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Savorum docs

Run Savorum yourself

Savorum Core is the free version of Savorum you run on your own computer or server. This guide gets it running on your computer, so you can try it before sharing it with anyone. If you’d rather not install anything, Savorum Cloud is the same library, hosted for you.

Install and start Savorum

Section titled “Install and start Savorum”

You need Git and Docker, with Docker Compose. Both are free.

  1. Download Savorum:

    Terminal window
    git clone https://github.com/savorum/savorum.git
    cd savorum

  2. Build and start it. The first build takes a few minutes.

    Terminal window
    docker compose up --build -d

  3. Open http://127.0.0.1:8080 in your browser.

There’s no account to create: Savorum opens straight to your library, ready for your first recipe. Your recipes and photos are kept in a Docker volume called savorum-data, so they’re still there after a restart.

To stop and start it again, from the savorum folder:

Terminal window
docker compose stop    # stop Savorum
docker compose start   # start it again

Before you share it

Section titled “Before you share it”

Right now, only your own computer can open Savorum, and nobody has to sign in. That’s fine while you try it out. Before anyone else uses it, or you open it from another device:

  1. Turn on sign-in and create an administrator. Your recipes stay as they are.
  2. Set up secure remote access.
  3. Plan your backups.

Build from source instead

Section titled “Build from source instead”

To run Savorum without Docker, you need Go 1.26.4 or newer, Node 26.9.0, and pnpm 12.5.1. From the savorum folder:

Terminal window
pnpm --dir web install --frozen-lockfile
pnpm --dir web run build
go build -o bin/savorum ./cmd/savorum
install -d -m 700 ./data
./bin/savorum serve --database ./data/savorum.db --assets ./data/assets

Open http://127.0.0.1:8080. Press Ctrl+C to stop it, and run the last command again to start it. ./bin/savorum healthcheck checks that it’s running.

Good to know

Section titled “Good to know”
  • The database and its assets folder together make up your library. Don’t copy the database file while Savorum is running. Use the backup command instead.
  • Don’t keep your data on a network drive.
  • If you plan to keep your recipes, use a tagged release rather than the latest code. Tagged releases upgrade your library safely. Code between releases can change it in ways that can’t be upgraded.

Next: Run Savorum with Docker for storage, settings, and upgrades.