> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.klio.tech/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Self-hosting Klio

> Run the open-source engine on your own hardware. One command brings up the stack and wires your agents to it.

The Klio engine is open source and self-hostable. Self-hosting is free, nothing
leaves your machine, and the guarantees are stronger than Cloud's: memory is
encrypted at rest under a key **you** own, and every write is chained with
SHA-256 so the history is tamper-evident.

## Prerequisites

* **Docker** running — check with `docker info`
* **Node 20+** — needed only to run the launcher via `npx`
* **\~8 GB free disk** for the container images
* *(macOS, if you choose the Ollama provider)* a working `ollama` install for
  Metal acceleration. On Linux the `docker-ollama` compose profile is used as a
  CPU fallback.

## Install

```bash theme={null}
npx @klio-tech/klio init
```

That single command pulls the containers (engine, bridge, dashboard, plus
Postgres and Redis), boots them, runs migrations, walks you through provider and
model selection, detects every supported AI agent on your machine, and patches
each one's MCP config.

Roughly 30 seconds on a warm Docker, about two minutes on a cold first run.

<Tip>
  `klio init` accepts `--local` or `--cloud` to skip the prompt, and `--email   <addr>` to pre-fill the claim address. Pin a specific build with
  `--image-tag <tag>`.
</Tip>

## Confirm it is up

```bash theme={null}
npx @klio-tech/klio status
```

This reports what is running, where, and as whom. Your agents should now list
the ten Klio tools without any further configuration — the launcher already
wrote their MCP config for you.

## What you get that Cloud does not

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Keys you own" icon="key">
    Memory is encrypted at rest under a key you hold. On Klio Cloud the keys are
    ours.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Tamper-evident history" icon="link">
    Every write is chained with SHA-256, so the history can be independently
    verified. Cloud writes are not hash-chained today.
  </Card>
</Columns>

<Info>
  Anywhere the docs mention a user-held encryption key or a hash chain, that
  refers to the **self-hosted** engine specifically. See
  [What Klio keeps](/concepts/what-klio-keeps#where-it-physically-lives) for the
  Cloud equivalent.
</Info>

## Connecting agents manually

The launcher patches agent configs for you, but if you need to wire one by hand
it is the same MCP endpoint on your own host:

```
http://localhost:8080/mcp
```

Everything in [Any MCP client](/connect/any-mcp-client) applies unchanged —
only the base URL differs.

## Day-two operations

| Command                         | What it does                                                    |
| ------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `npx @klio-tech/klio status`    | Show what is running, where, and as whom                        |
| `npx @klio-tech/klio update`    | Re-prompt provider/model, or upgrade the stack                  |
| `npx @klio-tech/klio configure` | Tweak runtime settings (auto-update mode, claim email)          |
| `npx @klio-tech/klio down`      | Stop the stack — **data is preserved**                          |
| `npx @klio-tech/klio uninstall` | Stop and **delete all data**; restore agent configs from backup |

See the [CLI reference](/self-host/cli) for the full flag set.

<Warning>
  `uninstall` deletes your memory store. `down` is the one you want for stopping
  the stack temporarily.
</Warning>

## Source and licence

The engine lives at
[github.com/klio-tech/klio](https://github.com/klio-tech/klio). Klio is open
core: the engine and MCP shim are open source and free to self-host, while Klio
Cloud is the hosted commercial product.