Skip to main content

​
How Novita works

Novita is a serverless infrastructure platform for AI, designed to scale open-source models with low latency and reduced cost. It supports hundreds of production-ready models — including Llama, Mistral, Claude, and Stable Diffusion — and provides optimized APIs, on-demand GPUs, and custom model deployments without any DevOps overhead. We recommend good coding models with +100k context window.
To more updated information, please visit Novita’s website.
ModelPricingContext Window
Deepseek v3 0324 recommended$0.33/1.3~128k tokens
Deepseek R1 0528$0.7/2.5~128k tokens
Llama 4 Maverick Instruct$0.17/0.85~100k tokens

​
Creating API Key

Novita Account is required to create API Key.
Go directly to Novita’s API Keys page to create a new API Key. Or, follow these steps:
  1. Go to your Novita console
  2. Click on the “Manage API Keys” button or go to your profile picture and click API Keys
  3. Click on “Add New Key” and fill with ‘Kodus’ or any name you want
  4. Click on “Confirm”
  5. Copy the API Key and save it somewhere safe

​
System Requirements

  • Docker (latest stable version)
  • Node.js (latest LTS version)
  • Yarn or NPM (latest stable version)
  • Domain name or fixed IP (for external deployments)
  • 3000: Kodus Web App
  • 3001: API
  • 3332: Webhooks
  • 5672, 15672, 15692: RabbitMQ (AMQP, management, metrics)
  • 3101: MCP Manager (API, metrics)
  • 5432: PostgreSQL - 27017: MongoDB
Internet access is only required if you plan to connect with cloud-based Git services like GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket. For self-hosted Git tools within your network, external internet access is optional.

​
Domain Name Setup (Optional)

If you're planning to integrate Kodus with cloud-based Git providers (GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket), you'll need public-facing URLs for both the Kodus Web App and its API. This allows your server to receive webhooks for proper Code Review functionality and ensures correct application behavior. We recommend setting up two subdomains:
  • One for the Web Application, e.g., kodus-web.yourdomain.com.
  • One for the API, e.g., kodus-api.yourdomain.com.
Both subdomains should have DNS A records pointing to your server's IP address. Later in this guide, we will configure a reverse proxy (Nginx) to route requests to these subdomains to the correct internal services. This setup is essential for full functionality, including webhooks and authentication.
Note: If you're only connecting to self-hosted Git tools on your network and do not require public access or webhooks, you might be able to use a simpler setup, but this guide focuses on public-facing deployments.

​
Setup

1

Clone the installer repository

git clone https://github.com/kodustech/kodus-installer.git
cd kodus-installer
2

Copy the example environment file

cp .env.example .env
3

Generate secure keys for the required environment variables

./generate-keys.sh
4

Edit the environment file

Edit .env with your values using your preferred text editor.
nano .env
See Environment Variables Configuration for detailed instructions.
5

Run the installer

./scripts/install.sh
6

Success 🎉

When complete, Kodus Services should be running on your machine. You can verify your installation using the following script:
./scripts/doctor.sh
7

Access the web interface

Once you access the web interface for the first time, you'll need to:
  1. Create your admin account - This will be the first user with full system access
  2. Configure your Git provider - Connect GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket following the on-screen instructions
  3. Select repositories for analysis - Choose which code repositories Kody will review
For detailed steps on the initial configuration process, refer to our Getting Started Guide.

​
Configure Novita in Environment File

Edit your .env file and configure the core settings. For LLM Integration, use Novita in Fixed Mode: 
# Core System Settings (update with your domains)
WEB_HOSTNAME_API="kodus-api.yourdomain.com"    
WEB_PORT_API=443                               
NEXTAUTH_URL="https://kodus-web.yourdomain.com"

# Security Keys (generate with openssl commands above)
WEB_NEXTAUTH_SECRET="your-generated-secret"
WEB_JWT_SECRET_KEY="your-generated-secret"
API_CRYPTO_KEY="your-generated-hex-key"
API_JWT_SECRET="your-generated-secret"
API_JWT_REFRESHSECRET="your-generated-secret"

# Database Configuration
API_PG_DB_PASSWORD="your-secure-db-password"
API_MG_DB_PASSWORD="your-secure-db-password"

# Novita Configuration (Fixed Mode) 
API_LLM_PROVIDER_MODEL="deepseek-v3-0324"                    # Choose your preferred model
API_OPENAI_FORCE_BASE_URL="https://api.novita.ai/v3/openai"  # Novita API URL
API_OPEN_AI_API_KEY="your-novita-api-key"                    # Your Novita API Key

# Git Provider Webhooks (choose your provider)
API_GITHUB_CODE_MANAGEMENT_WEBHOOK="https://kodus-api.yourdomain.com/github/webhook"
# or API_GITLAB_CODE_MANAGEMENT_WEBHOOK="https://kodus-api.yourdomain.com/gitlab/webhook"
# or GLOBAL_BITBUCKET_CODE_MANAGEMENT_WEBHOOK="https://kodus-api.yourdomain.com/bitbucket/webhook"
Fixed Mode is ideal for Novita because it provides OpenAI-compatible APIs and requires only one API key. This simplifies your setup significantly.

​
Run the Installation Script

Looking for more control? Check out our docker-compose file for manual deployment options.
Set the proper permissions for the installation script: 
chmod +x scripts/install.sh
Run the script: 
./scripts/install.sh

​
What the Installer Does

Our installer automates several important steps:
  • Verifies Docker installation
  • Creates networks for Kodus services
  • Clones repositories and configures environment files
  • Runs docker-compose to start all services
  • Executes database migrations
  • Seeds initial data
🎉 Success! When complete, the Kodus Web App and backend services (API, worker, webhooks, MCP manager) should be running on your machine. You can verify your installation by visiting http://localhost:3000 - you should see the Kodus Web Application interface.
Code Review features will not work yet unless you complete the reverse proxy setup. Without this configuration, external Git providers cannot send webhooks to your instance.

​
6. Set Up Reverse Proxy (For Production)

For webhooks and external access, configure Nginx: 
# Web App (port 3000)
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name kodus-web.yourdomain.com;
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
        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;
    }
}

# API (port 3001)  
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name kodus-api.yourdomain.com;
    location ~ ^/(github|gitlab|bitbucket|azure-repos)/webhook {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3332;
        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 / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3001;
        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;
    }
}

​
Verify Novita Integration

In addition to the basic installation verification, confirm that Novita is working: 
# Verify Novita API connection specifically
docker-compose logs api worker | grep -i novita
For detailed information about SSL setup, monitoring, and advanced configurations, see our complete deployment guide.

​
Troubleshooting

  • Verify your API key is correct and active in Novita’s console
  • Check if you have sufficient credits in your Novita account
  • Ensure there are no extra spaces in your .env file
  • Check if the model name is correctly spelled in your configuration
  • Verify the model is available in your Novita plan
  • Try with a different model from our recommended list
  • Verify your server has internet access to reach api.novita.ai
  • Check if there are any firewall restrictions
  • Review the API/worker logs for detailed error messages