Fluxer is free and open source software under the AGPLv3, and anyone can run their own copy, called an instance. fluxer.com is the instance we run. If you have a machine with at least 4 GB of memory and a domain name, you can set up your own with one command.
Does Fluxer care about self-hosting?
Yes. Self-hosted instances run the open source Fluxer software and will get everything on our roadmap, including federation and end-to-end encryption, which aren't out yet.
Is self-hosting Fluxer free?
Yes. Self-hosting Fluxer is free, and on your own instance every account has Plutonium's features by default. You never need to buy the Operator Pass to install, run or update an instance, and the pass doesn't unlock or change anything on yours.
What do I need to self-host Fluxer?
You need a 64-bit Linux, macOS or Windows machine with a few open ports, and a domain name that points to it. Our setup tool, rexctl, installs Fluxer with one command, gets a certificate for your domain and asks you a few questions about your instance. It also upgrades and backs up your instance, and it makes a backup before every upgrade.
The exact requirements, ports and commands are in the operator docs, along with guides for reverse proxies and our official Helm chart for Kubernetes.
Can Fluxer ban me from my own instance?
No. Fluxer can't ban you from your own instance or from any other instance that we don't run. A self-hosted instance doesn't depend on a central sign-in system run by us, and every account is created on the instance itself and stays there.
Does Fluxer get any data from my instance?
Fluxer has none of your instance's messages, files or accounts, and you decide where they're stored and who can access them. Fluxer gets other data from your instance only through two optional features and through the files rexctl downloads.
Our push relay passes your instance's notifications on to Apple or Google only when you and the person using the app both turn it on, and it can't decrypt them. Crash reports from the iOS and Android apps come to us without message content, and only when the person using the app turns on "Send crash and performance reports".
When rexctl installs or upgrades your instance, it downloads files from fluxer.dev, and like any download, our server sees your machine's network address. Fluxer's container images come from GitHub today, and we plan to publish them from our own registry.
Do people on my instance need a fluxer.com account?
No. People create their accounts on your instance. When you set it up, you choose whether people sign in with a username or an email address, and you can turn on single sign-on with your own identity provider later. You also decide who can create an account, for example everyone, only people you approve or only people with an invite.
The operator docs explain each sign-in option.
Can the Fluxer apps connect to my instance?
Yes. The official desktop app and iOS and Android apps connect to any instance by its address, and people can be signed in to accounts on several instances at once. Our TestFlight beta for iOS is on hold for now following a technical issue at Apple, and we expect the Fluxer iOS app to be on the App Store in early November 2026.
In the official mobile apps, notifications from your instance go through our push relay only if both you as the admin and the person using the app turn it on. Your instance encrypts each notification, and the relay can't decrypt it. Our push relay notice lists the few details we record about each notification. On Android, the UnifiedPush build of the app gets notifications from your instance without Fluxer being involved.
Who moderates a self-hosted instance?
You do. Fluxer doesn't moderate instances we don't run, and our policies apply only to fluxer.com. You set your instance's terms, and you're its data controller.
Is another Fluxer instance run by Fluxer?
No. fluxer.com is the only instance we run, so another instance's admins handle questions about it, and your fluxer.com account doesn't work there.
Can I move my community from fluxer.com to my own instance?
Not yet, but it's planned. The plan in our self-hosting post is to copy a community's structure, emoji and stickers, but not its members, and to copy each member's messages only if that member agrees. We haven't built it yet, so other details may change.