Once Campfire Hosting Live In 5 Minutes

Deploy Once Campfire hosting and give your team a private chat on your own domain. xCloud runs the pinned Once Campfire 1.5.2 image as a single container with embedded SQLite, creates the administrator account from the email you enter with a generated password, mounts a persistent data volume and publishes the app, WebSocket included, over HTTPS in minutes.

  • No terminal
  • No technical skills needed
  • No lock-in, cancel anytime

What is Once Campfire?

Once Campfire is the self-hostable version of Campfire, a web-based chat application from 37signals. It supports multiple rooms with access controls, direct messages, file attachments with previews, search, @mentions, Web Push notifications and an API with support for bot integrations.

Upstream's Docker image contains everything needed for a single-machine deployment: the web app, background jobs, caching and file serving. xCloud deploys that official image, pinned by digest, with a persistent volume and HTTPS on your domain.

From Sign-Up to a Live Team Chat In Just 3 Easy Steps

Self-hosting Campfire normally means a container, a volume for the database and attachments, a first-run admin account, a domain and a certificate before the first message. This is the same result without assembling any of it.

  1. Step 01

    Sign Up

    Create your xCloud account and pick Once Campfire from the OneClick catalog. Choose your domain and enter the administrator email — that is the only field.

  2. Step 02

    We Deploy It For You

    One click. We bring up the official Once Campfire image, pinned by immutable digest, as a single container with Redis and job workers inside it, mount the campfire_data volume, create the administrator account with a generated password, and publish it over HTTPS on your domain.

  3. Step 03

    Sign In And Invite Your Team

    Open your HTTPS Once Campfire URL and sign in with the administrator email and the generated password from your credentials. Change your password in your profile, then copy the join link from Settings and share it with your team.

Everything Once Campfire Does, On Your Own Server

Once Campfire runs in full here: rooms, direct messages and file sharing on your own domain, with all data on a volume you own.

  • Rooms And Direct Messages

    Talk in multiple rooms with access controls, or privately one to one, in a chat that lives on your own server.

  • File Attachments With Previews

    Share files in a conversation and see previews inline. Attachments are stored on the campfire_data volume.

  • Search And @Mentions

    Find past messages with search and pull someone into a conversation with an @mention.

  • Web Push Notifications

    Members can get Web Push notifications. The key pair is generated on first start and kept in the data volume.

  • API For Bots

    Upstream supports bot integrations through an API, so scripts and services can post into your rooms.

  • Invite-Only Membership

    The administrator is created at install, so the first-run page is never open to visitors. New members sign up only with the join link or code from Settings.

Everything You Need To Run Your Team Chat 24/7

Managed hosting for Once Campfire, so the parts that keep it online are not your problem.

  • Once Campfire 1.5.2 deployed instantly
  • Official image pinned by digest
  • Administrator password generated for you
  • WebSocket served through HTTPS
  • Free SSL certificate
  • Server backups and snapshots
  • Server security updates included
  • 30+ server locations
  • Unused balance refunded

What You Can Do With Once Campfire

  • A private chat for your team

    Keep day-to-day conversation in rooms and direct messages on a server you control, instead of a hosted chat service.

  • Sharing files in the conversation

    Drop attachments into a room and keep them, with previews, next to the discussion they belong to.

  • Notifications without email

    Members get Web Push notifications, and invitations are links and codes you pass on yourself, so no mail server is involved.

  • Bots and scripts that post to chat

    Use the API to wire bots and scripts into your rooms.

Once Campfire Screenshots

A Once Campfire room on an xCloud-hosted install
A message posted in a Once Campfire room
Once Campfire after signing in as the administrator

Once Campfire vs Alternatives

Slack
A hosted chat service run by Salesforce. Once Campfire runs on a server you control, with its data on your own volume.
Rocket.Chat
Another self-hosted team chat you can run on xCloud as a OneClick app, if you want to compare options.
Zulip
Another self-hosted team chat available as a OneClick app on xCloud, worth comparing when you pick a chat for your team.

Simple Pricing. Everything Included.

Dedicated Cloud VPS sizes, pre-configured for Once Campfire hosting. Pick the one that fits, and resize any time.

Cloud VPS 6 GB

Most popular

A private team chat with room to grow.

$24.99per month

  • 6 GB RAM
  • 4 vCPU cores
  • 100 GB NVMe SSD
  • 30 TB
  • Unlimited
Get started

Cloud VPS 16 GB

More headroom if Once Campfire sits alongside other team tools.

$59.99per month

  • 16 GB RAM
  • 6 vCPU cores
  • 200 GB NVMe SSD
  • 30 TB
  • Unlimited
Get started

Every size is a dedicated Cloud VPS we provision, patch, monitor and restore. Billed monthly with no lock-in — delete the server and the unused balance comes back to your account. Once Campfire itself is licensed under MIT.

Already Have a Server? Bring Your Own

Connect any VPS — DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, Hetzner or bare metal — and deploy Once Campfire on it through the same panel, for a per-server management fee instead of a Cloud VPS rental.

Free

Start your journey without cost.

$0forever

  • 1 server
  • 10 sites
Start free

Starter

Most popular

Your rate with 2–5 servers connected.

$5per server / month

  • 2–5 servers
  • Unlimited sites
  • All features included
  • Bring any VPS provider
Get started

Professional

The same platform, discounted at 6–10 servers.

$4per server / month

  • 6–10 servers
  • Unlimited sites
  • All features included
  • Bring any VPS provider
Get started

Agency

The same platform, discounted at 11+ servers.

$3per server / month

  • 11+ servers
  • Unlimited sites
  • All features included
  • Bring any VPS provider
Get started

Priced per connected server, so your rate adjusts automatically as you add or remove servers. You pay your own provider for the server itself.

Ready To Run Your Own Team Chat?

Once Campfire on xCloud runs on a dedicated Cloud VPS that we provision, patch, monitor and restore. Deploy faster. Own the server. Stay in control.

Hear what people are saying about us

See why agencies, developers, startups, and growing businesses choose xCloud to power their projects.

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Came from runcloud. Tried xcloud and never came back.
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Frequently Asked Questions

Feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have.

How do I sign in the first time?

Use the administrator email you entered at install and the generated password shown in your protected installation credentials. The account is created on the first start, which takes about a minute.

How do people join?

The administrator copies the join link or code from Settings and shares it. Open sign-up is not available, and the public first-run page is never open.

What runs alongside Once Campfire?

Nothing separate. It is a single container that includes its own Redis and job workers, with embedded SQLite, so there is no external database to run.

Does Once Campfire send email?

No. The app sends no email, so invitations are links and codes you pass on yourself.

Does the sign-in page show my email?

Yes. Upstream shows the administrator email as a contact link on the sign-in page so people know whom to ask for help. If that bothers you, enter any contact address at install and create yourself a separate administrator account.

What should I back up?

The campfire_data volume, which holds the database, uploaded attachments, snapshots and web push keys, plus the stable .env values, notably SECRET_KEY_BASE.

What happens if I change SECRET_KEY_BASE?

SECRET_KEY_BASE signs sessions, so changing it signs everyone out and invalidates push subscriptions. Leave it as generated.

What survives a restart?

Messages and attachments on the campfire_data volume survive an xCloud Restart.

Is there a limit on attachment size?

The app sets no attachment size cap of its own. The template lets the domain accept request bodies up to 500 MB, and Cloudflare, when it fronts the domain, limits one request to about 100 MB.

Does xCloud automatically back up or update Once Campfire?

No. The template pins Once Campfire 1.5.2 by immutable digest; new installations use the pinned release, existing sites are not automatically upgraded. Back up first, read the upstream release notes, then bump the readable tag and digest together on your own schedule. Server-level backups and snapshots are available on every Cloud VPS.

What are the server requirements, and why does this page sell 6 GB?

The template's baseline asks for 1 CPU core, 1024 MB of RAM and 4 GB of disk; measured idle use in QA was about 400 MiB, rising to about 570 MiB after use. This page sells the 6 GB tier as the entry rung, with real headroom above that baseline.

Is xCloud officially partnered with 37signals?

No. No official partnership or endorsement between xCloud and 37signals or the Once Campfire project has been verified. This is a deployment and server-management option for the open-source Once Campfire project.

Can I cancel anytime?

Yes. There is no lock-in — cancel any time. Hosting is billed monthly and charged for what you actually use, so when you delete the server the unused balance is refunded to your account, less up to 10% in payment-processing fees.

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