dbmate

ncps acts as a local binary cache for Nix, fetching store paths from upstream caches (like cache.nixos.org) and storing them locally. This reduces download times and bandwidth usage, especially beneficial when multiple machines share the same dependencies.

• Multi-upstream cache with automatic failover
• Flexible storage: local filesystem or S3-compatible (AWS S3, MinIO, etc.)
• Database support: SQLite, PostgreSQL, or MySQL/MariaDB
• High availability with Redis distributed locking for zero-downtime deployments
• Smart caching: LRU management with configurable size limits
• Secure signing: Signs cached paths with private keys for integrity
• Observability: OpenTelemetry and Prometheus metrics support
• Easy setup: Simple configuration and deployment

Get ncps running in minutes with Docker:

```bash

# Pull images and create storage

docker pull alpine && docker pull ghcr.io/kalbasit/ncps

docker volume create ncps-storage

docker run --rm -v ncps-storage:/storage alpine /bin/sh -c \

"mkdir -m 0755 -p /storage/var && mkdir -m 0700 -p /storage/var/ncps && mkdir -m 0700 -p /storage/var/ncps/db"

# Initialize database

docker run --rm -v ncps-storage:/storage ghcr.io/kalbasit/ncps \

/bin/dbmate --url=sqlite:/storage/var/ncps/db/db.sqlite up

# Start the server

docker run -d --name ncps -p 8501:8501 -v ncps-storage:/storage ghcr.io/kalbasit/ncps \

/bin/ncps serve \

--cache-hostname=your-ncps-hostname \

--cache-storage-local=/storage \

--cache-database-url=sqlite:/storage/var/ncps/db/db.sqlite \

--cache-upstream-url=https://cache.nixos.org \

--cache-upstream-public-key=cache.nixos.org-1:6NCHdD59X431o0gWypbMrAURkbJ16ZPMQFGspcDShjY=

```

Your cache will be available at http://localhost:8501. See the [Quick Start Guide](https://docs.ncps.dev/user-guide/getting-started/quick-start.html) for more options including S3 storage.

• [Getting Started](https://docs.ncps.dev/user-guide/getting-started.html) - Quick start guide, core concepts, and architecture
• [Installation](https://docs.ncps.dev/user-guide/installation.html) - Docker, Docker Compose, Kubernetes, Helm, NixOS
• [Configuration](https://docs.ncps.dev/user-guide/configuration.html) - Complete configuration reference, storage and database options
• [Deployment](https://docs.ncps.dev/user-guide/deployment.html) - Single-instance and high-availability deployment guides
• [Usage](https://docs.ncps.dev/user-guide/usage.html) - Client setup and cache management
• [Operations](https://docs.ncps.dev/user-guide/operations.html) - Monitoring, troubleshooting, backup and upgrades
• [Architecture](https://docs.ncps.dev/developer-guide/architecture.html) - System architecture and design details
• [Development](https://docs.ncps.dev/developer-guide.html) - Contributing, development setup, and testing

| Method | Best For | Documentation |

| ------------------ | ------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- |

| Docker | Quick setup, single-instance | [Docker Guide](https://docs.ncps.dev/user-guide/installation/docker.html) |

| Docker Compose | Automated setup with dependencies | [Docker Compose Guide](https://docs.ncps.