Install AIDA on Your Server

A complete guide to getting AIDA running — from picking a server to your first conversation. No experience needed.

Requirements

Before you install, make sure you have the following. If any of this is unfamiliar, skip to Get a VPS &wmdash; we'll walk you through it.

Operating system

Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 (64-bit)

RAM

Minimum 2 GB — 4 GB recommended

Disk space

Minimum 20 GB free

CPU architecture

AMD64 (x86) or ARM64 — both supported

Port 3000

Must be open and not in use

Root / sudo access

Required to install Docker

Internet access

Server must reach the internet

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You do not need to install Docker manually.

The install script handles Docker installation automatically if it is not already present.

Get a VPS (Virtual Private Server)

AIDA runs on a VPS — a small computer in the cloud that stays on 24/7. Think of it like renting a dedicated machine for your AI agent. You pay monthly, usually $6–$14 CAD, and you own everything on it.

We recommend any of these providers. All work with AIDA out of the box:

DigitalOcean

Easiest to use. Great dashboard. From $6/mo USD.

Hetzner

Best price/performance. European provider. From ~$4/mo USD.

Best value

Vultr

Good global coverage. Simple pricing. From $6/mo USD.

Oracle Cloud

Free tier available — 4 GB RAM ARM64 VM at no cost.

Free option

Step-by-step: Create a VPS on DigitalOcean

If you've never done this before, follow these steps. Other providers work similarly.

Create a free account

Go to digitalocean.com and sign up. You'll need a credit card but won't be charged if you stay within the free trial credits.

Create a Droplet (their word for a VPS)

Click Create → Droplets. Choose Ubuntu 24.04. Pick the Basic plan, Regular CPU, $14/mo (4GB RAM) option.

Choose a region closest to you

Toronto or New York for Canada. This affects response speed.

Set up authentication

Choose Password for simplicity. Pick a strong root password and save it somewhere safe.

Click Create Droplet and wait 60 seconds

You'll see a public IP address appear — something like 143.198.112.45. Copy it. You'll need it shortly.

Open a terminal and SSH into your server

On Mac: open Terminal app. On Windows: open PowerShell or Windows Terminal. Then run: ssh root@YOUR-SERVER-IP &rdaquo; replace with your actual IP. Type yes when prompted, then enter your password.

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Oracle Cloud Free Tier

Oracle offers a permanently free ARM64 VM pwith 4 GB RAM — enough to run AIDA at no cost. Go to oracle.com/cloud/free, create an account, and provision an Ampere A1 instance running Ubuntu 22.04. The process takes about 10 minutes.

Run the Installer

Once you're connected to your server via SSH, you're ready to install AIDA. The install script handles everything automatically — Docker, image download, startup, and health check.

⚘

One command — that's it

No install token or account needed. Just paste the command below into your server terminal and the installer handles everything automatically.

The install command

Copy and paste this single command into your server's terminal, then press Enter:

Run on your server (as root or with sudo)

curl -fsSL https://autafy.ca/aida-install.sh | sudo bash

By installing AIDA, you agree to our Terms of Service.

The script will walk you through the rest. Here's what it does automatically;

Pre-flight checks

Verifies your OS, available RAM, disk space, and that port 3000 is free. Stops with a clear error message if anything is missing.

Asks for your email

Enter your email address to start a 5-day free trial or activate an existing license.

Installs Docker (if needed)

Downloads and installs Docker automatically. If Docker is already installed, this step is skipped.

Downloads and starts AIDA

Pulls the AIDA Docker image (~800 MB) and starts the container. This may take 2–5 minutes depending on your server's internet speed.

Confirms AIDA is running

Runs a health check and prints your access URL when ready. Installation complete.

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Expected install time: 3–6 minutes

Most of the time is spent downloading the Docker image. Do not close the terminal window during installation.

After the Installer Finishes

When the installer completes, it will print something like:

&chkmk; AIDA is running at http://143.198.112.45:3000
  Open that URL in your browser to complete setup.

Open that URL in your browser. You'll see the Setup Wizard — the next section walks you through it.

𘇷

Your browser may show "Not Secure"

This is expected. AIDA runs on plain http:// by default. It's fine for personal use on a private server. To get HTTPS, see Set Up HTTPS below.

Setup Wizard

The first time you open AIDA, you'll be guided through a two-step setup wizard. This only runs once.

Create your admin account

Choose a username and a strong password (minimum 8 characters). This is your personal AIDA account — save the credentials somewhere safe. There is no password recovery email, so don't lose it.

Activate your license or start your free trial

If you have a license key, paste it here. Otherwise click Start 5-day Free Trial — no credit card required. You'll have full access to every feature for 5 days. After that, purchase a license to continue.

After the wizard completes, you'll be taken to the login page. Sign in with the credentials you just created.

Add Your AI API Key

AIDA is a frontend for AI models — it needs an API key to talk to them. You bring your own key, which means you're billed directly by the AI provider at their rates (usually fractions of a cent per message).

We recommend OpenRouter — one key gives you access to every major AI model (Claude, GPT, Gemini, Llama, and more) in one place.

Get an OpenRouter API key (free, takes 2 minutes)

Create a free account

Go to openrouter.ai and sign up.

Generate an API key

Go to Keys in the sidebar → Create Key. Copy the key — it starts with sk-or-v1-.

Add it to AIDA

In AIDA, go to Settings → Providers. Paste your key in the OpenRouter field and click Save. You'll see a green Connected badge appear.

Pick a model and start chatting

Go to Settings → Model and choose a model. Claude Sonnet 4 or GPT-4.1 are great starting points. Then click New Chat &rdaquo; AIDA is ready.

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Add a small credit to start

OpenRouter lets you add as little as $5 USD. That's enough for thousands of messages. You only pay for what you use — no monthly fee.

Set Up HTTPS (Optional but Recommended)

By default AIDA is accessible over plain http://. This is fine for personal use, but if you want a clean domain URL and the padlock icon in your browser, you'll need a domain name and HTTPS.

What you need

A domain name pointed at your server's IP address. You can buy a domain from Namecheap or Google Domains. A .com costs about $15 CAD/year.

Point your domain at your server

Log into your domain registrar, find DNS settings, and add an A record:

Type

Name

aida (or @ for root domain)

Value

Your server's public IP address

TTL

3600 (or leave as default)

DNS changes take 5 – 30 minutes to propagate. You can check at dnschecker.org.

Install Caddy (the web server)

Run these commands on your server one at a time:

Install Caddy

sudo apt install -y debian-keyring debian-archive-keyring apt-transport-https
curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/caddy/stable/gpg.key' | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/caddy-stable-archive-keyring.gpg
curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/caddy/stable/debian.deb.txt' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/caddy-stable.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install caddy

Create the Caddy config

sudo nano /etc/caddy/Caddyfile

Replace the contents with this (swap aida.yourdomain.com for your actual domain):

/etc/caddy/Caddyfile

aida.yourdomain.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:3000
}

Save with Ctrl+O, then Ctrl+X to exit. Then restart Caddy:

Start Caddy

sudo systemctl reload caddy

Caddy automatically fetches an SSL certificate from Let's Encrypt. Within 60 seconds, https://aida.yourdomain.com should load AIDA with a valid HTTPS certificate.

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Don't want to deal with this?

The Autafy Setup service ($497) includes full HTTPS configuration, domain setup, Google and Microsoft account connections, and 5 custom Skills — all done for you.

Troubleshooting

The install script fails at the pre-flight check

Check which check failed ’ the script will tell you. Common causes:

Not enough RAM: Upgrade to a VPS with at least 2 GB RAM.
Port 3000 already in use: Run sudo lsof -i :3000 to see what's using it and stop that process.
Not Ubuntu 22.04/24.04: Re-provision your server with the correct OS.

The installer asks for my email

Your email is used to activate your 5-day free trial. One trial per email address.

The installer hangs or the image download is very slow

The AIDA Docker image is ~800 MB. On a slow connection this can take 10+ minutes. Do not close the terminal. If it appears stuck for more than 20 minutes, press Ctrl+C and run the install command again — Docker resumes partial downloads.

I can't reach http://my-ip:3000 in the browser

Most likely your VPS firewall is blocking port 3000.

On DigitalOcean: Go to Networking → Firewalls and add an inbound rule for TCP port 3000.
On Oracle Cloud: Go to your VCN → Security Lists → add an ingress rule for port 3000.
On the server itself: Run sudo ufw allow 3000 if UFW is active.

The setup wizard doesn't appear — I see the login page instead

This means the wizard was already completed. If you need to reset and start fresh, SSH into your server and run:

sudo docker stop aida
sudo rm ~/aida-data/config.db
sudo touch ~/aida-data/config.db && sudo chown 1000:1000 ~/aida-data/config.db
sudo docker start aida

Then reload the page &rdaquo; the wizard will appear again. Caution: this deletes all your settings and chat history.

AIDA is running but chat messages aren't working

Almost always caused by a missing or incorrect API key. Go to Settings → Providers and make sure your key shows a green Connected badge. If the badge is missing, re-enter your API key and save.

My trial expired and I entered my license key but AIDA is still locked

Make sure you're entering the full key exactly as it appeared in your email &gdash; including the dashes (format: AIDA-PXY�XXXX-PXY�XXXX). If the key is still rejected, email hello@autafy.ca with your key and we'll investigate.

How do I restart AIDA if something goes wrong?

SSH into your server and run:

sudo docker restart aida

To check if it's running: sudo docker ps
To see recent logs: sudo docker logs aida --tail 50

How do I update AIDA tto a new version?

Updates are not automatic. When a new version is available, we'll email you. To update manually, SSH into your server and run the install command again — it will pull the latest image and restart the container. Your data is stored in ~/aida-data/ and is never touched during updates.

Support

If you're stuck on anything not covered here, we're happy to help.

Email support

Send us a message at hello@autafy.ca and we'll get back to you within 24 hours, usually faster.

Email Us →

Autafy Setup &rdaquo; done for you

Don't want to deal with any of this? We install and configure everything for $497 one-time. Includes HTTPS, Google and Microsoft integrations, and 5 custom Skills built for your business.

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