Self-hosting Ronde

Ronde runs on any machine with Docker: the app, a PostgreSQL database, and a one-off container that applies the database migrations of each version. Everything in the Community edition is free, with no limit on meetings or people. A license key turns on the Team or Enterprise features.

Start

1. Get the files of a release:

   mkdir ronde && cd ronde
   curl -fsSLO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/joinronde/ronde/main/docker/compose.yml
   curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/joinronde/ronde/main/docker/.env.example -o .env
   

2. Fill in .env: the address people will open (RONDE_URL) and three secrets.

   for v in POSTGRES_PASSWORD AUTH_SECRET SECRET_KEY; do sed -i "s|^$v=.*|$v=$(openssl rand -base64 32 | tr -d '/+=')|" .env; done
   

3. Start:

   docker compose up -d
   

4. Open RONDE_URL and create the first account: it becomes the administrator of the instance.

HTTPS

Point a domain at the machine, set RONDE_DOMAIN=ronde.example.com and RONDE_URL=https://ronde.example.com in .env, then start with the https profile. Caddy gets and renews the certificate.

docker compose --profile https up -d

Behind your own reverse proxy instead, forward to port RONDE_PORT (3000 by default) and keep the X-Forwarded-* headers. Server-Sent Events must not be buffered (proxy_buffering off with nginx).

Email

Sign-in links, invitations and reminders need an SMTP server: SMTP_URL=smtp://user:password@smtp.example.com:587 and MAIL_FROM. For a trial, the mail profile starts Mailpit, which catches every email:

echo "SMTP_URL=smtp://mail:1025" >> .env
docker compose --profile mail up -d   # emails at http://localhost:8025

To let people fill in their check-in by replying to the reminder, give Ronde a mailbox to read: INBOUND_IMAP_URL=imaps://user:password@imap.example.com:993/INBOX, and INBOUND_ADDRESS when the login is not the email address. Replies are sent there; every minute Ronde reads the ones that answer a reminder, adds their lines to the check-in, confirms by email and moves them to a Ronde folder. Every other message of the mailbox is left as it is, so it can be your usual contact address.

Push notifications (your turn coming up, check-in reminders, the bell) need a pair of keys for the instance: npx web-push generate-vapid-keys, then WEB_PUSH_PUBLIC_KEY and WEB_PUSH_PRIVATE_KEY. Keep them: the devices that turned notifications on depend on them. Ronde must be served over HTTPS; on an iPhone, people add it to the home screen first.

Sign-in

Local accounts and magic links work out of the box. SIGNUP_POLICY decides who may create an account: invite-only (default), open, or domains with SIGNUP_ALLOWED_DOMAINS. One OpenID Connect provider (Keycloak, Authentik, Entra ID, Okta…) is set with the OIDC_* variables; Google, GitHub and Microsoft with their <PROVIDER>_CLIENT_ID and <PROVIDER>_CLIENT_SECRET. Redirect URI: <RONDE_URL>/api/auth/callback/<provider>.

Transcripts without sending sound away

Transcripts (Team) use a speech-to-text service with the OpenAI API. To keep the sound on your servers, start the whisper profile and point Ronde at it:

cat >> .env <<'ENV'
TRANSCRIPTION_URL=http://whisper:8000/v1
TRANSCRIPTION_MODEL=Systran/faster-whisper-small
ENV
docker compose --profile whisper up -d

Slack

With a Team or Enterprise license, workspaces can add Ronde to Slack: check-in reminders by direct message, check-ins filled in from a Slack form, notifications in a channel, and the /ronde command. The instance needs its own Slack app, created once. Slack must reach RONDE_URL over HTTPS.

1. Get the app's manifest and replace every https://ronde.example.com in it with your RONDE_URL:

   curl -fsSLO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/joinronde/ronde/main/docker/slack-manifest.yml
   

2. At api.slack.com/apps: Create New App › From a manifest, pick your Slack workspace and paste the file.

3. Copy the keys of Basic Information › App Credentials into .env (SLACK_CLIENT_ID, SLACK_CLIENT_SECRET, SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET), then run docker compose up -d.

4. In Ronde, an owner or admin of each workspace opens Settings › Slack › Add to Slack.

To add the app to several Slack workspaces, turn on Manage Distribution in the app's settings.

Microsoft Teams

With a Team or Enterprise license, workspaces can add Ronde to Microsoft Teams: check-in reminders by personal message, check-ins filled in from a card, notifications in a channel, and the ronde command. The instance needs its own Teams app, an Azure Bot registered once in your Microsoft organization. Microsoft must reach RONDE_URL over HTTPS.

1. In the Azure portal: Create a resource › Azure Bot, with a handle (ronde), the free F0 plan, Type of App: Single Tenant and Create new Microsoft App ID.
2. In the bot, Settings › Configuration: set the Messaging endpoint to https://ronde.example.com/api/teams/messages (your RONDE_URL), save, and copy the Microsoft App ID and the App Tenant ID.
3. Manage Password, on the same page, opens the app registration: Certificates & secrets › New client secret, then copy its Value (shown once).
4. In the bot, Settings › Channels: add Microsoft Teams and accept its terms.
5. Put the three values in .env (TEAMS_APP_ID, TEAMS_TENANT_ID, TEAMS_APP_PASSWORD), then run docker compose up -d.
6. In Ronde, an owner or admin of a workspace opens Settings › Microsoft Teams and downloads the app. A Teams administrator uploads it (Teams admin center › Teams apps › Manage apps › Upload new app) and adds it to a team: Ronde posts a card in its channel, and Link to Ronde picks the workspace.

The client secret expires after 6 to 24 months: create the next one before, and replace TEAMS_APP_PASSWORD. A single-tenant bot serves the people of your own Microsoft organization; to offer the app to other organizations, it is published in the Teams Store.

Upgrade

docker compose pull && docker compose up -d

The migrate container applies the migrations of the new version before the app starts. Pin a version with RONDE_VERSION=1.0.0-beta.3 in .env to choose when to upgrade.

Backups

Everything lives in the PostgreSQL volume:

docker compose exec db pg_dump -U ronde ronde | gzip > ronde-$(date +%F).sql.gz

Images

Every secret variable also accepts <NAME>_FILE (Docker secrets). Education: schools and universities get the paid plans for free, ask at https://joinronde.com/education.