SimpleX Chat

Deploy SimpleX Chat, a private messaging platform designed around temporary anonymous identifiers rather than long-term user identification. It's a self-hosted relay and file transfer solution for users who want to run their own messaging infrastructure.

1. Deploy SimpleX Chat

Estimated deployment time: 5–10 minutes

Follow the deployment instructions from the Get started section to configure the app, deploy it, and verify software installation.

For information on the app-specific configurations, see the Configuration options section.

Base distribution and plan

Supported distribution: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
Recommended plans: Use a 4GB Dedicated CPU or Shared CPU Compute Instance.

Configuration options

Configure the required options to deploy your instance. For additional customization, add advanced options.

The table maps the Cloud Manager UI fields to their corresponding API/CLI keys (stackscript_data) required for automated deployments.

StackScript ID: 1243780

UI field	API/CLI key	Description
Required options
Limited sudo user	`user_name`	Your preferred username for the limited sudo user, entered without any capital letters, spaces, or special characters. When adding a limited sudo user, the user is created with a strong generated password for your new Linode instance, and the account is assigned to the `sudo` group, which provides elevated permissions when running commands with the `sudo` prefix. Note: For easier and more secure access with the sudo user, add an account SSH key for the Cloud Manager user during deployment and select that user as an `authorized_user`. Their SSH pubkey will be assigned to both the root and limited sudo users.
Advanced options
SMP server password	`smp_password`	A password for the SimpleX SMP server.
XFTP server quota	`xftp_quota`	A file server storage quota in GB for the XFTP server. Defaults to 10gb.
Disable root access over SSH	`disable_root`	Applies to a limited sudo user. To block the root user from logging in over SSH, select Yes. Defaults to No. Note: When you disable the root user from logging in over SSH and don't provide a valid Account SSH Key assigned to the `authorized_user`, you can still switch to the root user. To do that, log in as root via the Lish console and run `cat /home/$USERNAME/.credentials` to view the generated password for the limited sudo user.
Linode API token	`token_password`	Applies to a custom domain. The Linode API token if you want to use Linode's DNS Manager to manage DNS records for your custom domain. Follow Manage personal access tokens to get your token on your account with `Read/Write` access to `Domains`. If you provide the token along with the subdomain and domain, the installation attempts to create DNS records via the Linode API. If you don't provide the token, you need to manually configure your DNS records through your DNS provider and point them to the IP address of the new instance.
Subdomain	`subdomain`	Applies to a custom domain. The subdomain you want to use, like `blog` for `blog.example.com`. Use it only if you specify a Domain.
Domain	`domain`	Applies to a custom domain. The domain name you want to use, like `example.com`. Use it only if you specify a Linode API token.
SOA Email	`soa_email_address`	The email address used for the SOA record if you configure DNS records.
Optional data exporter add-ons	`add_ons`	An option to include add-ons for your deployment. Possible values are: none (default) newrelic node_exporter mysqld_exporter

Notes:

After the app deployment completes, the password for your limited sudo user is generated and stored in the .credentials file in the home directory, along with application-specific passwords. Log in to your instance as root through the Lish console or SSH, then run cat /home/$USERNAME/.credentials to view its contents.

You can automatically configure a custom domain (optional) during deployment. To do that:

First, configure your domain to use Linode’s name servers via your registrar. See Configure your domain's authoritative name servers for details.

Once you complete that, specify the Linode API token, subdomain, and domain for the app in Cloud Manager or via API/CLI/Terraform.

Use API, CLI, or Terraform

In addition to deploying the app to a new Linode instance via Cloud Manager, you can also use the Linode API, CLI, or Terraform. When running the operation, you need to provide the StackScript ID, supported Linux distribution, and app-specific fields along with the standard Linode deployment configurations.

Note: Generate a personal access token to authenticate your API, CLI, or Terraform requests.

curl --location 'https://api.linode.com/v4/linode/instances' \
    --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    --header 'Accept: application/json' \
    --header 'Authorization: Bearer abc123def456hij789klm' \
    --data-raw '{
        "region": "us-east",
        "type": "g6-standard-2",
        "image": "linode/ubuntu24.04",
        "label": "my-simplex-one-click-app",
        "root_pass": "@C0mpl3x#P@ssw0rd",
        "stackscript_id": 1243780,
        "stackscript_data": {
            "user_name":"jsmith"
        }
    }'

linode-cli linodes create \
    --region us-east \
    --type g6-standard-2 \
    --label my-simplex-one-click-app \
    --image linode/ubuntu24.04 \
    --root_pass @C0mpl3x#P@ssw0rd \
    --stackscript_id 1243780 \
    --stackscript_data '{"user_name":"jsmith"}'

resource "linode_instance" "my-linode" {
    region         = "us-east"
    type           = "g6-standard-2"
    label          = "my-simplex-one-click-app"
    image          = "linode/ubuntu24.04"
    root_pass      = "@C0mpl3x#P@ssw0rd"
    stackscript_id = 1243780
    stackscript_data = {
        "user_name" = "jsmith"
    }
}

2. Access the SimpleX Server

Once the SimpleX Server is up and running, you can display your SMP and XFTP connection strings with this command while logged in to the server:

docker-compose --project-directory /etc/docker/compose/simplex logs | grep 'Server address' | uniq

Connect the app

To start using your server, you need to configure it to work with your SimpleX app.

Download and install the SimpleX app for your device.
Add the server address and credentials provided by your SMP and XFTP configuration.
Confirm the connection and start using SimpleX Chat to send private messages and transfer files.

Additional resources

For more information about the installed packages, see the official documentation.

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