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The fastest way to run Kernel is Docker. This gets you a running server in a few minutes; see Install & Update for Linux packages and release zips, Homebrew if you’re on a Mac, and Remote Transcoder if you want to offload transcoding to another machine.

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Prerequisites

  • Docker (or Docker Desktop)
  • A folder for your media library, and optionally an IPTV/Xtream Codes, M3U, or HDHomeRun source for Live TV

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Get started

1

Run the container

The container embeds ffmpeg, so there’s nothing else to install. /app/data holds the database and config; /app/log holds logs. Keep both as named volumes or bind mounts so they survive upgrades.Have an NVIDIA GPU? Use kernelmedia/server:latest with NVIDIA Container Toolkit and add --gpus all. See Docker install for the full command.
2

Open the setup wizard

Go to http://<server-ip>:9014 in a browser. Since this is the first run, Kernel takes you straight into the setup wizard:
  1. Database: SQLite (default, no setup needed), or point at Postgres/MySQL/MSSQL
  2. Server: basic server settings
  3. Admin account: your first login
  4. Preferences
  5. (Optional) Live TV source, EPG/channel mapping, Library
  6. Third-party API keys (e.g. TMDB)
  7. Review & finish
See First Run Setup for details on each step.
3

Sign in on a client

Install one of the apps and sign in with the server URL (http://<server-ip>:9014) plus the admin username and password you just created. See Signing In.
Need to add a remote transcoder node later, or move to Postgres? Both are covered in Install & Update and Remote Transcoder. You don’t need to redo the wizard.