Quick Start

Step-by-step guide to clone, install, configure, and start Genie Helper services

Quick Start Guide

This guide will walk you through setting up Genie Helper on your VPS. The platform is designed to run on a self-hosted server with all services managed via PM2.

Prerequisites:

• Ubuntu/Debian VPS with at least 8GB RAM
• Node.js 18+ installed
• Docker and Docker Compose installed
• Redis server running
• Nginx or similar reverse proxy

Installation Steps

1. Clone the Repository

   Clone the Genie Helper source code to your server:

   git clone <repository-url> agentx
   cd agentx
   
2. Install Dependencies

   Install Node.js dependencies for all services:

   # Install main server dependencies
   npm install
   
   # Install dashboard dependencies
   cd dashboard
   npm install
   cd ..
   
   # Install media worker dependencies
   cd media-worker
   npm install
   cd ..
   
3. Configure Environment Variables

   Create a .env file in the project root with the required credentials:

   # Credentials encryption key (base64 of 32 bytes)
   CREDENTIALS_ENC_KEY_B64=<your-base64-key>
   
   # Directus admin token
   DIRECTUS_ADMIN_TOKEN=<your-directus-token>
   
   # RBAC sync webhook secret
   RBAC_SYNC_WEBHOOK_SECRET=<your-webhook-secret>
   
   # AnythingLLM configuration
   SERVER_PORT=3001
   STORAGE_DIR=./storage
   
   # Directus configuration
   DIRECTUS_URL=http://localhost:8055
   
   # Ollama configuration
   OLLAMA_BASE_URL=http://localhost:11434
   

   Generate a secure 32-byte key for CREDENTIALS_ENC_KEY_B64:

   node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(32).toString('base64'))"
   
4. Configure MCP Servers

   The MCP server configuration is located at storage/plugins/anythingllm_mcp_servers.json. It should auto-boot on startup via the patched server/utils/boot/index.js.

   Verify the three MCP servers are configured:

   • Directus MCP — scripts/directus-mcp-server.mjs
   • Ollama MCP — scripts/ollama-mcp-server.mjs
   • Stagehand MCP — scripts/stagehand-mcp-server.mjs
5. Install Ollama Models

   Pull the required Ollama models for AI operations:

   ollama pull dolphin3:8b-llama3.1-q4_K_M
   ollama pull dolphin-mistral:7b
   ollama pull qwen-2.5:latest
   ollama pull phi-3.5:latest
   ollama pull llama3.2:3b
   ollama pull bge-m3:latest
   

   The scout-fast-tag:latest model is a custom SmolLM model for taxonomy classification. You’ll need to build this separately if using the taxonomy features.

6. Build the Dashboard

   Build the React SPA for production:

   cd dashboard
   npm run build
   cd ..
   

   The build output will be in dashboard/dist/ and should be served by your web server.

7. Configure Nginx Reverse Proxy

   Set up Nginx to proxy requests to the various services:

   # SPA fallback for React Router
   error_page 404 =200 /index.html;
   
   # Directus API proxy
   location /api/directus/ {
       proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8055/;
       proxy_set_header Host $host;
   }
   
   # AnythingLLM proxy (with WebSocket support)
   location /api/llm/ {
       proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3001/;
       proxy_http_version 1.1;
       proxy_set_header Upgrade "upgrade";
       proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
       proxy_set_header Host $host;
       proxy_read_timeout 86400;
   }
   

   Plesk Users: If using Plesk, add these rules via Domains → Apache & nginx Settings → Additional nginx directives. NEVER add location / — Plesk generates it automatically.

8. Start Services with PM2

   Use PM2 to manage all services:

   # Start AnythingLLM
   pm2 start npm --name "anything-llm" -- start
   
   # Start Directus CMS
   pm2 start npm --name "agentx-cms" --cwd ./cms -- start
   
   # Start Stagehand server
   pm2 start npm --name "stagehand-server" --cwd ./stagehand -- start
   
   # Start Dashboard (serve static files)
   pm2 start npx --name "genie-dashboard" -- serve dashboard/dist -l 3100
   
   # Start Media Worker
   pm2 start npm --name "media-worker" --cwd ./media-worker -- start
   
   # Start Document Collector
   pm2 start npm --name "anything-collector" -- run collector
   
   # Save PM2 process list
   pm2 save
   pm2 startup
   

Verify Installation

Check that all services are running:

pm2 status

You should see the following services:

Service	Port	Status
anything-llm	3001	online
agentx-cms	8055	online
stagehand-server	3002	online
genie-dashboard	3100	online
media-worker	—	online
anything-collector	—	online

Access the Platform

Creator Dashboard

Access the main dashboard at https://yourdomain.com/app/

Admin Panel

Access the admin panel at https://yourdomain.com/admin

Directus CMS

Direct access at http://localhost:8055/admin

AnythingLLM

Direct access at http://localhost:3001

Default Credentials

Change these credentials before public launch!

Service	Email	Password
Directus	[e-mail]	password
AnythingLLM	[e-mail]	(MY)P@$$w3rd

AnythingLLM API Key: 38KEHYS-NVPMBSX-GVVJNYH-VQHAN9S

Common Operations

Restart All Services

pm2 restart all

Rebuild Dashboard After Code Changes

cd dashboard && npm run build

Restart AnythingLLM After Server Changes

pm2 restart anything-llm

View Service Logs

# View AnythingLLM logs
pm2 logs anything-llm --lines 50

# View Media Worker logs
pm2 logs media-worker --lines 50

# View all logs
pm2 logs

Monitor Service Status

# Real-time monitoring
pm2 monit

# Service metrics
pm2 status

Troubleshooting

Services won't start

Check the logs with pm2 logs <service-name> to identify the error. Common issues:

• Missing environment variables in .env
• Port conflicts (check if ports 3001, 8055, 3002, 3100 are available)
• Redis not running (required for BullMQ)

MCP servers not loading

Verify that storage/plugins/anythingllm_mcp_servers.json exists and contains valid JSON. Check AnythingLLM logs for MCP boot messages.

Nginx 502 errors

Ensure all upstream services are running:

curl http://localhost:3001  # AnythingLLM
curl http://localhost:8055  # Directus

Ollama models not responding

Verify Ollama is running:

ollama list
curl http://localhost:11434/api/tags

If models are missing, re-run ollama pull commands from Step 5.

Next Steps

Now that your services are running:

1. Review Architecture

   Learn how services communicate in the Architecture guide

2. Connect Platforms

   Link your OnlyFans and other creator platforms via the dashboard

3. Configure AI Agent

   Customize the AI workspace and system prompts in AnythingLLM