Creating a Hub

Creating a hub means running its software on a computer you control: a spare machine, a home server, or a small cloud VM all work. The setup wizard handles everything else: generating secrets, claiming your hub’s name, and getting you a real HTTPS certificate automatically.

What you’ll need

• A computer that can stay on and connected while your hub is running (it doesn’t need to be powerful; this isn’t a gaming PC requirement)
• Docker installed on that machine
• About five minutes

You do not need to own a domain name, set up DNS, or configure a certificate yourself: all of that is handled automatically. See Automatic HTTPS for why.

1. Open the hub creation wizard

Start the wizard from the Citinet web portal. It walks through a few steps: your hub’s identity, its visibility, and a review before download.

2. Choose your hub’s identity

Pick a name and location for your hub. As you type, the wizard checks your chosen name in real time and tells you immediately if it’s already taken: you’ll never get to the end of setup only to discover the name doesn’t work.

3. Choose visibility

• Local Network Only: reachable only on your own network (plus, optionally, offline guests; see Guest Wi-Fi Access). Not listed in the public directory.
• Tailscale: reachable from anywhere via a private Tailscale network you control.

Either way, your hub gets a real, browser-trusted certificate automatically: this choice only affects who can reach it, not whether the connection is secure.

4. Download and run the setup script

The wizard generates a setup script (and a docker-compose.yml, .env, and Caddyfile) tailored to your choices, with every password and secret already filled in: nothing to fill in by hand. Download it, then run it:

• Windows: right-click the downloaded .ps1 file’s folder, open PowerShell there, and run it
• macOS/Linux: open a terminal in the downloaded folder and run the .sh script

The script installs what it needs, starts your hub’s containers, and prints your hub’s address when it’s done.

5. Log in as the admin

Use the admin username and password shown at the end of setup to log in for the first time. From there, see Managing Your Hub.

Tip

Keep the folder the setup script created: it holds your hub’s data and configuration. Moving it to a new drive later works fine as long as you move the whole folder together.