---
title: Install Zitadel on Linux
description: "Installing ZITADEL and PostgreSQL on Linux for a self-hosted environment."
sidebar_label: Linux
---

import Disclaimer from "./_disclaimer.mdx";
import DefaultUser from "./_defaultuser.mdx";
import Next from "./_next.mdx";
import NoteInstanceNotFound from "./troubleshooting/_note_instance_not_found.mdx";

<Callout type="warn">

Be aware! This guide does not work for the newly updated version of Zitadel 4! [Learn more](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/issues/10526)

Please use Docker version if you want to use Zitadel 4.

</Callout>

## Install PostgreSQL

Download a `postgresql` binary as described [in the PostgreSQL docs](https://www.postgresql.org/download/linux/).
Zitadel is tested against PostgreSQL latest stable tag and latest Ubuntu LTS.

## Run PostgreSQL

```bash
sudo systemctl start postgresql
sudo systemctl enable postgresql
```

## Install Zitadel

Download the Zitadel release according to your architecture from [Github](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/releases/latest), unpack the archive and copy zitadel binary to /usr/local/bin

```bash
LATEST=$(curl -i https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/releases/latest | grep location: | cut -d '/' -f 8 | tr -d '\r'); ARCH=$(uname -m); case $ARCH in armv5*) ARCH="armv5";; armv6*) ARCH="armv6";; armv7*) ARCH="arm";; aarch64) ARCH="arm64";; x86) ARCH="386";; x86_64) ARCH="amd64";;  i686) ARCH="386";; i386) ARCH="386";; esac; wget -c https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/releases/download/$LATEST/zitadel-linux-$ARCH.tar.gz -O - | tar -xz && sudo mv zitadel-linux-$ARCH/zitadel /usr/local/bin
```

## Run Zitadel

```bash
ZITADEL_DATABASE_POSTGRES_DSN=postgresql://root:postgres@localhost:5432/postgres?sslmode=disable ZITADEL_EXTERNALSECURE=false zitadel start-from-init --masterkey "MasterkeyNeedsToHave32Characters" --tlsMode disabled
```

<DefaultUser components={props.components} />

<NoteInstanceNotFound components={props.components} />

## VideoGuide

<iframe
  width="100%"
  height="315"
  src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YVLua-q7dbs"
  title="YouTube video player"
  frameborder="0"
  allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"
  allowfullscreen
></iframe>

### Setup Zitadel with a service account

```bash
ZITADEL_DATABASE_POSTGRES_DSN=postgresql://root:postgres@localhost:5432/postgres?sslmode=disable ZITADEL_EXTERNALSECURE=false ZITADEL_FIRSTINSTANCE_MACHINEKEYPATH=/tmp/zitadel-admin-sa.json ZITADEL_FIRSTINSTANCE_ORG_MACHINE_MACHINE_USERNAME=zitadel-admin-sa ZITADEL_FIRSTINSTANCE_ORG_MACHINE_MACHINE_NAME=Admin ZITADEL_FIRSTINSTANCE_ORG_MACHINE_MACHINEKEY_TYPE=1 zitadel start-from-init --masterkey "MasterkeyNeedsToHave32Characters" --tlsMode disabled

# then you can move your machine key
mv /tmp/zitadel-admin-sa.json $HOME/zitadel-admin-sa.json
```

This key can be used to provision resources with for example [Terraform](/guides/manage/terraform-provider).

<Next components={props.components} />
<Disclaimer components={props.components} />
