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Cover image for How to Self-Host AnythingLLM — Your Own AI Knowledge Base with Monitoring
Alexander Neitzel
Alexander Neitzel

Posted on • Originally published at garmingo.com

How to Self-Host AnythingLLM — Your Own AI Knowledge Base with Monitoring

#ai #openai #docker #llm

🤖 How to Self-Host AnythingLLM — Your Own AI Knowledge Base with Monitoring

Want ChatGPT, but trained on your own docs?

Want to host it yourself, with no limits or spying?

AnythingLLM gives you that:

→ Self-hosted RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) with OpenAI or Local LLMs

→ Drop in PDFs, Docs, Markdown, Notion pages, websites

→ Slick UI, document management, even team features

In this guide, you’ll learn how to:

  • Run AnythingLLM on your own Linux server
  • Use Docker to keep it isolated
  • Load up your docs
  • Monitor your LLM uptime like a pro

🧰 What You’ll Need

  • A Linux server (Ubuntu/Debian) 👉 We recommend Hetzner Cloud — great pricing & performance
  • Docker + Docker Compose
  • OpenAI API key or Local LLM (e.g. Ollama)
  • Docs you want to load
  • 5–10 minutes

🛠️ Step 1: Clone AnythingLLM 

git clone https://github.com/Mintplex-Labs/anything-llm.git  
cd anything-llm
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⚙️ Step 2: Configure the Environment

Copy the example file:

cp .env.example .env
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Open .env and update:

  • OPENAI_API_KEY=your-openai-key
  • Or set Ollama / Local LLM variables
  • Choose vector DB (Supabase is default)

📦 Step 3: Run with Docker

Build and start:

docker compose up -d --build
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Cool! Now visit:

http://your-server-ip:3001

Set up your admin account and log in.

🧠 Step 4: Load Your Documents

You can now:

  • Upload PDFs
  • Paste text
  • Connect Notion or URLs
  • Create multiple workspaces

Once ingested, you can chat with the content via the UI.

🧪 Step 5: (Optional) Run Ollama Locally

If you don’t want OpenAI, install Ollama on the same or another server:

curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh  
ollama run llama3
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Then point AnythingLLM to your local endpoint in .env.

📡 Step 6: Monitor AnythingLLM with Garmingo Status

Your AI knowledge base is now running — but is it reliable?

If it goes down, your productivity (or users) go with it.

Make sure it stays up with Garmingo Status:

✅ Monitor your IP or domain

✅ Set alerts (Slack, Email, Telegram, Discord, etc.)

✅ Multi-location uptime checks

✅ Public or private status pages

✅ SLA tracking + monthly reports

✅ One-time payment → Lifetime Deal!

🎁 Grab it on AppSumo here — under $50, no subscription.

🧘 TL;DR

  • 🧠 AnythingLLM gives you private ChatGPT with your docs
  • 🐳 Self-host it with Docker
  • 📊 Monitor it with Garmingo Status
  • 💸 No monthly fees — forever

👉 Get Lifetime Access to Garmingo on AppSumo

👉 Or test it free

👉 Run it on Hetzner

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