Deploying Typebot - Open-Source Conversational Form Builder

A developer published a step-by-step guide for self-hosting Typebot, an open-source conversational form and chatbot builder, on a Linux server using Docker Compose. The deployment stacks PostgreSQL, Redis, Traefik for reverse proxy and TLS termination, and Mailpit for email, with host-mounted volumes for persistence and an ENCRYPTION_SECRET used to encrypt stored credentials and bot content. The setup yields a working Typebot instance with a published bot embedded on a sample page.

Typebot https://typebot.io/ is an open-source, visually-driven conversational form and chatbot builder. It serves as a self-hosted alternative to hosted form and chatbot builders, giving you full data ownership and control over integrations and embedding. This guide deploys Typebot on a Linux server using Docker Compose with PostgreSQL, Redis, and Traefik for reverse proxy and TLS termination. By the end, you'll have a working Typebot instance with a published bot embedded on a sample page. Before you begin, you need to: sudo privileges. builder.example.com and viewer.example.com . To prevent data loss during container restarts or updates, the deployment relies on host-mounted volumes for PostgreSQL, Redis, and TLS certificates. Docker Compose reads secrets, URLs, and credentials from a .env file in the project directory and substitutes them into the service definitions at startup. 1. Create a project directory for the Typebot deployment: bash $ mkdir -p ~/typebot/{pgdata,redisdata,letsencrypt,data} The command creates four subdirectories: pgdata : Persists PostgreSQL database files. redisdata : Stores Redis data used by Typebot's Redis-backed features, such as sign-in rate limiting and media uploads. letsencrypt : Stores Traefik ACME certificates for automatic HTTPS renewal. data : Stores Mailpit local email data. 2. Navigate to the project directory: bash $ cd ~/typebot 3. Generate a strong random encryption secret that is used to encrypt sensitive data such as credentials and bot content: bash $ openssl rand -base64 24 Copy the output. Use this value for the ENCRYPTION SECRET variable in the next steps when creating the .env file. Store this value securely and never change it once the deployment starts handling real data. Typebot uses ENCRYPTION SECRET to encrypt stored credentials, and rotating it makes any previously encrypted data unreadable. 4. Create a .env file to store the environment variables: bash $ nano .env 5. Add the following variables: DOMAIN BUILDER=builder.example.com DOMAIN VIEWER=viewer.example.com LETSENCRYPT EMAIL=admin@example.com ENCRYPTION SECRET=YOUR GENERATED SECRET POSTGRES DB=typebot POSTGRES USER=typebot POSTGRES PASSWORD=STRONG DATABASE PASSWORD DATABASE URL=postgresql://${POSTGRES USER}:${POSTGRES PASSWORD}@postgres:5432/${POSTGRES DB} REDIS URL=redis://redis:6379 NEXTAUTH URL=https://${DOMAIN BUILDER} NEXT PUBLIC VIEWER URL=https://${DOMAIN VIEWER} ADMIN EMAIL=admin@example.com DEFAULT WORKSPACE PLAN=UNLIMITED DISABLE SIGNUP=false SMTP HOST=mailpit SMTP PORT=1025 SMTP SECURE=false NEXT PUBLIC SMTP FROM="Typebot Notifications <notifications@example.com " SMTP IGNORE TLS=true SMTP USERNAME=YOUR SMTP USERNAME SMTP PASSWORD=YOUR SMTP PASSWORD TYPEBOT DEBUG=false AUTH TRUST HOST=true DEFAULT WORKSPACE PLAN=UNLIMITED applies the unlimited plan to every new workspace, not only the administrator's. Signup stays open until later in this guide, so anyone who registers during that window also receives an unlimited workspace. Replace the following: admin@example.com with your email for Let's Encrypt and admin access. YOUR GENERATED SECRET with the output from the openssl command. STRONG DATABASE PASSWORD with a secure password for PostgreSQL. YOUR SMTP USERNAME with your username. YOUR SMTP PASSWORD with a strong, secure password for your mail. notifications@example.com in NEXT PUBLIC SMTP FROM with a sender address on your own domain. Save and close the file. Docker Compose orchestrates the full Typebot stack: Traefik for reverse proxy and HTTPS, PostgreSQL for persistent storage, Redis for sessions and caching, the Builder and Viewer services, and Mailpit for email. This configuration is adapted from the official Typebot Docker setup https://docs.typebot.com/self-hosting/deploy/docker to use Traefik and persistent volumes. 1. Create the Docker Compose manifest: bash $ nano docker-compose.yaml 2. Add the following content: services: traefik: image: traefik:v3.7.8 container name: traefik restart: unless-stopped command: - "--providers.docker=true" - "--providers.docker.exposedbydefault=false" - "--entrypoints.web.address=:80" - "--entrypoints.websecure.address=:443" - "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.to=websecure" - "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.scheme=https" - "--certificatesresolvers.letsencrypt.acme.httpchallenge=true" - "--certificatesresolvers.letsencrypt.acme.httpchallenge.entrypoint=web" - "--certificatesresolvers.letsencrypt.acme.email=${LETSENCRYPT EMAIL}" - "--certificatesresolvers.letsencrypt.acme.storage=/letsencrypt/acme.json" ports: - "80:80" - "443:443" volumes: - "./letsencrypt:/letsencrypt" - "/var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro" postgres: image: postgres:16-alpine container name: typebot-postgres restart: unless-stopped environment: POSTGRES DB: ${POSTGRES DB} POSTGRES USER: ${POSTGRES USER} POSTGRES PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES PASSWORD} volumes: - "./pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data" healthcheck: test: "CMD", "pg isready", "-d", "${POSTGRES DB}", "-U", "${POSTGRES USER}" interval: 10s timeout: 5s retries: 5 redis: image: redis:8-alpine container name: typebot-redis restart: unless-stopped command: "redis-server", "--appendonly", "yes" volumes: - "./redisdata:/data" healthcheck: test: "CMD", "redis-cli", "ping" interval: 10s timeout: 5s retries: 3 typebot-builder: image: baptistearno/typebot-builder:3.17.2 container name: typebot-builder restart: unless-stopped env file: - .env depends on: postgres: condition: service healthy redis: condition: service healthy labels: - "traefik.enable=true" - "traefik.http.routers.typebot-builder.rule=Host ${DOMAIN BUILDER} " - "traefik.http.routers.typebot-builder.entrypoints=websecure" - "traefik.http.routers.typebot-builder.tls.certresolver=letsencrypt" - "traefik.http.services.typebot-builder.loadbalancer.server.port=3000" typebot-viewer: image: baptistearno/typebot-viewer:3.17.2 container name: typebot-viewer restart: unless-stopped env file: - .env depends on: postgres: condition: service healthy redis: condition: service healthy labels: - "traefik.enable=true" - "traefik.http.routers.typebot-viewer.rule=Host ${DOMAIN VIEWER} " - "traefik.http.routers.typebot-viewer.entrypoints=websecure" - "traefik.http.routers.typebot-viewer.tls.certresolver=letsencrypt" - "traefik.http.services.typebot-viewer.loadbalancer.server.port=3000" mailpit: image: axllent/mailpit:v1.30.5 container name: mailpit restart: unless-stopped ports: - "127.0.0.1:8025:8025" - "127.0.0.1:1025:1025" environment: MP MAX MESSAGES: 5000 MP DATABASE: /data/mailpit.db MP SMTP AUTH ACCEPT ANY: 1 MP SMTP AUTH ALLOW INSECURE: 1 volumes: - ./data:/data traefik LETSENCRYPT EMAIL . ./letsencrypt directory. postgres .env file. ./pgdata directory on the host. redis ./redisdata directory. typebot-builder typebot-viewer mailpit 127.0.0.1 so it is not exposed publicly. 8025 and the SMTP service on port 1025 locally. ./data directory. http://localhost:8025 via an SSH tunnel after deployment. Mailpit only captures mail locally. It never delivers to a real inbox, so it is not a production email path. To send real email, either request that your provider unblock outbound port 25 on this instance and self-host a mail delivery service such as Postal https://docs.postalserver.io/ , pointing SMTP HOST , SMTP PORT , SMTP USERNAME , and SMTP PASSWORD at it, or route outbound mail through an authenticated relay on port 587 or 465. Many cloud providers block outbound port 25 by default on new instances, so check with your provider before choosing a self-hosted mail path. 3. Validate the syntax of the file: bash $ docker compose config 4. Start the services in detached mode: bash $ docker compose up -d 5. Verify that the containers are running and healthy: bash $ docker compose ps All six containers should show a status of Up , with mailpit , typebot-postgres , and typebot-redis also showing healthy . 6. View the logs for the Builder service to ensure it connected successfully to the database and Redis: bash $ docker compose logs typebot-builder 7. View the logs for the Viewer service to ensure it connected successfully to the database and Redis: bash $ docker compose logs typebot-viewer Typebot requires email-based verification instead of a password for the first sign-in, which this deployment routes through Mailpit. This section confirms the administrator account, verifies that both the Builder and Viewer domains are reachable, and closes public registration. https://builder.example.com Replace builder.example.com with the actual domain you set in the .env file for the Builder. ADMIN EMAIL variable. A six-digit verification code is sent to your Mailpit email server. bash $ ssh -N -L 8025:localhost:8025 USERNAME@YOUR SERVER IP Replace USERNAME with your server's username and YOUR SERVER IP with your server's IP. If your server uses key-based SSH authentication, add -i /path/to/your-private-key before -N . The -N flag tells SSH to only forward the port instead of opening a remote shell. Open your local web browser and navigate to the Mailpit inbox at http://localhost:8025 . Open the Mailpit inbox and copy the verification code sent by Typebot. Return to the Builder tab and enter the code to complete sign-in. Return to the terminal running the SSH tunnel and press Ctrl+C to close it, since Mailpit access is no longer needed until the next sign-in. Open the Viewer domain in a new tab. https://viewer.example.com Replace viewer.example.com with the domain you configured in the .env file. Open your .env file to disable public registrations now that your admin account is created. bash $ nano .env Update the signup configuration. DISABLE SIGNUP=true Save and close the file, then apply the changes to the Builder container. bash $ docker compose up -d --force-recreate typebot-builder This prevents unauthorized users from registering new accounts on your public Builder instance. Typebot publishes each bot as a hosted page on the Viewer domain and provides a JavaScript snippet that embeds that page into any website. Publishing a bot makes it reachable at that public link before you add it to a page. In the Builder tab still open from the previous section, click Create a typebot . Select Start from scratch to create a new bot manually. From the top left corner, change the typebot name to your preferred title, for example, My first bot . In the visual editor, drag a Text bubble block onto the canvas and enter a welcome message, for example, "Hello How can I help you today?" Drag a connection line from the Start block's output dot to the Text bubble block so the flow begins there. Drag an Input block, for example Text , and connect it to the previous block. Click Publish in the top-right corner. Under Embed your typebot , click Iframe . Copy the <iframe snippet shown in the dialog. Open the main HTML file of your sample website or any page where you want to add the bot. Paste the snippet just before the closing </body tag. <iframe title="Typebot" src="https://viewer.example.com/your-bot-id" style="border: none; width: 100%; height: 600px" </iframe Replace viewer.example.com/your-bot-id with the link shown in the Iframe dialog. Save the file and open your website in a browser to test the bot. Return to the Typebot Builder, open the Results tab, and verify that responses are being captured. Typebot's built-in templates route respondents through a Choice input block, so each button ends its own path through the flow instead of all leading to the same message. The Results tab records which option a respondent picked as its own column, alongside any text or email fields the flow collects. For the full guide with additional tips, visit the original article on Vultr Docs https://docs.vultr.com/how-to-deploy-typebot-open-source-conversational-form-builder .