Skip to main content
Version: 4.5

Install Harper

You can get Harper running in minutes.
Choose the option that fits your workflow:

  • npm → best for local development & quick starts.
  • Docker → best for containerized environments and team setups.
  • Raw binary → best if you need a manual or offline install.

Install with npm (fastest way)​

Make sure you have Node.js (LTS or newer). Then run:

npm install -g harperdb
harperdb

That’s it! Harper is now running locally. The first time, you’ll set up your destination, username, password, and configuration.

✅ Quick check: open http://localhost:9925 or run:

curl http://localhost:9925/health
info

💡 Why choose npm: It’s the simplest way to try Harper and build apps right from your laptop.

Install with Docker​

Want Harper in a container? Pull the image:

docker pull harperdb/harperdb

Start a container, mount a volume and pass environment variables:

docker run -d \
  -v <host_directory>:/home/harperdb/hdb \
  -e HDB_ADMIN_USERNAME=HDB_ADMIN \
  -e HDB_ADMIN_PASSWORD=password \
  -e THREADS=4 \
  -e OPERATIONSAPI_NETWORK_PORT=null \
  -e OPERATIONSAPI_NETWORK_SECUREPORT=9925 \
  -e HTTP_SECUREPORT=9926 \
  -e CLUSTERING_ENABLED=true \
  -e CLUSTERING_USER=cluster_user \
  -e CLUSTERING_PASSWORD=password \
  -e CLUSTERING_NODENAME=hdb1 \
  -p 9925:9925 \
  -p 9926:9926 \
  -p 9932:9932 \
  harperdb/harperdb

Here, the <host_directory> should be replaced with an actual directory path on your system where you want to store the persistent data. This command also exposes both the Harper Operations API (port 9925) and an additional HTTP port (9926).

✅ Quick check:

curl http://localhost:9925/health
info

💡 Why choose Docker: Great for consistent team environments, CI/CD pipelines, or deploying Harper alongside other services.

Install from Raw Binary​

Need offline or manual setup? Download the package from our release index, then install:

npm install -g harperdb-X.X.X.tgz
harperdb install
info

💡 Why choose Raw Binary: Works without Docker, ideal for controlled environments.

Next Steps​

Once Harper is running, you can:

info

Need help? Please don’t hesitate to reach out.