What you need before you start

Server and project requirements checked before the agent is installed.

After this page you will know whether your server and your project fit, and what to prepare before installing the agent.

Server requirements

What	Value
Operating system	Ubuntu LTS, tested on 26.04, or Debian 12 and newer
Architecture	x86_64. An aarch64 build exists but has not been run on real hardware
Init	systemd
Resources	from 1 vCPU and 1 GB of memory
Access	root for the time of installation
Network	outbound connections, no inbound ports have to be opened

We do not sell servers and do not resell them. You rent the machine from any provider and the contract for it is between you and them.

What the installer sets up

A swap file if there is less than 2 GB of memory and no swap yet.
Docker from the official repository if it is not on the machine.
The detection engine railpack and the fallback builder nixpacks at pinned versions.
The system user nolay in the docker group and the directories /etc/nolay and /var/lib/nolay.
The Caddy proxy image, without which domains and certificates do not work.
The agent binary itself, a systemd unit, ufw and fail2ban rules.

The script is idempotent: running it again updates the binary and the unit without touching the config and the data and without recreating project containers.

Project requirements

What	How to check
The project runs locally	You know the start command and the port the application answers on
The stack is in the matrix	The matrix is public on the Supported stacks page
The disk has room	Nolay template images take 23 to 308 MB, Railpack images are larger

On the test bench with an 8.6 GB disk a repeat Railpack build runs out of space on the heaviest stacks. On Nolay templates the same projects build and roll over without failures. If the disk is smaller than 20 GB, choose a template explicitly.

Domain

A domain is not needed right away. When you need one, its A record has to point at the address of your server. The certificate is issued and renewed by the agent on the same machine.

If it did not work

Symptom	Cause	What to do
The installer says the system is not supported	The distribution is neither Ubuntu nor Debian	Take a machine with Ubuntu LTS
The build stops on lack of space	The disk is too small for a Railpack image	Set the builder to `template:<stack>`

What next

Read Connecting a server.