---
title: Quickstart
description: Set up jalco-drop on Cloudflare in a few minutes, or as a Docker container on any server.
---

You need Node 22.18 or newer. Pick where it runs.

**Cloudflare**

You need a Cloudflare account with the domain you want to serve from, R2 enabled, and Browser Rendering (on the Workers Free plan, 10 browser minutes a day, about one preview card per upload).

1. **Create the project**

    ```bash
    npx jalco-drop init my-drop
    ```

    Setup copies the project and asks for your domain, your name, a site name, an accent colour, a code theme and where `/` should redirect. Every question has a default.

2. **Deploy**

    Answer **yes** when setup offers to deploy. It signs in to Cloudflare, creates the R2 bucket, deploys the Worker, and prints a new admin token once. Save it in a password manager.

3. **Upload something**

    ```bash
    export JALCO_DROP_URL=https://drop.example.com
    export JALCO_DROP_TOKEN=<your admin token>
    bin/jalco-drop README.md
    ```

**Docker**

You need Docker and a server with a domain pointed at it.

1. **Create the project**

    ```bash
    npx jalco-drop init my-drop --target docker
    ```

    Setup writes `.env` (with a fresh admin token) and `docker-compose.yml`.

2. **Start it**

    ```bash
    cd my-drop
    docker compose up -d --build
    ```

    The image includes Chromium, so preview cards work out of the box. Files go to the `drop-data` volume.

3. **Put TLS in front**

    Point your domain at the server through a reverse proxy with TLS, such as Caddy, nginx or Cloudflare Tunnel, forwarding to port 3000.

:::tip
Every question has a flag, so setup also runs unattended:

```bash
npx jalco-drop init my-drop --domain drop.example.com --owner Tess --accent "#3b82f6" --theme vesper --deploy --yes
```

Handing the repo to a coding agent works too. `AGENTS.md` walks it through the same steps.
:::