Install and operations FAQ
Installation
Do I need Docker?
No. The release archive runs on Node 24 alone, on a managed host or a Linux host. Docker Compose is an alternative; follow only the prerequisites of your route.
Is the local demo an installation route?
No. The demo keeps temporary in-memory data. Never use it for real scheduling data.
Which Node version should I use?
Node 24, installed where the service can run it, not the machine's default Node. The server stops at start-up on an older version and says so.
Who chooses the company name and calendar rules?
The first Owner, following Set up your company. The installer hands over a working service and the first-Owner sign-in.
Who owns backups after installation?
An operator you name before handover. They follow Backups and restore, monitor backup freshness and test recovery.
Can I expose CapacityLens directly without TLS?
No. Never send credentials or session traffic unencrypted over the internet. Follow TLS and networking.
Operations
What should I monitor?
Health, backup freshness, disk space, the audit log, certificate expiry and restarts. Monitoring and health checks lists the exact signals.
How big does the SQLite file get?
It stays small: a few thousand rows even for a large team. The audit log (one entry per product-data change) is what grows; CAPACITYLENS_AUDIT_MAX_MB in Configuration caps and rotates it. Watch disk space either way.
Is a scheduled backup enough?
Only once it is copied off-host, current and proven restorable. Follow Backups and restore.
Can I upgrade by replacing the files and restarting?
No. Follow Upgrades: it covers the backup, version checks, migrations, health verification and rollback a plain restart misses.
How do I move to a new host?
Back up the old host, restore on the new one, and repoint DNS once sign-in and the company list work. Backups and restore covers both, including the environment file the new host needs.
Who handles member access problems?
An Owner or Admin handles invitations, roles and member status. The operator handles deployment configuration and the recovery procedures that have no in-product override.
Where do I change company-login settings?
In the deployment configuration. Coordinate the change with an Admin and follow Require company sign-in.
What should I collect during an incident?
The time, affected action, health output, service and proxy logs, current release and last known good state, without bearer tokens or private customer data.
How do I uninstall completely?
For Docker Compose, stop the stack and remove its containers and named volumes.
This permanently deletes the installation data
The volume removal below destroys the database, audit log, scheduled backups and the internal certificate, and Docker cannot recover them. First confirm you have a readable off-host backup and no restore drill or incident still depends on these volumes.
docker compose down
docker volume rm capacitylens_capacitylens-db capacitylens_capacitylens-backups capacitylens_capacitylens-internal-tlsAdjust the capacitylens_ prefix if docker compose config shows a different one (see Upgrades). CapacityLens writes nothing outside those volumes and the checkout directory, which you can then delete.
The same backup check applies to the other routes. For a release-archive install on a Linux host, stop and disable the service, then delete /etc/systemd/system/capacitylens.service, /opt/capacitylens, the data folder /var/lib/capacitylens and /etc/capacitylens.env, and remove the site from Caddy or nginx. On a managed host, delete the background process, the site and its data folder, such as /home/forge/capacitylens-data.