Cal.com is an open-source scheduling platform (a self-hosted alternative to Calendly) that handles bookings, event types, and calendar integrations on infrastructure you control. This guide deploys Cal.com with a PostgreSQL backend using Docker Compose, with Traefik handling automatic HTTPS. By the end, you'll have Cal.com serving bookings securely at your domain.
Set Up the Directory Structure
1. Create the project directory:
$ mkdir calcom
$ cd calcom
2. Generate two random secrets:
$ openssl rand -base64 32
$ openssl rand -base64 32
Save the outputs — they go into .env as NEXTAUTH_SECRET and CALENDSO_ENCRYPTION_KEY.
3. Create the environment file:
$ nano .env
NODE_ENV=production
DOMAIN=cal.example.com
LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL=admin@example.com
NEXT_PUBLIC_WEBAPP_URL=https://cal.example.com
NEXTAUTH_URL=https://cal.example.com
ALLOWED_HOSTNAMES=["cal.example.com"]
NEXTAUTH_URL_INTERNAL=http://calcom:3000
AUTH_TRUST_HOST=true
NEXTAUTH_SECRET=REPLACE_WITH_GENERATED_SECRET
CALENDSO_ENCRYPTION_KEY=REPLACE_WITH_GENERATED_ENCRYPTION_KEY
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://calcom:calcompass@postgres:5432/calcom
DATABASE_DIRECT_URL=postgresql://calcom:calcompass@postgres:5432/calcom
CALCOM_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1
CAL_SIGNATURE_TOKEN=self-hosted
Deploy with Docker Compose
1. Add your user to the Docker group:
$ sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
$ newgrp docker
2. Create the Docker Compose manifest:
$ nano docker-compose.yaml
services:
traefik:
image: traefik:v3.6
container_name: traefik
restart: unless-stopped
command:
- "--providers.docker=true"
- "--providers.docker.exposedbydefault=false"
- "--entrypoints.web.address=:80"
- "--entrypoints.websecure.address=:443"
- "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.to=websecure"
- "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.scheme=https"
- "--certificatesresolvers.le.acme.httpchallenge=true"
- "--certificatesresolvers.le.acme.httpchallenge.entrypoint=web"
- "--certificatesresolvers.le.acme.email=${LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL}"
- "--certificatesresolvers.le.acme.storage=/letsencrypt/acme.json"
ports:
- "80:80"
- "443:443"
volumes:
- /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
- ./letsencrypt:/letsencrypt
postgres:
image: postgres:15
container_name: postgres
restart: unless-stopped
environment:
POSTGRES_USER: calcom
POSTGRES_PASSWORD: calcompass
POSTGRES_DB: calcom
volumes:
- ./postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
calcom:
image: calcom/cal.com:v6.2.0
container_name: calcom
env_file:
- .env
depends_on:
- postgres
expose:
- "3000"
labels:
- "traefik.enable=true"
- "traefik.http.routers.calcom.rule=Host(`${DOMAIN}`)"
- "traefik.http.routers.calcom.entrypoints=websecure"
- "traefik.http.routers.calcom.tls=true"
- "traefik.http.routers.calcom.tls.certresolver=le"
- "traefik.http.services.calcom.loadbalancer.server.port=3000"
volumes:
- ./calcom-data:/data/app/.data
restart: unless-stopped
3. Start the services:
$ docker compose up -d
4. Verify the services are running:
$ docker compose ps
$ docker compose logs calcom
Complete the Setup Wizard
- Navigate to
https://cal.example.com/auth/setup. - Fill in administrator username, full name, email, and password.
- Accept the AGPLv3 license option.
- Pick integrations and complete profile (timezone, calendars, video conferencing).
- Set availability and event types.
Create and Test a Booking
- Open the sidebar and select Event Types → New.
- Fill in title, description, and duration.
- Copy the booking URL, open it in an incognito window, pick a slot, and confirm.
- Refresh the Bookings view to see the new event appear.
Next Steps
Cal.com is running and served securely over HTTPS. From here you can:
- Connect Google, Microsoft 365, or Apple calendars for two-way sync
- Add team event types with round-robin or collective scheduling
- Configure webhooks and Zapier triggers for downstream automation
For the full guide with additional tips, visit the original article on Vultr Docs.