Deploying Cal.com Open-Source Calendly Alternative on Ubuntu 24.04

Cal.com is an open-source scheduling platform (a self-hosted alternative to Calendly) that handles bookings, event types, and calendar integrations on infrastructure you control. This guide deploys Cal.com with a PostgreSQL backend using Docker Compose, with Traefik handling automatic HTTPS, following self-hosted scheduling deployment practices documented in Vultr Docs.

Set Up the Directory Structure

1. Create the project directory:

mkdir calcom
cd calcom

2. Generate two random secrets:

openssl rand -base64 32
openssl rand -base64 32

Save the outputs — they go into .env as NEXTAUTH_SECRET and CALENDSO_ENCRYPTION_KEY.

3. Create the environment file:

nano .env

NODE_ENV=production

DOMAIN=cal.example.com
LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL=admin@example.com

NEXT_PUBLIC_WEBAPP_URL=https://cal.example.com
NEXTAUTH_URL=https://cal.example.com
ALLOWED_HOSTNAMES=["cal.example.com"]
NEXTAUTH_URL_INTERNAL=http://calcom:3000
AUTH_TRUST_HOST=true

NEXTAUTH_SECRET=REPLACE_WITH_GENERATED_SECRET
CALENDSO_ENCRYPTION_KEY=REPLACE_WITH_GENERATED_ENCRYPTION_KEY

DATABASE_URL=postgresql://calcom:calcompass@postgres:5432/calcom
DATABASE_DIRECT_URL=postgresql://calcom:calcompass@postgres:5432/calcom

CALCOM_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1
CAL_SIGNATURE_TOKEN=self-hosted

Deploy with Docker Compose

1. Add your user to the Docker group:

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker

2. Create the Docker Compose manifest:

nano docker-compose.yaml

services:
  traefik:
    image: traefik:v3.6
    container_name: traefik
    restart: unless-stopped
    command:
      - "--providers.docker=true"
      - "--providers.docker.exposedbydefault=false"
      - "--entrypoints.web.address=:80"
      - "--entrypoints.websecure.address=:443"
      - "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.to=websecure"
      - "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.scheme=https"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.le.acme.httpchallenge=true"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.le.acme.httpchallenge.entrypoint=web"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.le.acme.email=${LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL}"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.le.acme.storage=/letsencrypt/acme.json"
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
      - ./letsencrypt:/letsencrypt

  postgres:
    image: postgres:15
    container_name: postgres
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: calcom
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: calcompass
      POSTGRES_DB: calcom
    volumes:
      - ./postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data

  calcom:
    image: calcom/cal.com:v6.2.0
    container_name: calcom
    env_file:
      - .env
    depends_on:
      - postgres
    expose:
      - "3000"
    labels:
      - "traefik.enable=true"
      - "traefik.http.routers.calcom.rule=Host(`${DOMAIN}`)"
      - "traefik.http.routers.calcom.entrypoints=websecure"
      - "traefik.http.routers.calcom.tls=true"
      - "traefik.http.routers.calcom.tls.certresolver=le"
      - "traefik.http.services.calcom.loadbalancer.server.port=3000"
    volumes:
      - ./calcom-data:/data/app/.data
    restart: unless-stopped

3. Start the services:

docker compose up -d

4. Verify the services are running:

docker compose ps
docker compose logs calcom

Complete the Setup Wizard

1. Navigate to https://cal.example.com/auth/setup.

2. Fill in administrator username, full name, email, and password.

3. Accept the AGPLv3 license option.

4. Pick integrations and complete profile (timezone, calendars, video conferencing).

5. Set availability and event types.

Create and Test a Booking

1. Open the sidebar and select Event Types → New.

2. Fill in title, description, and duration.

3. Copy the booking URL, open it in an incognito window, pick a slot, and confirm.

4. Refresh the Bookings view to see the new event appear.

Next Steps

Cal.com is running and served securely over HTTPS. From here you can:

• Connect Google, Microsoft 365, or Apple calendars for two-way sync

• Add team event types with round-robin or collective scheduling

• Configure webhooks and Zapier triggers for downstream automation

For the full guide with additional tips, visit the original article on Vultr Docs.