL_ADDRESS: "your.account@gmail.com"
      GMAIL_PASSWORD: "your-16-char-app-password"

Start it:

docker compose up -d

Open http://<your-server>:5000 in a browser. You will land on the setup wizard.

Option B — Local Python install¶

Use this for development or if you prefer not to use Docker.

Prerequisites¶

• Python 3.12 or newer
• uv package manager
• rsync and openssh-client available on the system

# Install uv if you don't have it
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

Clone and install¶

git clone https://github.com/mark-me/backup-server.git
cd backup-server
uv sync

Configure environment¶

Copy the example file and fill in your values:

cp .env.example .env

APP_ENV=development        # use "production" on a real server
SECRET_KEY=change-me
ADMIN_USER=admin
ADMIN_PASSWORD=change-me
GMAIL_ADDRESS=your.account@gmail.com
GMAIL_PASSWORD=your-app-password

Start the web server¶

uv run flask --app src/web/app:create_app run --host 0.0.0.0 --port 5000

For production use Gunicorn instead:

uv run gunicorn \
  --bind 0.0.0.0:5000 \
  --workers 2 \
  --timeout 120 \
  "web.app:create_app()"

Data directory¶

Both install methods use a single persistent directory (/data in Docker, dev-data/ locally) that holds:

Mount or back up this directory — it is everything Mnemosynce needs to survive a restart.