Installing

Installing inbuxa: the mail server, then the console, then the webmail, in that order, with each step verified before the next one starts.

3 min read

On this page

Three ways in
What you need
Where each piece runs
The images

inbuxa is three programs. They install in a fixed order, because each one needs the one before it:

1. The mail server

inbuxa-server carries the mail and owns the data. Started without a configuration file it comes up in bootstrap mode and waits to be set up.
2. The console

inbuxa Admin completes that first boot over JMAP, then administers the server. It never runs on the mail host.
3. The webmail

inbuxa webmail is where everyone else reads their mail. It goes last, once there are accounts to sign in with.

Each page ends with a check to run before you move on. If a check fails, fix it there rather than carrying the problem forward.

Three ways in

Those three pages install the programs. What you do with them depends on where you are starting:

A new server — nothing to preserve. Walks the three installs in order and ends with a working domain and a first mailbox.
Coming from Stalwart — you already run 0.16. The store is exported and imported into a new one, and the old install stays standing as the rollback.
Coming from another server — Postfix and Dovecot, iRedMail, Zimbra, Exchange Server or Open-Xchange. Accounts, mail, calendars and contacts move across, with the old server kept as the rollback.

Moving accounts one at a time, from any of these or from Gmail or Exchange Online, is inbuxa-migrate's job.

The installer

The inbuxa installer sets all three up in one run, each in a container or straight onto the host. It also adds the console and the webmail on a machine of their own, for a server that runs elsewhere. These pages are the same steps by hand.

What you need

A Linux machine with Docker, and a provider that lets it send on port 25. Many cheap hosts block it; check before you start.
A domain, and access to its DNS.
Ports 25, 465, 993 and 443 reachable. Add 995 and 4190 if you want POP3 and ManageSieve — see Protocols, because you may not.

You do not need an account with anyone, and nothing phones home.

Where each piece runs

The console and the webmail are separate programs that talk to the server over JMAP. They do not have to live on the mail host, and there are good reasons not to put them there — see Where each service goes.

Service	What it does	Listens on
inbuxa server	Carries the mail	25, 465, 993, 995, 4190, and its API on 443
inbuxa Admin	The console	8080 in its container, behind your proxy
inbuxa webmail	Where people read mail	8080 in its container, behind your proxy
A reverse proxy	TLS and the front door	80, 443

No web interface on the mail host

The server installs no web interface of its own and downloads none at first boot. Administration is inbuxa Admin's job, and it is deployed separately. Why.

The images

All three are published, public, and built for linux/amd64 and linux/arm64. No login is needed to pull them.

docker pull registry.coffeylabs.org/inbuxa/inbuxa-server:2026.10.10.1
docker pull registry.coffeylabs.org/inbuxa/inbuxa-admin:latest
docker pull registry.coffeylabs.org/inbuxa/inbuxa-webmail:latest

Each program is also its own repository, and each build links to the exact source it came from:

The same repositories are mirrored on GitHub, under github.com/inbuxa.

The three carry their own version numbers

They are released independently, so the server, the console and the webmail do not share a version string. Each one reports its own, and the server's --version also names the upstream release it is built on.