Deploy to Azure (one click)

The Deploy to Azure button opens a guided wizard in the Azure portal and deploys the complete stack — CompassDocs, Postgres, and (optionally) a Caddy HTTPS proxy — on a single Ubuntu 24.04 VM with Docker Compose.

The wizard

Basics — VM name, region, any VM size via Azure’s native size picker (a 2 vCPU / 4 GB size like B2s is a comfortable start), and SSH credentials (key recommended).
Networking — create a new virtual network or join an existing one; public IP new/existing/none (for private-only deployments) with a DNS label; separate CIDR allowlists for SSH and web traffic.
Storage — OS disk type and size, plus an optional dedicated data disk: formatted on first boot and mounted as Docker’s data root, so your database, uploads, and backups live on a disk you can snapshot and resize independently of the OS.
CompassDocs — Community or Enterprise (license key optional — paste it later under Settings → License if you prefer), bundled HTTPS on/off, an optional headless admin account, and an optional Anthropic API key for the AI features.

After it deploys

Give the VM about two minutes to bootstrap, then open the appUrl shown in the deployment outputs (http://<label>.<region>.cloudapp.azure.com) and run the setup wizard.

With HTTPS enabled, point your own domain’s DNS at the VM’s public IP, enter the domain in the setup wizard (or Settings → Domain & HTTPS), and Caddy obtains a certificate automatically.

Day-2 operations

# SSH in (command shown in the deployment outputs), then:
cd /opt/compassdocs

sudo docker compose pull && sudo docker compose up -d   # update
sudo docker compose logs -f app                         # logs

The bootstrap log lives at /var/log/compassdocs-init.log if something looks wrong on first boot.

CompassDocs service status