Install and upgrade

In this page:

Debian and Ubuntu based distributions
Arch Linux
macOS
From npm releases
Docker
Running from source
Unofficial install methods
Services packaging The Lounge

Debian and Ubuntu based distributions

First, make sure latest Node.js LTS version or latest current release is installed with dpkg -s nodejs | grep '^Version' and node --version. If not, follow the instructions given on the official documentation.

Then download thelounge.deb located at the bottom of the latest release.

Finally, open a terminal and install the downloaded package using:

sudo apt install ./thelounge.deb

This method requires root access. Install The Lounge using Yarn from an npm release if you cannot use sudo.

This also sets up a systemd service, enabled during the install, that you can control with systemctl status|start|restart|stop|....

The Lounge is now up and running in private mode at http://localhost:9000.

Its configuration file is located at /etc/thelounge/config.js. To learn how to configure The Lounge, go to the configuration section. To learn how to add users, read the users section. The thelounge command needs to be run as the thelounge user, e.g. sudo -u thelounge thelounge --help.

To upgrade The Lounge, simply follow these steps again after downloading a new thelounge.deb file, and restart the service.

You might want to serve The Lounge behind a reverse proxy such as Nginx. To know more about the benefits and steps, follow the guide on reverse proxies.

Arch Linux

The Lounge is available in the AUR.

Please follow the Arch Linux documentation to install this package from the AUR. For example, to install it using an AUR helper such as Yay:

yay -aS thelounge

Then enable and start the thelounge.service unit using:

systemctl enable --now thelounge.service

The Lounge is now up and running in private mode at http://localhost:9000.

The package provides both a system and a user service to allow you to run The Lounge as your liking. Simply build and install the AUR package, and start the service:

System: systemctl start thelounge.service. The configuration is stored in /etc/thelounge/config.jsand runs as thelounge user.
User: systemctl --user start thelounge.service. The configuration is stored in your home directory in ~/.thelounge/config.js.

To configure The Lounge, go to the configuration section.

You might want to serve The Lounge behind a reverse proxy such as Nginx. To know more about the benefits and steps, follow the guide on reverse proxies.

macOS

The below has only been tested on x86 Intel-based Macs. This may or may not work on ARM-based M1 Macs.

Install Xcode Command Line Tools
Install Homebrew
Open Terminal
Run brew install gcc node yarn
Follow the “From npm releases” section for the remaining steps

From npm releases

Installing the npm package directly allows you to use stable releases on systems where we do not provide native packages.

First, make sure you have these installed on your system:

The latest Node.js LTS version (or latest current release). See the official installation instructions.
Yarn 1 (classic). See official installation instructions.

Then install The Lounge using:

yarn global add thelounge

Start the server manually using:

thelounge start

Note that installing from npm or yarn does not daemonize nor autostart The Lounge.

The Lounge is now up and running in private mode at http://localhost:9000.

Read more about how to use The Lounge from the command line in the CLI usage section.

Its configuration file is located at ~/.thelounge/config.js. To configure The Lounge, go to the configuration section.

To upgrade The Lounge, simply re-run the install command above, and restart it.

You might want to serve The Lounge behind a reverse proxy such as Nginx. To know more about the benefits and steps, follow the guide on reverse proxies.

Docker

Official Docker images of The Lounge are made available for every new release in the GitHub Container Registry.

To run a container using Docker Compose, use this example docker-compose.yml file and run:

docker-compose up --detach

Otherwise, run:

docker run --detach \
	--name thelounge \
	--publish 9000:9000 \
	--volume thelounge:/var/opt/thelounge \
	--restart always \
	ghcr.io/thelounge/thelounge:latest

For more details about using The Lounge with Docker, refer to the official repository.

Running from source

Running The Lounge from source ensures you are running the most recent codebase.

While running The Lounge from source allows you to test the latest features, it may be unstable or insecure. This is not production-ready, so use at your own risk!
It is also not recommended to run this as a root user.

First, make sure latest Node.js LTS version (or latest current release) and Yarn are installed on your system. See official instructions for Node.js and official instructions for Yarn.

The following commands install the development version of The Lounge:

git clone https://github.com/thelounge/thelounge
cd thelounge
yarn install
NODE_ENV=production yarn build
# pick a folder which is in your $PATH env var, ~/.local/bin here
ln -s $(pwd)/index.js ~/.local/bin/thelounge

Start the server manually using:

thelounge start

Note that installing from source does not daemonize nor autostart The Lounge.

The Lounge is now up and running in private mode at http://localhost:9000.

Read more about how to use The Lounge from the command line in the CLI usage section.

Its configuration file is located at ~/.thelounge/config.js. To configure The Lounge, go to the configuration section.

To upgrade The Lounge, simply git pull the repository, re-run the install and build commands above, and restart it.

You might want to serve The Lounge behind a reverse proxy such as Nginx. To know more about the benefits and steps, follow the guide on reverse proxies.

Unofficial install methods

Over time, people have come up with recipes to install The Lounge on different setups and platforms, with different tooling, etc. These are not officially supported (even when hosted on this website), so use them at your own risk:

Services packaging The Lounge

These services offer The Lounge as part of their app stores. We do not have any control or responsibility over them, but they usually require little configuration to get up and running:

Please contact these service providers directly if you have any questions or encounter any issues on these platforms.