# Deploy Kitsu with Easypanel

URL: /templates/kitsu

Kitsu is a production tracker for animation and VFX studios, built by CGWire. Organize projects, shots, and assets, track task progress across your pipeline, and manage preview files, all from one collaborative dashboard. This template deploys Kitsu's real production architecture — the Zou API, its event stream, and the frontend behind an Nginx gateway, backed by Postgres and Redis — built from CGWire's own reference Dockerfile rather than the all-in-one image CGWire's own docs say is for testing only.

## Installation notes

Open the app URL and sign in with the admin email you set and the auto-generated password shown as ZOU_ADMIN_PASSWORD in the "-api" service's Environment tab. If you left Public Domain blank, set it and redeploy before inviting anyone else — until then, passkey/WebAuthn login won't work and outgoing emails (invites, notifications) will link to a placeholder address instead of your real one; normal password login and the app itself work fine either way. Deploys build the Zou backend from source on first run, so the initial rollout takes noticeably longer than a plain image pull — subsequent redeploys are faster. Preview files and the database both live on persistent volumes; back up the database with `zou dump-database` and keep a copy of the previews volume if the production history matters to you.

## Benefits

### Built From CGWire's Own Reference, Not a Test-Only Image

The Zou API, event stream, and frontend are built as separate services wired to real Postgres and Redis, mirroring CGWire's own production systemd setup instead of their single-container trial image.

### Purpose-Built for Animation and VFX Pipelines

Task statuses, shot/asset hierarchies, and preview review tools are modeled around how animation and VFX studios actually track production.

### Realtime Collaboration

Comments, notifications, and status changes propagate live over the event stream instead of requiring a page refresh.

## Features

### Shot and Asset Tracking

Break projects down into sequences, shots, and assets, each with their own task pipeline and status history.

### Preview Review Tools

Upload and review image, video, and PDF previews directly on each task, with version history kept alongside them.

### Team and Studio Dashboards

Track workload and progress across the whole studio, not just a single project, from dashboards built for production managers.

### Optional Background Job Worker

Turn on a dedicated worker for heavier background jobs like playlist builds without blocking the main API.

## Configuration

- `appServiceName` (App Service Name, required): kitsu

- `publicDomain` (Public Domain): Set during installation — Optional, without https:// or a trailing slash (e.g. kitsu.example.com). Leave blank to deploy immediately on the domain Easypanel assigns automatically — but until you set this (and redeploy), passkey/WebAuthn login won't work and outgoing emails will link to a placeholder address instead of your real one. Normal password login and the app itself are unaffected either way.

- `adminEmail` (Admin Email, required): Set during installation — Used to sign in as the first admin user after deploying.

- `studioDomain` (Studio Type, required): 3D Animation / 2D Animation / VFX / Video Games — Selects the starter reference data seeded on first boot (task statuses, task types, etc.).

- `enableJobQueue` (Enable Background Job Worker, required): false — Deploys a worker for background jobs like playlist building. Off by default, matching Zou's own default.

- `zouVersion` (Zou (Backend) Version, required): 1.0.57

- `kitsuVersion` (Kitsu (Frontend) Version, required): 1.0.53

- `smtpHost` (SMTP Host): Set during installation — Optional. Required for invite emails and notifications; leave blank to disable outgoing mail entirely.

- `smtpPort` (SMTP Port): 587

- `smtpUsername` (SMTP Username): Set during installation — Optional.

- `smtpPassword` (SMTP Password): Set during installation — Optional.

- `smtpSender` (SMTP From Address): Set during installation — Optional. Defaults to the admin email if left blank.

## Services

- kitsu-api: app

- kitsu-events: app

- kitsu-worker: app, optional

- kitsu: app

- kitsu-db: postgres

- kitsu-redis: redis

## Resources

- [Website](https://cg-wire.com)

- [GitHub](https://github.com/cgwire/zou)

- [Documentation](https://zou.cg-wire.com)

- [Template source](https://github.com/easypanel-io/templates/tree/main/templates/kitsu)