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Self-Hosting

OpenFinance is designed to be self-hosted. Your financial data stays on your server — no third-party cloud services required.

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Docker Deployment

The simplest way to deploy OpenFinance is with Docker Compose.
1

Create a project directory

mkdir openfinance && cd openfinance
2

Create a docker-compose.yml

docker-compose.yml
services:
  web:
    image: ghcr.io/yagudaev/openfinance:latest
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      - DATABASE_URL=file:./data/openfinance.db
      - BETTER_AUTH_URL=${BETTER_AUTH_URL}
      - BETTER_AUTH_SECRET=${BETTER_AUTH_SECRET}
      - OPENROUTER_API_KEY=${OPENROUTER_API_KEY}
    volumes:
      - openfinance-data:/app/data
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  openfinance-data:
3

Create a .env file

.env
BETTER_AUTH_URL=https://finance.yourdomain.com
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET=your-secret-here
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-...
Generate a secret:
openssl rand -base64 32
4

Start the service

docker compose up -d
The app runs on port 3000. The database is automatically created and migrated on first startup.

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Environment Variables

VariableRequiredDescription
DATABASE_URLYesSQLite connection string. Use file:./data/openfinance.db for Docker.
BETTER_AUTH_SECRETYesSecret key for session encryption. Generate with openssl rand -base64 32.
BETTER_AUTH_URLYesPublic URL of your instance (e.g., https://finance.yourdomain.com).
OPENROUTER_API_KEYYesOpenRouter API key for AI statement processing and chat.
GOOGLE_CLIENT_IDNoGoogle OAuth client ID for “Sign in with Google”.
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRETNoGoogle OAuth client secret.

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Building from Source

If you prefer to build the Docker image yourself: 
git clone https://github.com/yagudaev/openfinance.git
cd openfinance
docker build -t openfinance .
Then update your docker-compose.yml to use image: openfinance instead of the registry image.

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Reverse Proxy (HTTPS)

In production, put OpenFinance behind a reverse proxy with HTTPS. Here is an example using Caddy: 
finance.yourdomain.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:3000
}
Caddy automatically provisions and renews TLS certificates. Make sure BETTER_AUTH_URL matches the public HTTPS URL. 
finance.yourdomain.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:3000
}

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Data & Backups

OpenFinance stores everything in a single SQLite database file. To back up your data: 
# Copy the database file from the Docker volume
docker cp openfinance-web-1:/app/data/openfinance.db ./backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).db
To restore from a backup, copy the file back into the volume and restart the container.

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Production Considerations

  • HTTPS is required for secure authentication cookies. Always run behind a reverse proxy with TLS in production.
  • Regular backups — schedule a cron job to copy the SQLite database file.
  • Resource requirements — OpenFinance is lightweight. A 1 CPU / 1 GB RAM VPS is sufficient for a single user.
  • Updates — pull the latest image and restart: 
    docker compose pull
docker compose up -d