Getting Started with Organism on Linux

System Requirements

Step 1: What is Organism?

Organism is a self-hosted application platform by WiseJNRS. Think of it as Steam for Docker — it provides a web-based dashboard to discover, install, and manage containerised applications on your own hardware.

Key features:

• One-click app installs from the WiseJNRS app catalogue
• Container management — start, stop, restart, and monitor your apps
• Health monitoring — real-time status and logs for every container
• Auto-configuration — generates secure passwords, encryption keys, and environment variables
• Works with Docker Engine or Podman — no vendor lock-in

Step 2: Check Prerequisites

Before installing Organism, ensure you have:

1. A Linux machine running a modern distribution (Ubuntu 22.04+, Debian 12+, Fedora 38+, etc.)
2. Sudo access (you'll need your password for package installation)
3. At least 5 GB of free disk space
4. A stable internet connection

That's it! The installer will automatically detect and install any missing dependencies:

• Docker Engine — the recommended container runtime for Linux (installed via the official convenience script)
• Podman — an alternative rootless container engine (installed via your distribution's package manager)

Step 3: Install Organism

Open a terminal and run the one-liner installer:

bash <(curl -fsSL https://www.wisejnrs.net/install-linux.sh)

The installer will guide you through the process:

1. System detection — identifies your Linux distribution, version, and architecture
2. Sudo access — prompts for your password to install system dependencies
3. Container engine — detects Docker/Podman, or offers to install one
4. Docker group — ensures your user can run containers without sudo
5. Port check — verifies ports 4517 and 4518 are available
6. Image pull — downloads the Organism image (~450MB)
7. Container start — configures volumes, mounts the Docker socket, and starts Organism
8. Health check — waits for services to initialise
9. Connectivity test — verifies connection to WiseJNRS services

Here's what a successful installation looks like:

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║║║│└─┐├┤   ║║║║╠╦╝╚═╗
╚╩╝┴└─┘└─┘ ╚╝╝╚╝╩╚═╚═╝

Organism Installer v1.0
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

> Detecting system...
[OK] Detected: Linux on x86_64 (Ubuntu 24.04)

[WARN] This installer may need administrator access (sudo)

Sudo access is required to:
  - Install Docker Engine (if not already installed)
  - Add your user to the docker group
  - Configure system services

Press Enter to continue (you'll be prompted for password if needed)...

[INFO] Checking sudo access...
Password: ******
[OK] Sudo access confirmed

> Checking for Docker or Podman...
[OK] Docker found and running (27.5.1)

> Checking if ports 4517 and 4518 are available...
[OK] Ports 4517 and 4518 are available

> Checking for existing Organism installation...
[OK] No existing installation found

> Pulling latest Organism image from registry...
[TIP] Image size: ~450MB - this may take a minute or two
[OK] Image downloaded successfully

> Starting Organism container on ports 4517/4518...
[OK] Container started successfully

> Waiting for Organism to become healthy...
[OK] Organism is healthy and ready

> Testing connectivity to WiseJNRS services...
[OK] Connection to www.wisejnrs.net successful

> Testing local Organism web interface...
[OK] Organism web interface is responding

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Installation Complete!

Access Organism:
  > Local:  http://localhost:4517
  > Remote: http://192.168.1.100:4517

[TIP] Using default WiseJNRS ports: 4517 (web) and 4518 (API)

Note: If Docker was just installed, you may need to log out and log back in for group permissions to take effect. The installer will let you know if this is required.

Step 4: Open the Dashboard

Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:4517.

localhost:4517

You'll see the Organism Welcome page with options to create an account or sign in.

If you're accessing Organism from another device on your network, use your server's IP address instead (e.g. http://192.168.1.100:4517). Linux is ideal for headless server deployments — install Organism on a server and manage it from any browser on your network.

Step 5: Sign In or Create an Account

When you first open Organism, you'll be prompted to sign in with your WiseJNRS account.

• Already have an account? Enter your email and password to sign in.
• New to WiseJNRS? Click Create Account to register for free. You'll need a valid email address.

Once signed in, Organism links your account to your local instance. This enables:

• App catalogue access — browse and install apps from the WiseJNRS catalogue
• Licence verification — some apps require a valid account
• Update notifications — get notified when new app versions are available

After signing in, you'll land on the Home page — your central hub for managing applications:

localhost:4517

Step 6: Browse the App Catalogue

Click App Store in the sidebar to browse the available applications.

localhost:4517/apps

Each app listing shows:

• App name, description, and feature highlights
• Ratings and reviews from other users
• Required resources (CPU, memory, disk)
• Pricing and free trial availability
• Install Now button to get started

Step 7: Install an Application

Click Install Now on any app to open the installation wizard.

localhost:4517/apps/therapy-assistant — Install Dialog

The wizard walks you through four steps:

1. Configure — Organism auto-generates secure database passwords and encryption keys. You can customise these or accept the defaults.
2. Ports & Data — Choose port mappings and data storage locations for each container. Organism checks for port conflicts automatically.
3. Licence — Enter a licence key or start a free trial.
4. Install — Organism pulls all required container images and starts the application.

Once complete, you'll see the Installation Complete screen:

localhost:4517 — Installation Complete

Step 8: Monitor & Manage

Organism provides several tools to monitor and manage your installation:

System Monitoring

The Monitoring page shows real-time metrics for CPU, memory, and disk usage across all containers:

localhost:4517/monitoring

Container Logs

The Logs page aggregates logs from all containers with filtering by level, source, and time range:

localhost:4517/logs

Installed Apps

The Installed page shows all your running applications with quick actions to start, stop, restart, or uninstall:

localhost:4517/installed

Settings

Configure notifications, Docker settings, and check for Organism updates from the Settings page:

localhost:4517/settings

Step 9: Updating Organism

To update Organism, simply re-run the same installer command:

The installer detects the existing installation, pulls the latest image, and restarts the container. Your installed apps and data are preserved — they live in separate volumes.

bash <(curl -fsSL https://www.wisejnrs.net/install-linux.sh)

Step 10: Custom Port Configuration

By default Organism uses:

• Port 4517 for the web dashboard
• Port 4518 for the API

If these conflict with other services, you can specify custom ports:

bash <(curl -fsSL https://www.wisejnrs.net/install-linux.sh) --web-port 9517 --api-port 9518

The installer also supports an interactive mode where you'll be prompted to choose your ports.

Running as a Service

On Linux, the Organism container is configured with --restart unless-stopped, meaning it will automatically restart after a reboot as long as the Docker daemon is running.

To ensure Docker starts on boot:

sudo systemctl enable docker

For headless servers, you can also run the installer non-interactively:

curl -fsSL https://www.wisejnrs.net/install-linux.sh | bash

Or with custom ports:

bash <(curl -fsSL https://www.wisejnrs.net/install-linux.sh) --non-interactive --web-port 4517

Firewall Configuration

If you want to access Organism from other devices on your network, ensure your firewall allows traffic on the Organism ports:

# UFW (Ubuntu/Debian)
sudo ufw allow 4517/tcp
sudo ufw allow 4518/tcp

# firewalld (Fedora/RHEL)
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=4517/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=4518/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Troubleshooting

sudo systemctl status docker
sudo systemctl start docker

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker

ss -ltnp | grep 4517

bash <(curl -fsSL https://www.wisejnrs.net/install-linux.sh) --web-port 9517 --api-port 9518

sudo mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system/docker.service.d
sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/docker.service.d/proxy.conf << EOF
[Service]
Environment="HTTP_PROXY=http://proxy:8080"
Environment="HTTPS_PROXY=http://proxy:8080"
EOF
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart docker

docker stop wisejnrs-organism && docker rm wisejnrs-organism
docker volume rm organism-data