Self-Hosting - Open Animate

Open Animate is fully open source (Apache 2.0). You can run the entire platform on your own infrastructure.

Prerequisites

Node.js 18+
PostgreSQL 15+
A fal.ai API key (for asset generation)
AWS credentials with S3 + Lambda access (for cloud rendering)
A Stripe account (for billing, optional)
A Clerk application (for authentication)

Quick start with Docker

Environment variables

Variable	Required	Description
`DATABASE_URL`	Yes	PostgreSQL connection string
`CLERK_DOMAIN`	Yes	Clerk OAuth domain
`CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY`	Yes	Clerk publishable key for browser auth
`FAL_KEY`	Yes	fal.ai API key for media gateway
`AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID`	For cloud render	AWS access key
`AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY`	For cloud render	AWS secret key
`AWS_REGION`	For cloud render	AWS region (default: `us-east-1`)
`S3_BUCKET`	For cloud render	S3 bucket for render bundles and outputs
`REMOTION_FUNCTION_NAME`	For cloud render	Remotion Lambda function name
`STRIPE_SECRET_KEY`	For billing	Stripe secret key
`STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET`	For billing	Stripe webhook signing secret
`PORT`	No	Server port (default: `8000`)

New users receive a $5.00 credit balance on signup. Without Stripe configured, users won’t be able to purchase additional credits, but existing balances still work.

Direct provider keys

For asset generation without running the platform API, users can set ANIMATE_FAL_KEY to go directly to fal.ai:

export ANIMATE_FAL_KEY=your-fal-key
oanim assets gen-image --prompt "gradient" --out bg.png

This bypasses the platform entirely — no API server, database, or auth required.

docker-compose.yml

The included docker-compose.yml runs PostgreSQL:

services:
  db:
    image: postgres:15-alpine
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: oanim
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: oanim
      POSTGRES_DB: oanim
    ports:
      - '5432:5432'
    volumes:
      - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data

volumes:
  pgdata:

Production considerations

For production deployments:

Database: Use strong passwords, enable SSL, and set up regular backups
Stripe webhooks: Configure the webhook endpoint at https://your-domain/api/v1/billing/webhook
Rate limiting: The API includes in-memory rate limiting (60 req/min for media, 10 req/min for auth). For multi-instance deployments, consider adding a Redis-backed rate limiter
HTTPS: Place the API behind a reverse proxy (nginx, Caddy) with TLS

​Prerequisites

​Quick start with Docker

​Environment variables

​Direct provider keys

​docker-compose.yml

​Production considerations

Prerequisites

Quick start with Docker

Environment variables

Direct provider keys

docker-compose.yml

Production considerations