Getting started

Viauna is one container: a Node server and the web app, with its data in one directory. It needs nothing besides your mail server: no database server, no Redis.

This page puts Viauna behind a reverse proxy you already run. For the shortest way, with Caddy getting the certificate, or to try it on your own computer first, see Quick start.

What you need

• A mail server with IMAP (port 993, or 143 with STARTTLS) and authenticated SMTP submission (465, or 587 with STARTTLS), both accepting the same login. See Mail servers.
• Docker, or Node.js 22.13 or newer.
• A hostname of its own, such as webmail.example.com, and a reverse proxy that terminates TLS. Viauna can't be served under a sub-path yet.

Run it

Images are published for linux/amd64 (Intel and AMD) and linux/arm64 (ARM servers, and Raspberry Pis running a 64-bit system).

docker run -d --name viauna --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 127.0.0.1:3000:3000 \
  -v viauna-data:/data \
  -e PUBLIC_URL=https://webmail.example.com \
  -e TRUST_PROXY=true \
  -e IMAP_HOST=imap.example.com \
  -e SMTP_HOST=smtp.example.com \
  ghcr.io/bryanthomaschen/viauna:0.6

Or with Docker Compose:

services:
  viauna:
    image: ghcr.io/bryanthomaschen/viauna:0.6
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:3000:3000"   # only your reverse proxy should reach it
    environment:
      PUBLIC_URL: https://webmail.example.com
      TRUST_PROXY: "true"
      IMAP_HOST: imap.example.com
      SMTP_HOST: smtp.example.com
      ALLOWED_DOMAINS: example.com
    volumes:
      - viauna-data:/data

volumes:
  viauna-data:

Keep the port bound to 127.0.0.1, or on a Docker network shared with your proxy. Viauna serves plain HTTP and relies on the proxy for TLS.

Image tags

Tag
0.6	The newest 0.6.x release. Recommended: each pull brings fixes, never a new version's changes.
0.6.0	Exactly that release.
latest	The newest release, whatever its version.
edge	The current main branch: unreleased and less tested. These docs describe the latest release; for edge, read docs/ on GitHub.

Before 1.0, a new minor version may change settings or behaviour, so move to it after reading its release notes.

Put it behind your reverse proxy

Point the proxy at port 3000, with response buffering off (for live updates) and HTTP/2 on. Reverse proxy has examples for nginx, Caddy and Traefik.

Sign in

Open your Viauna address and sign in with your full mailbox address and its password, the same login your phone's mail app uses. Viauna has no accounts of its own: anyone your mail server accepts can sign in, unless you limit it with ALLOWED_DOMAINS.

Next

• Configuration: every setting.
• Upgrades and backups: what's in /data and what to keep.
• Troubleshooting, if signing in fails.
• How it works: what Viauna does behind the scenes.

Building the image yourself

git clone https://github.com/bryanthomaschen/viauna.git
cd viauna
docker build -t viauna .

Then use viauna in place of ghcr.io/bryanthomaschen/viauna:0.6 above.

Without Docker

npm ci
npm run build
PUBLIC_URL=https://webmail.example.com \
IMAP_HOST=imap.example.com SMTP_HOST=smtp.example.com \
DATA_DIR=/var/lib/viauna npm start

Outside Docker, Viauna listens on 127.0.0.1:3000 by default. Run it as an unprivileged user under a service manager such as systemd.