Setting up your new instance

Things to do after installing Mastodon

Creating an admin account

In the browser

After signing up in the browser, you will need to use the command line to give your newly created account admin privileges. Assuming your username is alice:

RAILS_ENV=production bin/tootctl accounts modify alice --role Owner

Prior to Mastodon 4.0, roles were hardcoded to be one of user, moderator, or admin. Since Mastodon 4.0, there is a customizable role system, with default roles created for Moderator, Admin, and Owner. Names of custom roles are case-sensitive.

From the command line

You can create a new account using the command-line interface.

RAILS_ENV=production bin/tootctl accounts create \
  alice \
  --email alice@example.com \
  --confirmed \
  --role Owner

A randomly generated password will be shown in the terminal.

Filling in server information

After logging in, navigate to the Site settings page (under Preferences -> Administration). While there are no technical requirements for filling in this information, it is considered crucial for operating a server for humans.

Setting	Meaning
Contact username	Your username so people know who owns the server
Business e-mail	An e-mail address so people locked out of their accounts, or people without accounts, can contact you
Instance description	Why did you start this server? Who is it for? What makes it different?
Custom extended information	You can put all sorts of information in here but a code of conduct is recommended

After you fill these in, click “Save changes”.

Last updated October 8, 2024 · Improve this page
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