openclaw-mission-control/docs/deployment/README.md

Deployment

This section covers deploying Mission Control in self-hosted environments.

Goal A simple, reproducible deploy that preserves the Postgres volume and supports safe upgrades.

Deployment mode: single host (Docker Compose)

Prerequisites

• Docker + Docker Compose v2 (docker compose)
• A host where the browser can reach the backend URL you configure (see NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL below)

1) Configure environment

From repo root:

cp .env.example .env

Edit .env:

• AUTH_MODE=local (default)
• Set LOCAL_AUTH_TOKEN to a non-placeholder value (≥ 50 chars)
• Ensure NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL is reachable from the browser (not a Docker-internal hostname)

Key variables (from .env.example / compose.yml):

• Frontend: FRONTEND_PORT (default 3000)
• Backend: BACKEND_PORT (default 8000)
• Postgres: POSTGRES_DB, POSTGRES_USER, POSTGRES_PASSWORD, POSTGRES_PORT
• Backend:
  • DB_AUTO_MIGRATE (default true in compose)
  • CORS_ORIGINS (default http://localhost:3000)

2) Start the stack

docker compose -f compose.yml --env-file .env up -d --build

Open:

• Frontend: http://localhost:${FRONTEND_PORT:-3000}
• Backend health: http://localhost:${BACKEND_PORT:-8000}/healthz

3) Verify

curl -f "http://localhost:${BACKEND_PORT:-8000}/healthz"

If the frontend loads but API calls fail, double-check:

• NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL is set and reachable from the browser
• backend CORS includes the frontend origin (CORS_ORIGINS)

Database persistence

The Compose stack uses a named volume:

• postgres_data → /var/lib/postgresql/data

This means:

• docker compose ... down preserves data
• docker compose ... down -v is destructive (deletes the DB volume)

Migrations / upgrades

Default behavior in Compose

In compose.yml, the backend container defaults:

• DB_AUTO_MIGRATE=true

So on startup the backend will attempt to run Alembic migrations automatically.

Warning

For zero/near-zero downtime, migrations must be backward compatible with the currently running app if you do rolling deploys.

Safer operator pattern (manual migrations)

If you want more control, set DB_AUTO_MIGRATE=false and run migrations explicitly during deploy:

cd backend
uv run alembic upgrade head

Reverse proxy / TLS

Typical setup (outline):

• Put the frontend behind HTTPS (reverse proxy)
• Ensure the frontend can reach the backend over the configured NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL

This section is intentionally minimal until we standardize a recommended proxy (Caddy/Nginx/Traefik).