What is aeterna?

Aeterna is a self-hosted dead man's switch designed for end-of-life planning and digital legacy. Users write messages and attach files, then check in periodically via a web UI or email link. If check-ins stop, Aeterna automatically delivers the messages and attachments to designated recipients via email and can trigger webhooks for home automation or custom scripts. All data is encrypted at rest using AES-256-GCM, with the encryption key stored securely on the server and never exposed in environment variables. Attachments are automatically deleted after delivery for privacy. The software runs as a Go backend API and React frontend, using SQLite for storage. It can be deployed via an interactive install.sh script (which handles Nginx, Let's Encrypt SSL, and key generation), Docker Compose with published images from GHCR or Docker Hub, or compiled natively from source (Go 1.21+ and Node.js). SMTP settings are configured post-installation through the web UI. The project is licensed under GPL-3.0.

Should you self-host aeterna?

aeterna scores 48/100 on selfhost.directory (how scoring works) and ranks #18 of 38 in Personal Productivity. It has 306 GitHub stars.

It shipped 4 stable releases in the past year. The latest, v1.5.5, came out on 6 September 2026. New versions land roughly every 6 weeks.

Setup is moderate: expect some configuration beyond a single command. An official Docker image is available. It is GPL-3.0-licensed and written mostly in Go.

Its closest alternative on selfhost.directory is LanguageTool (75/100, 15 205 stars). It scores higher overall, so compare the two before you pick. See aeterna vs LanguageTool side by side.

Features

Auto-Cleanup
Automated installation wizard
Backup and update management
Dead man's switch
Email delivery
Encryption at Rest
File attachments
Heartbeat check-in
Reverse proxy templates
SQLite encryption (optional)Optional feature enabled via DB_ENCRYPTION_ENABLED=true
Webhook Integration

How to install aeterna

Install aeterna with Docker Compose

Docker and Docker Compose

Environment variables

DATABASE_PATH, ENV, ALLOWED_ORIGINS, BASE_URL, VITE_API_URL, DB_ENCRYPTION_ENABLED, DB_ENCRYPTION_AUTO_MIGRATE, DB_ENCRYPTION_KDF_CONTEXT_FILE, PROXY_MODE, DOMAIN, SERVER_IP

mkdir -p aeterna && cd aeterna mkdir -p data secrets openssl rand -base64 32 | tr -d '\n' > secrets/encryption_key chmod 600 secrets/encryption_key

SERVER_IP="$(curl -4fsS ifconfig.me || curl -4fsS icanhazip.com || true)" if [ -z "$SERVER_IP" ]; then echo "Could not detect public IPv4 automatically. Set SERVER_IP manually." >&2 exit 1 fi

cat > .env <<EOF

Use your public domain (recommended) or server IP

DOMAIN=${SERVER_IP} ENV=production VITE_API_URL=/api DB_ENCRYPTION_ENABLED=false DB_ENCRYPTION_AUTO_MIGRATE=true

Fixed path, do not change:

DB_ENCRYPTION_KDF_CONTEXT_FILE=./secrets/db_kdf_context

Must match exactly what you open in the browser

ALLOWED_ORIGINS=http://${SERVER_IP}:5000,http://localhost:5000,http://127.0.0.1:5000 BASE_URL=http://${SERVER_IP}:5000 PROXY_MODE=simple EOF

cat > docker-compose.yml <<'EOF' services: backend: image: ghcr.io/alpyxn/aeterna-backend:main env_file: - .env environment: - DATABASE_PATH=/app/data/aeterna.db - ENV=production - ALLOWED_ORIGINS=${ALLOWED_ORIGINS:-*} - BASE_URL=${BASE_URL:-http://${DOMAIN}:5000} command: ["./main", "--encryption-key-file=/run/secrets/encryption_key"] secrets: - encryption_key volumes: - ./data:/app/data - ./secrets:/app/secrets restart: always networks: - aeterna-net

frontend: image: ghcr.io/alpyxn/aeterna-frontend:main depends_on: - backend restart: always networks: - aeterna-net

proxy: image: nginx:alpine ports: - "5000:80" volumes: - ./proxy-simple.conf:/etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf:ro depends_on: - backend - frontend restart: always networks: - aeterna-net

secrets: encryption_key: file: ./secrets/encryption_key

networks: aeterna-net: driver: bridge EOF

cat > proxy-simple.conf <<'EOF' server { listen 80; server_name localhost;

resolver 127.0.0.11 valid=30s;
set $backend_upstream http://backend:3000;

location / {
    proxy_pass http://frontend:80;
    proxy_http_version 1.1;
    proxy_set_header Host $host;
    proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
}

location /api/ {
    proxy_pass $backend_upstream;
    proxy_http_version 1.1;
    proxy_set_header Host $host;
    proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
}

} EOF

docker compose up -d

Uses published images from GHCR (ghcr.io/alpyxn/aeterna-backend:main and ghcr.io/alpyxn/aeterna-frontend:main). Docker Hub mirrors also available.