This repository contains a single script for selfhosting Overleaf Community Edition in an all-in-one LXC container. It has been tested in an Ubuntu 24.04 LXC on Proxmox.
Though this script has only been tested in an Ubuntu 24.04 LXC on Proxmox 8.4.1, it should technically install on a bare metal Ubuntu 24.04 Desktop/Server too.
To selfhost Overleaf Community Edition, simply download this script and execute with root or sudo.
sudo ./overleaf-lxc.sh
Or simply run the following commands inside the LXC container to download and run the script in one go.
# install curl
apt update && apt install -y curl
# install Overleaf
bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fauky/overleaf-lxc/main/overleaf-lxc.sh)"
There is no default overleaf account created during installation. Create your first account at http://192.168.x.x/launchpad
Take a look at all the environmental variables at overleaf docs at: https://docs.overleaf.com/on-premises/configuration/overleaf-toolkit/environment-variables
Add/modify environmental variables in /etc/overleaf/env.sh to customize your installation to suit your needs.
Restart systemd services after modifying environmental variables.
systemctl restart overleaf-*
Check status of systemd services
systemctl status overleaf-*
Simply point your reverse proxy to this endpoint: http://192.168.x.x:80
Replace 192.168.x.x with the actual IP address of your LXC container.
To make Overleaf aware of reverse proxy, add the following variables to /etc/overleaf/env.sh
OVERLEAF_SITE_URL=https://leaf.your-domain.com/
OVERLEAF_BEHIND_PROXY=true
OVERLEAF_SECURE_COOKIE=true
Then restart overleaf web service
systemctl restart overleaf-web
Overleaf uses Tex Live behind the scenes and installs some common pacakages by default. To install additional pacakages, you can use tlmgr at commandline.
Here are some useful commands.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
tlmgr list --only-installed |
List installed packages |
tlmgr list --only-remote |
List remote packages that can be installed |
tlmgr search --global --file <package> |
Search for a package |
tlmgr install xcolor |
Install xcolor package |
tlmgr install scheme-full |
Install complete TeX Live distribution, including all available packages and collections |
For a full list of packages, please refer to CTAN at: https://ctan.org/pkg
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
tlmgr update --list |
List available updates |
tlmgr update --all |
Update all packages |
For more information on using tlmgr, please refer to official documentation at: https://www.tug.org/texlive/doc/tlmgr.html
Log files for all Overleaf systemd services are located at /var/log/overleaf/
Review the log files in case you are experiencing problems.