Requirements

Give Nifty a Linux machine with at least 2 GB of memory.

System

• Linux on x86_64 or arm64, with systemd, for install.sh. Nifty is one program with no other dependencies.
• curl, tar, systemctl, journalctl, useradd and runuser, which most distributions have.
• Optional: minisign, so install.sh checks the release's signature; sqlite3, for Backups.
• On a Mac, use the Mac app, on Apple silicon with macOS 14 or later (Install on a Mac).

Memory

Nifty uses about 25 MB at rest. Making a document's thumbnail takes more while it works, one at a time, then gives it back:

When	Peak
The first thumbnail after an install or update, while the renderer is prepared	About 300 MB
Every thumbnail after that	About 50–90 MB
A huge or broken PDF	About 300 MB (the renderer is capped at 256 MB)

2 GB leaves plenty of room for that and for the system.

Disk

Your notes take little room. Documents and images take what they weigh (PDFs up to 50 MB each, images up to 20 MB), plus up to five copies of the database from updates (Backups) and about 20 MB for the compiled PDF renderer.

Ports

Port	When
127.0.0.1:4000	Always, by default: only this machine reaches it
443	Nifty serves HTTPS itself
80	The same, to redirect http:// and for Let's Encrypt

Tailscale and a proxy need no ports opened for Nifty.

Nifty connects out to:

• releases.niftyware.io, once a day, for updates.
• Let's Encrypt and Cloudflare's API, if you use them for HTTPS.
• Your calendar feeds and AI providers, if you add them.