Choose between Docker, the panel egg and a Node.js server

In short. Three routes lead to the same Agora, with the same one-click updates. Pick based on what you already have: a machine of your own, a hosting panel, or only an ordinary host's Node.js server.

Before you start #

• Read Requirements to know what you need.
• The technical words (Docker, panel, egg…) are explained in the glossary; each one is also redefined in a sentence below.

Find your route #

<!-- CAPTURE C-007 -->

1. If you have a Linux machine of your own, a VPS (a server rented from a host) or a NAS (a network storage box), on which Docker runs or can run: choose Docker. A single command installs everything.
2. Otherwise, if your host gives you a Pterodactyl or Pelican panel (the website where you manage your game servers) on which you can import an egg (a file that tells the panel how to install a type of server): choose the egg.
3. Otherwise, if you only have the "Node.js" server of an ordinary game host, with no egg import possible: choose agora.mjs. You drop a single file on it.

Your space on agorapanel.com prepares the files for the route you chose, with your key already inside: on the Install Agora on my panel page (the Install on my panel tile of My account), the Download my .env (Docker Compose), Egg for Pterodactyl and Egg for Pelican buttons.

<!-- CAPTURE C-008 -->

Compare the three routes #

<!-- À CONFIRMER : œuf tout-en-un (claude/pg-integre) : ligne « Base de données du Hub », colonne œuf --> <!-- À CONFIRMER : voie Node.js (agora.mjs) à tester sur le banc avant de la recommander (RAPPORT §1) -->

The Hub database is the notebook where Agora keeps its members and its forum. It is not your game server's database: see The two Agora databases.

In all three cases #

• The server does not contain the application: a small bootstrap program downloads it on the first start, against your license key, and checks its signature.
• No private image is needed: everything relies on public images or Node servers.
• Nothing needs to change in Wings (the panel program that carries out its orders).

Our advice #

• If you have a choice, take Docker with install.sh: it is the shortest route, and the database is included.
• If you are on a panel, take the egg that matches exactly your panel (Pterodactyl or Pelican). The two files are not interchangeable: look at the very bottom of your panel, it shows its name.
• If you only have a Node.js server, take agora.mjs: see Install on a host's Node.js server.
• If you want Agora to reinstall itself on your panel, your space offers an automatic install using the panel's API key. Careful: it wipes the chosen server, and it assumes the server already has Agora's egg: see Automatic installation on your panel. <!-- À CONFIRMER : AUT-1, l'installation automatique suppose-t-elle un serveur déjà créé avec l'œuf Agora ? (code vérifié, test banc encore à faire) -->

You know it worked when… #

You know which of the three routes is yours, and you have the matching file at hand: the install.sh command, your panel's egg, or agora.mjs.

If you are still unsure #

• If you do not know which panel you have, look at your panel's footer: it shows "Pterodactyl" or "Pelican". See Tell Pelican and Pterodactyl apart.
• If you do not know whether Docker is installed, the Requirements page gives the two commands that check it.
• If none of the three routes fits, write to support from your space: see Open a support ticket.

Go further #

• Install with Docker
• Install on Pterodactyl
• Install on Pelican
• Install on a host's Node.js server
• Automatic install from your space
• Your first day with Agora: all the steps, from installation to the tablet.