Self-hosting

Install, update, back up and run the server on Linux, macOS, Windows or Docker.

This guide covers installing, configuring, running, backing up and updating sbox Network Storage Server. For every configuration key see configuration.md. To connect your game see client-setup.md.

Status: early preview. Releases before 1.0 may change configuration and storage formats. Keep backups. The local-owner dashboard manages projects, API keys and core settings; it does not yet have full managed-dashboard or managed project export/import parity. Resources can be pushed from the s&box editor Sync Tool.

#Requirements

• Linux (x64 or arm64), macOS (Apple Silicon or Intel) or Windows (x64)
• No .NET runtime needed: release binaries are self-contained
• SQLite needs nothing extra. PostgreSQL 13 or newer if you choose it.
• A port reachable by your players (8080 by default)

#Local owner and management dashboard

Run sbox-ns setup to choose the database and optionally create the owner with hidden password input. Leave the owner username blank to use browser setup. For scripted setup, supply --admin-username NAME --admin-password-file FILE or NS_ADMIN_USERNAME and NS_ADMIN_PASSWORD; passwords are never accepted as command-line arguments. Password files are read relative to the current working directory, with a final newline removed. Passwords must be 12–1024 characters. Setup retains an existing account rather than overwriting it.

For a remote server, the simplest first login is sbox-ns admin login-link. Run it on the server and open the printed single-use link; with no owner yet, the link opens owner creation. See admin panel for how the link works, HTTPS, and the data browser.

On startup without an owner, the server log contains a local /setup?token=... URL, using the HTTP listener with TLS off or the HTTPS listener when certificate/ACME TLS is enabled. This random one-time capability expires after two hours, rotates on restart, and works only over a loopback connection. For a remote plain-HTTP host, tunnel the listener: ssh -L 8080:127.0.0.1:8080 user@server, then open the logged URL locally. For TLS, tunnel the HTTPS port and route a hostname matching its certificate to loopback before opening the URL with that hostname. Docker's bridged port mapping is not a loopback connection inside the container; create its owner with docker exec -it sbox-ns /app/sbox-ns admin create instead. Creating the owner consumes the setup capability; /setup subsequently returns 404.

The account is persisted at workspace object server/identity/owner.json in the selected SQLite/PostgreSQL provider. It contains the username, a salted ASP.NET Identity PBKDF2 hash (210,000 iterations), creation time and a security stamp—never the plaintext password. No website identity database is involved. Use one server instance and the same data directory for its operator CLI. Owner mutations are serialized locally; sharing a PostgreSQL schema between independent server instances/data directories is not supported.

Runtime entry points:

• /login: owner login, rate limited per client IP.
• /login/link: single-use login links from sbox-ns admin login-link (GET confirms, POST consumes), with the same rate limit.
• /dashboard: list/create projects and view available update notices.
• /dashboard/projects/{projectId}: project/security/player-key settings, create/enable/disable/revoke keys, synced collection/endpoint inventory, and confirmed permanent project deletion.
• /dashboard/projects/{projectId}/data: read-only data browser with JSON download per collection and confirmed, audited single-record deletion.
• POST /logout: ends the current cookie session.

All management mutations, login, setup and logout require ASP.NET antiforgery tokens. Owner cookies are HttpOnly, SameSite Strict, and __Host- prefixed (Secure, no Domain) on HTTPS; sessions last eight hours without sliding renewal. Management pages are not cached and load an embedded external stylesheet, with no inline scripts or CSS. Use HTTPS for remote management; plain HTTP sends credentials in cleartext and should only be used locally or through a trusted tunnel. Cookie protection keys live in data/owner-cookie-keys; protect and back up that directory with the data directory. Keys are protected by OS directory permissions, not encrypted at rest on platforms without a configured OS key protector.

Owner recovery is local operator access, not email:

sbox-ns admin create --username owner           # hidden, confirmed password input
sbox-ns admin reset-password                   # invalidates existing owner sessions
sbox-ns admin reset-password --password-file /run/secrets/new-owner-password

The dashboard reuses the extracted project/key/settings and audit services. The managed record editors, query/workflow authoring, game-value editor, analytics/log/error/usage views and project export/import are not ported. Full dashboard parity and managed project export/import parity are not established. The existing editor and /v3 management APIs are the resource entry points; db backup/restore is a whole-store recovery tool, not a substitute for managed project export/import. Moving the whole server to another machine or between SQLite and PostgreSQL is sbox-ns export / sbox-ns import (also Export server on the dashboard); see export.md.

#Install

#Linux and macOS

curl -fsSL https://github.com/sbox-cool/sbox-network-storage-server/releases/latest/download/install.sh | sh

The installer:

1. Detects your OS and CPU (x64 or arm64).
2. Downloads the release archive and SHA256SUMS from GitHub Releases and aborts if the checksum does not match.
3. Installs sbox-ns:
   • as root on Linux: /usr/local/bin/sbox-ns, config in /etc/sbox-ns/, data in /var/lib/sbox-ns/, owned by a new sbox-ns system user;
   • otherwise: ~/.local/share/sbox-ns/ linked into ~/.local/bin/sbox-ns (or /opt/sbox-ns/ linked into /usr/local/bin as root on macOS).
4. Runs sbox-ns setup interactively if a terminal is attached, otherwise prints the command to run.
5. On Linux root installs with systemd, runs sbox-ns service install and sbox-ns service start.

Installer options are environment variables:

For a system service on Linux, run the installer as root:

curl -fsSL https://github.com/sbox-cool/sbox-network-storage-server/releases/latest/download/install.sh | sudo sh

#Windows

In PowerShell (as administrator to install for all users into Program Files):

irm https://github.com/sbox-cool/sbox-network-storage-server/releases/latest/download/install.ps1 | iex

The script verifies the download with Get-FileHash, installs to %ProgramFiles%\sbox-ns\ (administrator) or %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\sbox-ns\, adds it to PATH and runs sbox-ns setup.

#Docker

docker run -d --name sbox-ns \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -v sbox-ns-config:/config \
  -v sbox-ns-data:/data \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  ghcr.io/sbox-cool/sbox-network-storage-server:latest

docker exec -it sbox-ns /app/sbox-ns setup
docker restart sbox-ns
docker exec -it sbox-ns /app/sbox-ns project create "My Game"

The image runs as a non-root user, reads config from /config and stores data in /data. Any setting can also be passed as an NS_ environment variable, for example -e NS_DATABASE__PROVIDER=postgres.

Docker Compose with PostgreSQL:

services:
  sbox-ns:
    image: ghcr.io/sbox-cool/sbox-network-storage-server:latest
    ports: ["8080:8080"]
    volumes:
      - config:/config
      - data:/data
    environment:
      NS_DATABASE__PROVIDER: postgres
      NS_DATABASE__POSTGRES__HOST: postgres
      NS_DATABASE__POSTGRES__USERNAME: sbox_ns
      NS_DATABASE__POSTGRES__PASSWORD_FILE: /run/secrets/pg_password
    secrets: [pg_password]
    depends_on: [postgres]
    restart: unless-stopped
  postgres:
    image: postgres:16
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: sbox_ns
      POSTGRES_DB: sbox_ns
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD_FILE: /run/secrets/pg_password
    secrets: [pg_password]
    volumes:
      - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    restart: unless-stopped
secrets:
  pg_password:
    file: ./pg_password.txt
volumes:
  config:
  data:
  pgdata:

#Manual install

Download sbox-ns-<version>-<platform>.tar.gz (or .zip on Windows) and SHA256SUMS from the releases page, verify, extract and run:

sha256sum --check --ignore-missing SHA256SUMS
tar -xzf sbox-ns-<version>-linux-x64.tar.gz
./sbox-ns setup
./sbox-ns start

SHA256SUMS is signed with Sigstore keyless signing. To verify the signature:

cosign verify-blob SHA256SUMS \
  --signature SHA256SUMS.sig \
  --certificate SHA256SUMS.pem \
  --certificate-identity-regexp '^https://github.com/sbox-cool/sbox-network-storage-server/\.github/workflows/release\.yml@refs/tags/v' \
  --certificate-oidc-issuer https://token.actions.githubusercontent.com

#Configure

sbox-ns setup asks for the database (SQLite or PostgreSQL), the listen address and the public URL, writes server.toml, database.toml and updates.toml, generates the server secrets in <config dir>/secrets/ (auth session secret, storage encryption key, security signing key) and runs database migrations. sbox-ns start also generates any missing secret, so a Docker container works without running setup first. For scripted installs:

sbox-ns setup --non-interactive --database sqlite --listen 0.0.0.0:8080 --public-url http://203.0.113.10:8080
sbox-ns setup --non-interactive --database postgres --pg-host db.internal --listen 0.0.0.0:8080

Afterwards:

sbox-ns config path        # where config and data live
sbox-ns config show        # effective configuration, secrets redacted
sbox-ns config validate    # check the files
sbox-ns doctor             # check config, database, ports and update status

Edit the TOML files and restart to apply changes.

#Projects and API keys

Use the owner dashboard or create projects and keys with the CLI, then enter them in the s&box editor (see client-setup.md):

sbox-ns project create "My Game"                         # prints the project ID
sbox-ns project list
sbox-ns key create <projectId> --type public --label game
sbox-ns key create <projectId> --type secret --label editor
sbox-ns key list <projectId>
sbox-ns key revoke <projectId> <key>
sbox-ns project delete <projectId>

The public key goes into your game; the secret key is only for the editor Sync Tool. Collections, endpoints and workflows are pushed from the editor Sync Tool, exactly as with the managed service.

#HTTPS

Plain HTTP on port 8080 is the default. For HTTPS, choose one of:

• Let's Encrypt (built in). Needs a domain pointing at this server and ports 80 and 443 reachable from the internet:

  [tls]
  mode = "acme"
  acme_domain = "ns.example.com"
  acme_email = "you@example.com"
  acme_accept_terms = true

• Your own certificate. PEM files:

  [tls]
  mode = "certificate"
  certificate_path = "/etc/sbox-ns/tls/fullchain.pem"
  key_path = "/etc/sbox-ns/tls/privkey.pem"

• Reverse proxy. Run Caddy, nginx or Traefik in front of the server, set server.listen = "127.0.0.1:8080" and server.public_url = "https://ns.example.com". Example Caddyfile:

  ns.example.com {
      reverse_proxy 127.0.0.1:8080
  }

HTTPS on port 443 needs either root, the CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE capability (see below) or a reverse proxy.

Which URL types s&box game clients can reach is untested; see client-setup.md.

#Hosted HTTPS without a domain

Hosted names are optional. They do not require a website account, payment or a domain purchase. Enabling a name accepts the hosted-name acceptable-use policy. Operators can disable names for abuse; this does not delete your local data.

sbox-ns tunnel enable
sbox-ns service restart
sbox-ns tunnel status
sbox-ns doctor

The CLI creates a private P-256 identity, derives a stable 12-character name, and downloads the SHA-256-verified official cloudflared 2026.10.0 binary. Keep <config dir>/secrets/identity_ecdsa_p256.pem: replacing it changes the name. The connector token remains in <config dir>/secrets/tunnel_token, never in CLI arguments, public server-info or registry database rows. Back up the config as secret material. On Linux, root administration preserves the installed config directory's UID/GID for private assets and connector files.

Enabling writes conf.d/zzzz-tunnel.toml, binds HTTP to 127.0.0.1 on your existing HTTP port, disables local TLS and sets server.public_url to the hosted HTTPS URL. Restart before using it. Keep the direct HTTP port closed in your firewall; verify a remote request to the server IP cannot reach it. Only local connector traffic is trusted for forwarded HTTPS headers, so owner and antiforgery cookies retain HTTPS __Host- protection.

The server supervises the child with bounded restart backoff, redacts its free-form output, and reports connection state in doctor, tunnel status and server-info. It never auto-updates cloudflared. The official optional cloudflared dependency includes Cloudflare crash reporting; the server's no-usage-telemetry policy does not describe that third-party process.

sbox-ns tunnel disable
sbox-ns service restart

Disable removes the hosted tunnel/DNS route and restores the listener, public URL and TLS mode captured before enable. It keeps the identity so a later enable derives the same name. Re-enable recovers a missing local token. Do not manually override the managed tunnel settings.

A fresh service install can opt in before start:

curl -fsSL https://github.com/sbox-cool/sbox-network-storage-server/releases/latest/download/install.sh \
  | sudo env SBOX_NS_PROJECT="My Game" SBOX_NS_TUNNEL=1 sh

#Optional security and update email notices

Interactive setup offers an email prompt; blank input and non-interactive setup send no request and create no install ID. Registration is independent of tunnels and always optional:

sbox-ns register --email you@example.com
sbox-ns register --remove

Registration sends only email, installed version and a random install ID to the website notice service. No game data, project IDs or API keys are sent. Open the confirmation email within 48 hours; its link is single-use. No security/update notices are sent before confirmation. Every notice includes an unsubscribe link; CLI removal also removes pending confirmations.

Keep <data dir>/install-id private: it is the removal capability. Copy it separately when moving an installation if you want to preserve CLI removal; portable server archives do not include this data-directory file. Editing notices.email does not subscribe or unsubscribe. No marketing or billing integration is involved.

#Run

#Foreground

sbox-ns start
sbox-ns start --listen 0.0.0.0:9000

Stops on Ctrl+C. Useful for testing and inside containers.

#As a service

sudo sbox-ns service install     # systemd on Linux, launchd on macOS, Windows service on Windows
sbox-ns service start
sbox-ns service status
sbox-ns service restart
sbox-ns service stop
sbox-ns logs                     # recent log lines; add -f to follow
sudo sbox-ns service uninstall

On Linux the unit file is install/sbox-ns.service: it runs as the sbox-ns user with systemd hardening, and only /var/lib/sbox-ns and /etc/sbox-ns are writable. To bind ports below 1024 directly (for example tls.mode = "acme" on 80 and 443), run systemctl edit sbox-ns and add:

[Service]
AmbientCapabilities=CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE
CapabilityBoundingSet=CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE

#Health checks

• GET /health returns 200 when the server and database are up; use it for load balancers, uptime monitors and container health checks.
• GET /v3/server-info returns the server version and basic information.

#Database

sbox-ns db test       # connect with the current settings
sbox-ns db status     # provider, schema version, pending migrations, size
sbox-ns db migrate    # apply pending migrations (automatic on start unless auto_migrate = false)

SQLite stores everything in one file, <data dir>/sbox-ns.db, which is fine for most single-server games. Choose PostgreSQL if you already run it, want managed backups from your provider, or want to run the database on a separate machine. All tables are created inside the configured schema (default network_storage), so the server can share a database with other applications.

#Backups

Back up the database and the config folder, including <config dir>/secrets/. Without the auth session secret, existing player sessions become invalid after a restore; without the storage encryption key, every secret API key stops working.

#Built-in

sbox-ns db backup                       # writes a timestamped backup into the data folder
sbox-ns db backup --output /backups/ns.bak
sbox-ns db restore /backups/ns.bak      # stop the server first

For SQLite this copies the database file. For PostgreSQL it uses pg_dump and pg_restore, which must be installed and on PATH.

#SQLite by hand

Do not copy sbox-ns.db while the server is running; the copy can be inconsistent. Either stop the server first, or use the SQLite CLI:

sqlite3 /var/lib/sbox-ns/sbox-ns.db ".backup '/backups/sbox-ns.db'"

#PostgreSQL by hand

pg_dump --format=custom --schema=network_storage --file=ns.dump "postgresql://sbox_ns@db/sbox_ns"
pg_restore --clean --if-exists --dbname="postgresql://sbox_ns@db/sbox_ns" ns.dump

Schedule backups with cron, a systemd timer or your provider's snapshots, and test a restore now and then.

#Updates

The server never updates itself. When a new release is published it prints a notice in the logs and in sbox-ns doctor, including whether the release fixes a security issue or needs a database migration.

sbox-ns update --check            # show the latest version and release notes link
sbox-ns update                    # install the latest release
sbox-ns update --version v0.4.0   # install a specific release
sbox-ns rollback                  # return to the previous binary

Take a backup (sbox-ns db backup) before updating to a release that needs a database migration. Releases list a minimum version they can be upgraded from; older installs must step through an intermediate release.

Docker installs update by pulling a new image and recreating the container with the same volumes:

docker pull ghcr.io/sbox-cool/sbox-network-storage-server:latest
docker rm -f sbox-ns && docker run ...   # same arguments as before

To turn off update checks entirely, set this in updates.toml:

[updates]
check = false

Set include_prereleases = true to also be notified about prereleases.

The update check requests https://sboxcool.com/api/network-storage/releases/latest and falls back to the GitHub Releases API.

#Uninstall

sudo sbox-ns service uninstall
sudo rm /usr/local/bin/sbox-ns
# Remove configuration and data only if you no longer need them:
sudo rm -rf /etc/sbox-ns /var/lib/sbox-ns
sudo userdel sbox-ns