Quick Start — AirLink

What you need

A Linux server (Ubuntu 22.04 or Debian 12 recommended)
Node.js v18 or higher
npm v9 or higher
Docker installed and running
PostgreSQL, MySQL, or SQLite
Git

Quick install

The fastest path. Run as root — handles dependencies, database setup, admin account creation, and systemd configuration interactively.

bash <(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/airlinklabs/panel/refs/heads/main/installer.sh)

Follow the prompts. The installer asks for database credentials and admin account details.

Manual install

Full control over every step.

Panel

cd /var/www/
git clone https://github.com/AirlinkLabs/panel.git
cd panel
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/panel
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/panel
cp example.env .env

Edit .env with your database credentials, then:

npm install -g typescript
npm install --omit=dev
npm run build
npm run migrate:deploy
npm install pm2 -g
pm2 start dist/app.js --name "airlink-panel"
pm2 save && pm2 startup

Daemon

The daemon runs on each machine that hosts game servers. Requires Docker.

cd /var/www/
git clone https://github.com/AirlinkLabs/daemon.git
cd daemon
cp example.env .env
npm install
npm run build
pm2 start dist/app.js --name "airlink-daemon"
pm2 save

Connecting a node

Once the daemon is running on a machine:

Log into the panel as admin
Go to Admin > Nodes > Create Node
Enter the node's IP address and daemon port (default: 3000)
Click Configure to get the daemon key
Put that key in the daemon's .env as DAEMON_KEY
Restart the daemon

The node shows as online within a few seconds.

Creating your first server

Go to Admin > Images and upload or create a game image
Go to Admin > Servers > Create Server
Pick a node, assign it to a user, choose the image, set resource limits
The server appears on the user's dashboard immediately