---
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**
The fastest way is the button. It forks the repo into your GitHub account, creates the R2 bucket, asks for an `ADMIN_TOKEN` (any long random string; save it in a password manager) and deploys to a `workers.dev` address. Add your own domain afterwards under the Worker's **Domains & Routes**.
To set it up from your terminal instead:
You need a Cloudflare account with the domain you want to serve from, R2 enabled, and Browser Rendering for preview cards. The Workers Paid plan ($5 a month) is likely needed: Workers Free allows 10 ms of CPU per request, and rendering a highlighted file or a markdown page usually takes more. Storage stays free up to 10 GB, and downloads are always free. To pay nothing, run the [Docker version](/v1.2/self-hosting) on a server you already have.
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=
bin/jalco-drop README.md
```
**Docker**
On Render, the button runs the image with a 10 GB disk and generates the admin token for you. Render needs a paid plan for disks.
On your own server:
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.
**Neon**
You need a Neon project in us-east-1, us-east-2, eu-central-1 or ap-southeast-1.
```bash
npx jalco-drop init my-drop --target neon
cd my-drop
npx neon@latest link
npm run deploy:neon
```
Or add it to an existing Neon project with `neon functions new jalco-drop`. [Deploy on Neon](/v1.2/neon) covers both, the bucket and cleanup trigger, custom domains and the 10 MB upload limit.
:::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.
:::