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Running the Dashboard

The web interface is served by the Cipher server. Unlike the CLI and MCP server (which run locally against SQLite), the server requires PostgreSQL.

Start the server 

mdstn-cipher serve --port 8080 --db-url postgres://user:pass@localhost/cipher

--db-url defaults to $DATABASE_URL. See the serve reference for all flags. Once running, open http://localhost:8080.

Sign in

The server presents login and register screens. Registration is free and gets you a public key page and CKD lookup with no credit card.

Login screen Login screen Register screen showing the free tier Register screen showing the free tier

Plans and entitlement

How features are gated depends on how the server runs:

  • Self-hosted / local mode — every capability is unrestricted on every surface. No paywall, no tier gates.
  • Potomitan mode — the web and API surfaces gate certain features per the signed-in user’s plan (derived from their OIDC plan claim). Higher tiers unlock capabilities such as the activity/audit view.
Plan upgrade screen showing the tier ladder Plan upgrade screen showing the tier ladder
There is no cipher license command and no license tiers in the CLI. Entitlement is “self-hosted unrestricted, or Potomitan-gated” — nothing to activate locally.