Manual Deployment

Deploy Bulwark directly on a Linux server without Docker.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ installed
• A process manager like PM2 or systemd
• A reverse proxy (Nginx, Caddy, etc.)

Steps

1. Clone and Build

git clone https://github.com/bulwarkmail/webmail.git
cd webmail
npm install
npm run build

The build produces a standalone output in .next/standalone that includes all dependencies.

2. Configure Environment (Optional)

Since 1.6.4 the web setup wizard handles JMAP, OAuth, branding, and the admin password on first launch - you don't need to author .env.local unless you want env-driven, immutable configuration. To pre-seed configuration:

cp .env.example .env.local

Set your JMAP endpoint and any other configuration:

JMAP_SERVER_URL=https://mail.example.com
APP_NAME=Bulwark

Setting JMAP_SERVER_URL in the environment skips the wizard.

3. Run with PM2

npm install -g pm2
pm2 start npm --name bulwark -- start
pm2 save
pm2 startup

4. Run with systemd

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

[Unit]
Description=Bulwark Webmail
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=www-data
WorkingDirectory=/opt/bulwark
ExecStart=/usr/bin/node .next/standalone/server.js
Restart=on-failure
Environment=NODE_ENV=production
Environment=PORT=3000
Environment=HOSTNAME=0.0.0.0
# Split admin dirs (1.6.4+) - point at a writable user-owned location
Environment=ADMIN_CONFIG_DIR=/var/lib/bulwark/admin
Environment=ADMIN_STATE_DIR=/var/lib/bulwark/admin-state
Environment=TELEMETRY_DATA_DIR=/var/lib/bulwark/telemetry
EnvironmentFile=/opt/bulwark/.env.local

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Make sure the www-data user (or whichever user runs the service) owns the directories listed in ADMIN_CONFIG_DIR, ADMIN_STATE_DIR, and TELEMETRY_DATA_DIR so the setup wizard can write to them.

Enable and start:

sudo systemctl enable bulwark
sudo systemctl start bulwark

Updating

cd /opt/bulwark
git pull origin main
npm install
npm run build
pm2 restart bulwark
# or: sudo systemctl restart bulwark