Installing it

A native package brings its own Node runtime and PostgreSQL, registers a system service and provides the setup panel. The current release target is Linux x64 (Intel/AMD) only. Check for a published package before starting: a configured target is not a downloadable release. Windows, macOS and Linux ARM native targets are disabled. Their instructions below are conditional reference material for separately built and validated deployments, not promises of current installers.

1. Download

Installers come from the download centre. The link is in your setup email, and you can return to it any time with the same address.

Linux x64 package format	Filename pattern, when published
Debian package	plugboard_<version>_amd64.deb
RPM package	plugboard-<version>.x86_64.rpm

Use the SHA256SUMS published with the exact available release. If the package or its verification material is absent, request it rather than assuming it exists:

sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS --ignore-missing

Caution

Reference Windows/macOS builds are not current release targets. If you have a separately built package, check its signing and provenance with its supplier. The reference packaging scripts do not establish code signing or notarisation. Do not bypass an operating-system warning merely because an older instruction describes how to do so.

2. Run it

Run the available Linux package as an administrator. Its installer is designed to:

1. install the self-contained bundle, database included,
2. register a system service that starts at boot,
3. start it,
4. start the local status panel. Open it with plugboard panel as the installation owner.

Deployment	What gets registered
Linux package	A systemd unit running as an unprivileged plugboard account, with Restart=always and the filesystem locked to its own directory
Windows reference build, with its service wrapper included	A Windows Service in services.msc; see the wrapper fallback
macOS reference build	A LaunchDaemon under /Library/LaunchDaemons, with KeepAlive

If you have a validated reference Windows installer, it asks for your administrator’s email, your licence key and optionally your public address. Skip any of them; the status panel asks for whatever is missing afterwards.

Mass deployment

The Linux packages are non-interactive, so dpkg -i and rpm -i fit your configuration management once an asset is available.

The following is Windows reference-build syntax only for a separately supplied installer. It does not imply a currently published Windows package:

plugboard-<version>-x64-setup.exe /S /LICENSEKEY=XXXX-XXXX /ADDRESS=helpdesk.yourschool.org /[email protected]

3. Finish setup in the panel

Open the status panel through plugboard panel, not a bare localhost URL. It is a short wizard on a fresh install: who administers this install, your licence key, and your public address. It writes them and applies them on restart.

Sent a configuration file during onboarding? Drop it into the install directory before the first start and the wizard has nothing left to ask. It already contains your licence key and your secrets.

Danger

Back up SECRETS_MASTER_KEY somewhere other than this server. It is in the configuration file in the install directory. A database backup restored without it cannot decrypt its own secrets, which turns a recoverable outage into permanent data loss. This is the one thing only you can do.

4. Create the first administrator

A fresh install has an empty database, no demo data, and no account anybody could guess the password to.

The administrator named during setup claims their account through a one-time link. The status panel shows Create your first administrator until they have. The link works once and expires after four hours, and they choose their own password on the way in.

No password is ever generated, displayed or emailed.

If the link expires before anybody uses it, restarting Plugboard from the status panel issues a fresh one.

5. HTTPS

Point it at the certificate you already have. See HTTPS and certificates.

Without one it serves plain HTTP and says so, and the status panel shows it too. That is fine for a first look on the machine itself and not fine for anything a staff member reaches.

Then

1. Turn on two-factor authentication for your own account.
2. Configure backups under Admin, Backups, and restore one to check it works.
3. Work through the setup checklist.

For a demonstration or a training environment, set PLUGBOARD_DEMO_DATA=1 before the first start to get the fictional sample data. It only ever applies to a brand new database.

Where everything lives

Inside the install directory, so backing up the folder backs up the instance.

.env                 your configuration and secrets
.pgdata/             the database
backups/             pre-update dumps
logs/                reference Windows/macOS launcher output; Linux uses journald
.previous-version/   the bundle you were on before the last update

Bundles are specific to an operating system and architecture. When moving to a different platform, install a compatible available build and use the backup and restore procedure; do not copy incompatible binaries across. The native Linux entry point is plugboard. Reference launchers use plugboard.cmd on Windows and plugboard on macOS.

Uninstalling

Uninstalling removes the program and keeps your data.

• Windows reference installer, if supplied: the uninstaller moves the database, backups and configuration to a sibling Plugboard-data folder before removing the rest.
• Linux: removing the package leaves the data in /opt/plugboard.

Deleting the data is a decision you make yourself, by deleting those folders. An uninstaller that silently destroys a database is not a feature.