Download & install

Run Caffeine Level Critical for free on your own machine or server. Docker packages everything — app, database (PostgreSQL) and all dependencies. You don't need to install Node, a database or anything else.

✅ Only requirement: Docker. The rest comes ready in the package.

Install Docker

Docker runs the whole app in isolated “containers”. Install it first:

Windows / Mac: download Docker Desktop and run the installer.
Linux: install Docker Engine with your package manager.

Check that it works:

docker --version

Get Caffeine Level Critical

Download the latest release and unpack it, or get it with git:

git clone https://github.com/andbakken/caffeine-level-critical.git
cd caffeine-level-critical

(Prefer without git? Download the ZIP from the releases page and unpack it into a folder.)

Set up configuration

Copy the example file to .env and adjust as needed (port and admin PIN for the first login):

cp .env.example .env

Example contents:

# Port the app should run on
PORT=3000

# First admin user (created on startup)
ADMIN_NICKNAME=GameMaster
ADMIN_PIN=1234

# Database password (can stay as-is for local use)
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=caffeine-level-critical

Start everything with one command

This command starts both the app and the database, runs the database setup automatically and adds the default drinks and badges:

docker compose up -d

The first time it downloads the images — that takes a couple of minutes. After that it starts in seconds.

Open and log in

Go to http://localhost:3000 in your browser. Log in as admin with the nickname and PIN from .env, and create your own departments, stations and NFC tags under Admin.

Want colleagues to reach the app from their phones? Use the machine's network address, e.g. http://192.168.1.20:3000.

Connect the NFC tags

Create a tag in admin, click “Copy link”, and write the link to the tag with a free app like NFC Tools (choose “Write” → “URL/URI”). Then one tap logs the cup directly. A QR code with the same link works for phones without NFC.

Maintenance

Update to the latest version:

docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

Back up the database:

docker compose exec db pg_dump -U caffeine-level-critical caffeine-level-critical > backup.sql

Stop the app:

docker compose down

Would you rather skip setup and operations?

See the hosted version

Note: these instructions are for the pre-packaged Docker edition, which comes in the next step of the project.