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Server

Run the server on a Mac, Windows or Linux computer

A single program and a web folder, for Apple silicon and Intel Macs, Windows 10 and 11 (Intel/AMD and ARM), and Linux (x86_64 and aarch64).

8 min · Updated 26 October 2026

  1. 1

    Download the zip for your system

    Open the Releases page and download lightcraft-server-<version>-<system>.zip: macos-arm64 (Apple silicon), macos-x86_64, windows-x86_64, windows-arm64, linux-x86_64 or linux-aarch64. It holds the program and a web folder next to it, which the server serves by itself.

  2. 2

    Start it

    --data is the folder where the server keeps everything (it is created). --listen 0.0.0.0:8080 lets your other devices on the same network reach it; leave it out to listen on this computer only.

    macOS
    cd lightcraft-server-*-macos-arm64
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine .      # once: the download is not notarised
./lightcraft-server serve --data ~/lightcraft-data --listen 0.0.0.0:8080
    Linux
    unzip lightcraft-server-*-linux-x86_64.zip && cd lightcraft-server-*-linux-x86_64
./lightcraft-server serve --data ~/lightcraft-data --listen 0.0.0.0:8080
    Windows PowerShell
    Expand-Archive lightcraft-server-*-windows-x86_64.zip -DestinationPath C:\lightcraft-server
cd C:\lightcraft-server\lightcraft-server-*-windows-x86_64
.\lightcraft-server.exe serve --data C:\lightcraft-data --listen 0.0.0.0:8080
  3. 3

    Keep it running

    macOS: a launchd agent starts it at login and restarts it. Linux: a systemd unit. Windows: a scheduled task that runs at start-up. The ready-to-paste files and commands for each are in the full self-hosting guide.

    Updating is replacing the program and the web folder with the new release’s while it is stopped. Your data folder stays.

  4. 4

    Check it works

    ./lightcraft-server health exits with 0 when it answers, and http://localhost:8080 opens the web app. Next: connect LightBites.