Deploy and manage your self-hosted Cookest instance interactively using the custom rust command-line tool.

Self-Hosting with Cookest CLI

The cookest command-line interface (CLI) is a Rust-based tool designed to automate the deployment, configuration, and management of a self-hosted Cookest stack. It packages all manual setup steps into an interactive wizard.

The CLI wraps Docker Compose commands under the hood. You must have Docker running on your system to use the CLI.

Installation

You can run the Cookest CLI either by compiling it from source or running it as a container.

Building from Source

If you have the Rust toolchain installed, compile the binary directly:

# Clone the repository and navigate to the CLI directory
cd cookest-cli
cargo build --release

The compiled binary will be placed at target/release/cookest. Copy it to a directory in your system $PATH for easy access:

sudo cp target/release/cookest /usr/local/bin/

Running with Docker

Alternatively, build and execute the CLI using Docker:

docker build -t cookest-cli .

To run commands, mount your Docker socket and the target configuration directory:

docker run --rm -it \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  -v $(pwd):/work \
  -w /work \
  cookest-cli init

Step-by-Step Initialization

Run the Init Command

Create a new directory for your self-hosted instance and run the initialization wizard:

mkdir -p my-cookest-instance
cd my-cookest-instance
cookest init

Complete the Wizard Prompts

The CLI will check for Docker prerequisites and prompt you to configure:

Instance Name: Used to prefix your container names (default: cookest).
Domain: Domain name for routing (e.g. localhost or cookest.example.com).
HTTPS: Toggles automated SSL provisioning via Let's Encrypt using Caddy.
Admin Account: Email and password for the initial admin login.
AI Features: Selects Ollama model combinations for chat and recipe/receipt processing.
Optional Services: Enables AI image generation, Stripe payments, and the PDF supermarket promotions parser.

Verify Generated Configs

Once completed, the CLI creates the following files in your active folder:

cookest.toml: The master configuration file.
docker-compose.yml: Standard services setup.
.env: Environment variables with auto-generated secure secrets (like JWT_SECRET).
Caddyfile: (If HTTPS enabled) Caddy reverse proxy routing.
data/ and backups/: Folders for databases, PDFs, and database snapshots.

Lifecycle Commands

Once initialized, manage the Cookest stack using these commands:

Command	Action	Description
`cookest up`	Start Services	Starts all backend, database, and admin dashboard containers
`cookest down`	Stop Services	Stops running containers and releases resources
`cookest status`	Check Health	Displays system statuses, active ports, and database connectivity
`cookest logs`	Tail Logs	Outputs and tracks log streams from active containers
`cookest update`	Upgrade Stack	Pulls the newest images from GHCR and performs a rolling restart
`cookest config`	Modify Settings	Inspects or edits keys in the `cookest.toml` configuration

Modifying Configuration

You can inspect or write variables directly to the cookest.toml configuration:

# Read a config value
cookest config network.admin_port

# Disable AI features
cookest config ai.enabled false

After modifying settings, restart your services using cookest down and cookest up to apply changes.

Backing Up and Restoring

The CLI manages automated database operations for database recovery.

Backing Up

Run the backup command to write gzipped SQL dumps of the database volumes to ./backups/:

cookest backup

Restoring

To restore your database volumes from a snapshot, specify the backup file:

cookest restore backups/backup_app_2026-06-23.sql.gz

Self-Hosting with Cookest CLI

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