Dify Self-Hosting Setup Guide

Dify is an open-source platform for developing LLM applications. Its intuitive interface combines agentic AI workflows, RAG pipelines, agent capabilities, model management, observability features, and more—allowing you to quickly move from prototype to production.

1. Choose Your Path

Scenario	Recommended Install Method
I just want a working Dify instance ASAP (demo, PoC, small team)	Docker Compose – one command boots all 11 containers
I need to hack the code, contribute or heavily customise	Run from local source – spin up middle-wares with Docker, start back- & front-end manually

2. Prerequisites

Hardware: ≥ 2 vCPU · ≥ 4 GiB RAM (8 GiB for Docker Desktop on macOS/Windows for smooth builds) Dify Docs
OS & tooling
- Docker 19.03 + & Docker Compose 1.28 + (Desktop app is OK) Dify Docs
- Optional for source build: Python 3.12 (use pyenv), Node 22 LTS, pnpm 10 Dify Docs

3. Fast Track: Docker Compose

Total time: ±5 min on a modern laptop

Clone and enter repo

git clone <https://github.com/langgenius/dify.git>
cd dify/docker

Create environment file

cp .env.example .env
# (edit ports, domain names or provider keys now if you wish)

Launch
```
docker compose up -d          # Compose v2
# or
docker-compose up -d          # Compose v1
```
Eleven containers (api, worker, web, plus Postgres, Redis, Weaviate, Nginx …) come up; verify with docker compose ps. Dify Docs
Initialise

URL Purpose

http://localhost/install one-time wizard → create Admin

http://localhost normal sign-in UI

URL	Purpose
`http://localhost/install`	one-time wizard → create Admin
`http://localhost`	normal sign-in UI

Upgrade later

cd dify/docker
docker compose down
git pull origin main
docker compose pull
docker compose up

Remember to diff .env against new .env.example after each release. Dify Docs

4 · Developer Path: Run from Source

4.1 · Start middle-wares

cd dify/docker
cp middleware.env.example middleware.env
docker compose -f docker-compose.middleware.yaml up -d