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1. Download synology.yaml.
2. In Container Manager, open Project → Create. Name it hearth, choose a folder such as /docker/hearth, and paste the file as the docker-compose.yml.
3. Replace /volume1/video with your media folder, then build the project.
4. In Control Panel → Shared Folder, give the users group read access to that folder. Give it read/write if Hearth should save downloads there.

Then open http://your-nas:3000.

1. Download qnap.yaml.
2. In Container Station, open Applications → Create, name it hearth and paste the file.
3. Replace /share/Multimedia with your media folder, then create the application.

Then open http://your-nas:3000. You need an Intel, AMD or 64-bit ARM model; older 32-bit ARM models can't run Hearth.

Open the terminal (the >_ icon) and run:

mkdir -p /mnt/user/appdata/hearth && chown 1000:1000 /mnt/user/appdata/hearth && wget -qO /boot/config/plugins/dockerMan/templates-user/my-Hearth.xml https://hearth-7hb.pages.dev/nas/unraid.xml

Then go to Docker → Add Container, choose Hearth as the template, set Media to your share and apply. Set Media to read/write if Hearth should save downloads there.

1. Download truenas.yaml.
2. In Apps → Discover Apps, open the menu ⋮ and choose Install via YAML. You need TrueNAS SCALE 24.10 or newer.
3. Name it hearth, paste the file, replace /mnt/tank/media with your dataset and save.
4. In Datasets → Edit permissions, give the apps group read access to that dataset.

Install Docker Desktop, which runs Hearth's Linux image through WSL. Then open your WSL terminal (Ubuntu) and run the install command at the top of this page. Your Windows drives appear there under /mnt; a folder like D:\Movies becomes /mnt/d/Movies.

Use compose.yaml with the environment variables HEARTH_VERSION=0.1.0 and MEDIA_DIR set to your media folder. Or take one of the NAS files above and change its media path.

Run the install command again. It finds your installation, moves it to the new version and keeps your settings, .env and compose.override.yaml.

Installed with the command: to switch folders, change MEDIA_DIR in .env in your install folder. To add a second folder, create compose.override.yaml next to it:

services:
  hearth:
    volumes:
      - /mnt/tv:/tv:ro

Then run docker compose up -d in the install folder.

Synology, QNAP, TrueNAS: edit the project's YAML. Change the source: path, or copy the six lines that start at - type: bind and give the copy its own source and a target such as /tv. Unraid: edit the container and use Add another Path, with a container path such as /tv.

Finally, add the new path (/tv) in Hearth under Server → Storage. Hearth only sees container paths like /media and /tv, never your NAS paths.

On your home network, you don't need to set anything: open http://your-server:3000. To reach Hearth from outside, put it behind a reverse proxy with HTTPS, such as Caddy, Nginx Proxy Manager, Traefik or Cloudflare Tunnel, and tell Hearth its address:

• Installed with the command: set PUBLIC_BASE_URL='https://media.example.com' in .env, then run docker compose up -d.
• Synology, QNAP, TrueNAS: fill in PUBLIC_BASE_URL: "https://media.example.com" in the YAML and rebuild.
• Unraid: fill in Public address when you edit the container.

Use only the address itself: https://, the hostname and no path. From then on, Hearth accepts sign-ins only at that address, including from home. Create your administrator first, then set the address. Turn off gzip compression in your proxy for Hearth, because Hearth compresses its own responses and video needs its exact bytes.

Accounts, settings, watch history and the catalog live in Hearth's data, apart from your media. With the command or a NAS YAML, that is a Docker volume called hearth-data, prefixed with the install folder or project name. On Unraid, it is /mnt/user/appdata/hearth. It survives updates and restarts.

Server → Backups makes an online snapshot you can download. For a full copy of a command-line install, stop Hearth, archive the volume, then start it again:

cd ~/hearth
docker compose stop
docker run --rm -v hearth_hearth-data:/data -v "$PWD":/backup alpine tar czf /backup/hearth-data.tgz -C /data .
docker compose start

Hearth runs as user and group 1000, never as root. It needs to read your media folder, and to write to it if you let it save downloads there. When the folder belongs to another group, the installer adds that group for you. Otherwise grant access on the host. Never use chmod 777.

sudo chown -R 1000:1000 /path/to/a/new/hearth-folder

Use this only on a folder that belongs to Hearth alone, never on a shared library.

Hearth plays most files without converting them, so no GPU is needed. For conversions on an Intel or AMD GPU (VA-API), the installer offers the GPU when it finds one. To add it by hand, put this in compose.override.yaml or your NAS YAML, using your device's group number from stat -c %g /dev/dri/renderD128:

services:
  hearth:
    devices:
      - /dev/dri/renderD128:/dev/dri/renderD128
    group_add:
      - "105"

Hearth tests the GPU at startup and shows the result under Server settings → Hardware acceleration. If the test fails, it keeps converting on the CPU.

Download compose.yaml into a new folder, add a .env next to it, and start Hearth:

# .env
HEARTH_VERSION=0.1.0
MEDIA_DIR=/mnt/media
HEARTH_PORT=3000
PUBLIC_BASE_URL=

docker compose up -d

docker compose down in the install folder stops Hearth and keeps its data. Adding -v also deletes the data volume, with your accounts, settings and watch history. Your media folders are never touched.