A guide to hosting your own SillyTavern instance

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Why tho?

You can sex with your bots and have your chats synced across all devices even when you're out touching grass(!). First time setup will take no more than 30 minutes.

What's the catch?

You need to be willing to fork out at least 5$ per month on a VPS. This can go lower if you go for a more niche providers (Hetzner, Racknerd, etc) granted that you know how to use the command line. The providers I picked have the most handholding and don't require the use of a command line.

What do I need?

1. An account with either Linode or Vultr. You might need to give them your credit card or prepay 5$ using Paypal during registration but I managed to go by with a prepaid card in Linode, YMMV.

2. A domain. This is optional but I recommend getting a domain for ease of use. You can get a cheap domain from Porkbun or Namecheap for a couple dollars on the first year.
3. Access to an API (duh!).

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Part 1: Setting up

Assuming you have your account already set up.

1. Once you're in your cloud dashboard, navigate to the Marketplace and search for Easypanel. Click on it and it will direct you to creating a VPS preconfigured for you. Select the cheapest option, you will need at least 1GB of vCPU and 1GB of RAM and fill out the required sections. You will get something like this.
2. Take note of the IP address and rDNS as shown here. Then go to the following URL; http://[ip-address]:3000. Register with your email address and password. If it doesn't show up, wait a bit more. Once that done, you should be getting to this screen.
3. At this point, you'll need to start assigning subdomains in your Domain provider DNS panel. Create 3 subdomains and assign them to your server's IP address. These subdomains will be used to access the Easypanel, SillyTavern and the File Browser sites. (Example: st.yourdomain.com, ep.yourdomain.com, files.yourdomain.com).

Part 2: Creating your SillyTavern instance

1. In your Easypanel dashboard, create a new project. Name it sillytavern. Then go to Template, scroll all the way down until you see the Create from Schema button. Press that and a text box will pop up. Paste this lines of code and press Create. Like this.
2. Now, your SillyTavern instance is being downloaded and installed. This will take a few minutes. While it's doing that, go to the Domain tab for Sillytavern and File Browser and replace the example domain with the subdomains you have created. If you don't have a domain, insert the IP address or the rDNS link. Like This.

Part 3: Configuring your SillyTavern instance

Now, you should be able to access SillyTavern using the link that you keyed in. Except for the fact that SillyTavern comes with whitelist mode enabled by default. We'll need to change that.

1. Open the File Browser and input the default username and password; admin and admin. Go to settings and change your password, PLEASE
2. Navigate to this directory /etc/easypanel/projects/sillytavern/sillytavern-release/volumes/config and open config.conf. Change these lines of code to the ones below and save. Then, restart your SillyTavern app by stopping it and starting it again.
   
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   const whitelistMode = false; //Disabling enabling the ip whitelist mode. true/false const basicAuthMode = true; //Toggle basic authentication for endpoints. const basicAuthUser = {username: "changeme", password: "changeme"}; //Login credentials when basicAuthMode is true.

4. You're done! You can now enjoy your ERPs in public!

Part 4: Backup, Update and Tips

1. To backup your chats and settings. Go back to File Browser and go to this directory /etc/easypanel/projects/sillytavern/sillytavern-release/volumes. Select the config folder and download it by clicking the download icon on the top right. Like this. You can upload your chats and cards this way too.

2. To update, just click Force Rebuild. It will download the latest release from the branch. I highly recommend creating a new SillyTavern instance and check if something breaks in the new version before committing.
3. To use the staging branch, change the branch in Source from 'release' to 'staging' then click Deploy. I recommend making 2 separate instances of SillyTavern for release and staging.

FAQ

What about muh security!!? D:<

If you want security, I recommend installing Portainer in your server then Zerotier to link your server to all of your devices without exposing SillyTavern to the internet.

I can't afford 5$ a month.

Well then good sir/madam, may I introduce you to Racknerd's deals. For 12$ a year, you can have the whole 365 days dedicated to non-stop sexting with your bots. Just make sure you know what you're doing though.