---
title: Self-Hosted
description: "Deploy Syntext documentation to your own infrastructure"
---

# Self-Hosted Deployment

While Syntext provides managed hosting with global CDN and SSL, you can also deploy the generated static files to your own infrastructure.

<Callout type="info">
  Self-hosted deployment is available on **Enterprise** plans. [Contact us](mailto:enterprise@syntext.dev) to learn more.
</Callout>

## Build for Self-Hosting

Generate the static site with the CLI. The build runs on the Syntext backend and the compiled files are downloaded to your machine:

```bash
stx build --output ./dist
```

This creates a `dist/` folder containing:

```
dist/
├── index.html
├── getting-started.html        # one .html per page
├── guides/
│   └── *.html
├── api-reference/
│   └── *.html
├── ask.html                    # full-page AI chat route
├── 404.html
├── _assets/
│   └── search-index.json       # static search index
├── sitemap.xml
├── robots.txt
└── (your public/ assets)
```

Pages are flat `.html` files — configure your host to resolve extensionless URLs (see the Nginx example below).

## Hosting Options

### Static Site Hosting

Deploy to any static file host:

**AWS S3 + CloudFront**

```bash
# Sync to S3
aws s3 sync ./dist s3://your-docs-bucket --delete

# Invalidate CloudFront cache
aws cloudfront create-invalidation --distribution-id EXXX --paths "/*"
```

**Cloudflare Pages**

```bash
# Using Wrangler
wrangler pages deploy ./dist --project-name=your-docs
```

**Nginx**

```nginx
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name docs.yourcompany.com;
    root /var/www/docs;
    
    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ $uri.html =404;
    }
}
```

### Docker

Build a containerized version:

```dockerfile
FROM nginx:alpine
COPY ./dist /usr/share/nginx/html
COPY nginx.conf /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf
EXPOSE 80
```

```bash
docker build -t my-docs .
docker run -p 8080:80 my-docs
```

## Self-Hosted Features

### Search

Every `stx build` includes a static search index:

1. The build generates `_assets/search-index.json` automatically
2. The client-side search library uses this index directly — no API calls needed

<Callout type="warning">
  Client-side search works well for small-to-medium sites (< 500 pages). For larger sites, consider hosting your own Meilisearch instance.
</Callout>

### AI Assistant

The AI assistant requires API access. For self-hosted AI:

1. Deploy your own RAG service
2. Configure the endpoint in `syntext.json`:
   ```json
   {
     "ai": {
       "apiUrl": "https://your-ai-service.internal/v1",
       "projectId": "your-project"
     }
   }
   ```

### Analytics

Self-hosted deployments don't include Syntext analytics by default. Options:

- **Plausible**: Add script to `syntext.json` → `scripts.head`
- **PostHog**: Add tracking snippet
- **Custom**: Implement your own analytics endpoint

```json
{
  "scripts": {
    "head": "<script src='https://plausible.io/js/script.js' data-domain='docs.yourcompany.com'></script>"
  }
}
```

## Continuous Deployment

### GitHub Actions (Self-Hosted)

```yaml
name: Deploy Docs

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  build-and-deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - uses: oven-sh/setup-bun@v1
      
      - name: Install CLI
        run: bun install -g @syntext/cli
        
      - name: Build
        run: stx build --output ./dist
        
      - name: Deploy to S3
        run: aws s3 sync ./dist s3://${{ secrets.S3_BUCKET }} --delete
        env:
          AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
          AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}
```

## Limitations

Self-hosted deployments don't include:

| Feature | Self-Hosted | Managed |
|---------|-------------|---------|
| Global CDN | ❌ | ✅ |
| Automatic SSL | ❌ | ✅ |
| Preview deployments | ❌ | ✅ |
| Built-in analytics | ❌ | ✅ |
| AI assistant (default) | ❌ | ✅ |
| Zero-config search | ❌ | ✅ |

You can replicate these features with your own infrastructure, but it requires additional setup.

## Related

- [Custom Domains](/deployment/custom-domains) — Use your own domain with managed hosting
- [GitHub Actions](/deployment/github-actions) — CI/CD with managed deployment
- [Configuration](/configuration/syntext-json) — Full configuration reference