Binary install

Download the server zip for your platform from the latest release. Each zip contains one executable.

Platform	Asset
Linux (amd64)	cove-server-linux-amd64.zip
Windows (amd64)	cove-server-windows-amd64.zip
macOS Intel / Apple silicon	cove-server-darwin-amd64.zip / cove-server-darwin-arm64.zip

Run it

unzip cove-server-linux-amd64.zip
curl -o config.toml https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mjn81/cove-chat/main/backend/config.toml.example
chmod +x cove-server-linux-amd64
./cove-server-linux-amd64

The server reads config.toml from the working directory. Set COVE_CONFIG to use another path. On first start it generates a master password and writes it to the file: back it up.

Video messages

Install ffmpeg (it includes ffprobe) so uploaded videos are converted to MP4. The Docker image already has it. See Requirements.

Note

The binary serves the API and WebSocket only. Serve the web client separately: use the mjn81/cove-webclient image, or build client-web and put dist/ behind any static web server. See Web client.

systemd service (Linux)

/etc/systemd/system/cove.service

[Unit]
Description=Cove server
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
User=cove
WorkingDirectory=/opt/cove
ExecStart=/opt/cove/cove-server
Restart=on-failure
# Keep the master password out of config.toml if you prefer:
# Environment=COVE_MASTER_PASSWORD=...

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

sudo useradd --system --home /opt/cove cove
sudo chown -R cove:cove /opt/cove
sudo systemctl enable --now cove
journalctl -u cove -f

Windows

Run cove-server-windows-amd64.exe from a folder containing config.toml. To run it as a service, wrap it with a tool such as NSSM or WinSW and set the working directory to that folder.