Getting started

This document explains how to get started with the chat application and explain some concepts. If you ever need help you can make a post on our subreddit.

TIP

There's now an official Youtube Tutorial playlist which is recommended! It will simply the setup massively.

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Requirements & Recommendations

The software was designed to be setup and run as simple as possible. Using the config.json file you can manage additional settings that may not be present in the web client. If you plan to manually edit said file

NOTE

Make sure the following ports in Port forwarding are available on the host machine! You may need to edit the docker-compose file to fit your setup.

Feature	Description
NodeJS / Bun	Bun is the preferred runtime. Alternatively NodeJS can be used as well.
MariaDB*	Required. MySQL IS NOT COMPATIBLE
SSL / TLS Cert*	You will need a certificate if you try to access it from another machine/internet due to security reasons! Its fine for localhost only
Caddy / nginx*	Used for reverse proxies to make life easier and when you want your instance to be accessable from other computers.
Docker	Required.
vCPU	If you plan to run DCTS on a VPS, make sure the VPS provider supports host as cpu type. Need a vps? Checkout our partner
Domain	For public access you will need to own a domain with at least 2 sub domains. You wont be able to pass the setup without it. More in DNS Setup
*	Features marked with a star are automatically handled and setup by DCTS when using the default docker image.

TIP

If you want to follow this tutorial make sure the following is installed:

apt install curl -y
apt install unzip -y
apt install wget -y

Docker install instructions can be found on their website: https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/

WARNING

If you run DCTS using docker on a VPS system make sure it supports certain CPU features, otherwise you will run into compatibility issues! You can check if your system is compatible using the following command:

grep -qw sse4_2 /proc/cpuinfo && echo true || echo false

At a minimum you will need sse4_2, idealy avx and avx2. If you use a modern system you should be fine. VPS Systems from our partner vultris offer such systems.

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Installing

You can download, install and run DCTS with only a few commands using docker.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hackthedev/dcts-shipping/main/Docker/docker-compose.yml -o docker-compose.yml

sudo docker compose up -d

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Setup

If you dont see the DCTS server logs already, you'll need to view them with the following command. The logs will show an url for the setup wizard on first run which you will need to enter in your web browser.

sudo docker logs -f dcts

[2026-09-16 19:28:11] [SUCCESS] Setup Page is available at:    
[2026-09-16 19:28:11] [SUCCESS] http://localhost:5000/wizard/afc6dae7-dc42-4bc9-aa8c-79bbcbe8c471/    
[2026-09-16 19:28:11] [WARN] Copy the url to continue the setup process.

NOTE

You may need to replace the localhost part with an actual ip address or domain depending on your setup. Also make sure to not connect using https://, only with http://

TIP

You can leave all settings on default in the entire setup wizard. If the Livekit Test doesnt pass, try setting the url to localhost:7880 if it isnt already.

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Accessing

After you have successfully finished the setup using the new setup wizard you should be automatically redirected. If you have used a valid domain it should be accessable via the address you provided.

If you are running DCTS locally on your system without public access and a domain you may need to enter http://localhost:2052 in your browser.

NOTE

You may see a connection error after the redirect or while trying to access the url yourself. In that case wait a few minutes as the reverse proxy might be in the setup process still and possibly installs the SSL/TLS cert. Usually it should work within a minute.

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Running the dev version

Alternatively, you can also run the dev version which has experimental features and possible bug fixes. Usually you dont need to use it unless you want to help test things.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hackthedev/dcts-shipping/dev/Docker/docker-compose.yml -o docker-compose.yml

sudo VERSION=dev docker compose up -d --pull always

TIP

Here are some helpful docker commands!

sudo docker exec -it dcts bash # open a shell in the container
sudo docker restart dcts # restarts the container
sudo docker stop dcts # stops the container
sudo docker logs -f dcts # shows live logs from the container
sudo docker rm dcts # will delete the container if stopped.

CAUTION

The DCTS web client and desktop client wont work properly if you or anyone will see this message. It means the browser thinks the connection isnt secure and will therefore block important features of the client.

This is usually a result of a missing or invalid SSL / TLS certificate!

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Getting Administrator permissions

When you open the chat app for the first time in the web client you will be prompted to register for an account. After that you will notice that you're just a normal member. In the console you can find a Server Admin Token.

You can use it to redeem the administrator role in the web client. To do so right click any group and click Redeem Key like in the screenshot. After entering the key you will receive the Administrator role.

TIP

You can create a new admin token by typing token 1111 into the DCTS console window, whereas 1111 is the role id, in this case the admin role id.

Checkout the docker tips at Running DCTS on how to view the console log.