Self-host Mailprex with Docker

Run Mailprex on your own VPS with MongoDB and your SMTP server.

Quick start

Copy environment file:


cp back/.example.env back/.env

Edit back/.env — minimum required:


MAILPREX_MODE=selfhost
JWT_SECRET=your-long-random-secret
MAILPREX_SMTP_HOST=smtp.example.com
MAILPREX_SMTP_PORT=587
MAILPREX_SMTP_USER=your-user
MAILPREX_SMTP_PASS=your-password
FRONTEND_URL=http://localhost:3000

Start stack:


docker compose up -d --build

API listens on http://localhost:5000.

Environment reference

Variable	Description
`MAILPREX_MODE`	`selfhost` for private deployments
`MAILPREX_ALLOW_SIGNUP`	`false` to disable public registration
`MAILPREX_REQUIRE_EMAIL_VERIFY`	`true` to require email verification (default `false` in self-host)
`MAILPREX_SMTP_*`	Custom SMTP transport (recommended)
`MONGODB_URI`	Set automatically in `docker-compose.yml` to `mongodb://mongo:27017/mailprex`

Frontend

Point the Next.js app to your API:


NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://localhost:5000

For production, serve the front behind HTTPS on the same domain or configure CORS_ORIGINS.

Health check


curl http://localhost:5000/

Response includes the active MAILPREX_MODE.

Legacy token audit

On the host machine with Mongo access:


cd back && npm run report-legacy-tokens

Ask affected users to regenerate tokens in the dashboard (mk_live_… format).