Self-hosting.

FeedbackFlow ships as a Docker image and runs against your own MongoDB. Your feedback, uploads, and tenant data stay on infrastructure you control.

Requirements

Node.js 20+ (for local development) or Docker (recommended for deployment).
MongoDB 7+ — managed (Atlas) or self-run.
A domain with HTTPS for production.

Docker Compose

The fastest path. Compose brings up the app and a MongoDB instance together:

# 1 · Clone and configure
git clone <your-repo> && cd feedback
cp .env.example .env

# 2 · Generate an auth secret → paste into .env
openssl rand -base64 32

# 3 · Start everything
docker-compose up -d

# App is now on http://localhost:3000

Environment variables

Configure the app through .env. The essentials:

Variable	Required	Description
`MONGODB_URI`	Yes	MongoDB connection string.
`BETTER_AUTH_SECRET`	Yes	Auth signing secret (64+ chars).
`BETTER_AUTH_URL`	Yes	The app's public URL.
`STORAGE_PROVIDER`	No	`local` · `s3` · `r2` (default `local`).
`PLATFORM_ADMIN_EMAILS`	For `/admin`	Comma-separated emails allowed into platform admin.
`CRON_SECRET`	Prod	Bearer secret for the SLA-check job.

Always set a strong BETTER_AUTH_SECRET and restrict PLATFORM_ADMIN_EMAILS to trusted accounts before going to production.

Storage providers

Attachments can live wherever you choose. The storage layer is pluggable:

local — files on the app's disk under public/uploads. Good for a single node.
s3 — Amazon S3 or any S3-compatible bucket.
r2 — Cloudflare R2.

Switch by setting STORAGE_PROVIDER and the provider's credentials in .env.

Database & indexes

Indexes are created automatically on first run. To initialise them explicitly:

npm run db:init

Tenant isolation is enforced through compound indexes keyed on tenantId, so queries never cross workspace boundaries.

The embed widget is a separate Vite build, output as a UMD bundle served from public/widget/widget.js:

npm run widget:build   # production bundle
npm run widget:dev     # watch mode

Health & jobs

A public health endpoint lets your orchestrator probe the app:

GET/api/healthPublic

SLA evaluation runs as a cron-triggered job. Schedule a periodic call (authenticated with CRON_SECRET in production):

POST/api/jobs/sla-checkCron

Production checklist

Set a strong BETTER_AUTH_SECRET and enable HTTPS.
Restrict PLATFORM_ADMIN_EMAILS to trusted accounts.
Enable MongoDB authentication and automatic backups.
Configure CORS for your domains.
Schedule the SLA-check job and set CRON_SECRET.