Installation

Self-hosting Mu gives you complete control over your data and platform.

Requirements

Go 1.21+ - golang.org/dl
Linux/macOS - Windows via WSL2
A server with a public IP (for messaging)

Quick Start

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/micro/mu.git
cd mu

# Build and run
go build -o mu .
./mu

Mu runs on port 8080 by default. Visit http://localhost:8080 to access your instance.

Configuration

Mu uses environment variables for configuration. Create a .env file or export them directly:

# Required for chat/AI features
export FANAR_API_KEY="your-key"    # Get from api.fanar.qa

# Required for video features
export YOUTUBE_API_KEY="your-key"  # Get from Google Cloud Console

See Environment Variables for the complete list.

Production Deployment

Using systemd

Create /etc/systemd/system/mu.service:

[Unit]
Description=Mu Personal AI Platform
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=mu
WorkingDirectory=/home/mu
ExecStart=/home/mu/mu
Restart=always
RestartSec=5
EnvironmentFile=/home/mu/.env

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Then:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable mu
sudo systemctl start mu

Using Docker

FROM golang:1.21-alpine AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY . .
RUN go build -o mu .

FROM alpine:latest
RUN apk --no-cache add ca-certificates
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=builder /app/mu .
EXPOSE 8080
CMD ["./mu"]

Build and run:

docker build -t mu .
docker run -p 8080:8080 --env-file .env mu

Reverse Proxy (nginx)

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your-domain.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:8080;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

Use Let’s Encrypt for free SSL certificates with Certbot.

Messaging Setup

To receive and send messages (using SMTP protocol):

DNS Records - Add MX record pointing to your server
Port 25 - Open inbound port 25 (or set MAIL_PORT=2525 for testing)
DKIM - Generate keys for signed messages:

./scripts/generate-dkim-keys.sh

See Messaging for complete setup.

Vector Search (Optional)

For semantic search, install Ollama locally:

curl -fsSL https://ollama.ai/install.sh | sh
ollama pull nomic-embed-text

Mu will automatically use embeddings when Ollama is available. See Vector Search for details.

Data Storage

All data is stored in ~/.mu/:

~/.mu/
├── data.db          # SQLite database
├── keys/
│   └── dkim.key     # DKIM private key
└── uploads/         # User uploads

Back up this directory to preserve all user data.

Updating

cd mu
git pull origin main
go build -o mu .
sudo systemctl restart mu

Troubleshooting

Port already in use:

# Find what's using port 8080
lsof -i :8080

Check logs:

journalctl -u mu -f

Test without building:

go run main.go