Self-hosted

Run Scout inside your infrastructure

Get a license key in the Scout console, deploy on your server with Docker, and call the same API — no credits. Free Developer tier (one per account) or annual Team / Business plans via Stripe.

Get your license key Install guide

How to get your server running

You bring the machine (laptop, VM, or cluster). We issue the lic_scout_… key. Scout validates it on startup — without a valid key, the API does not serve /v1.

1
Sign in to the Scout console
Open the Scout console (app.scout.macrocontent.dev) with your Macro account. Go to Self-hosted in the sidebar.
Open Scout console → Self-hosted
2
Generate your license key
Developer (free): one key per account. Developer+, Team, or Business: annual Stripe checkout in the console. Copy lic_scout_… when shown — only once.
```
lic_scout_a1b2c3d4_8f3e2a…
```
3
Redeem the key on your server
Set SCOUT_LICENSE_KEY and SCOUT_DEPLOYMENT_MODE=self_hosted. Scout validates against Macrocontent on startup and every few minutes (7-day offline grace if the platform is unreachable).
```
SCOUT_DEPLOYMENT_MODE=self_hosted
SCOUT_LICENSE_KEY=lic_scout_…
SCOUT_PLATFORM_API_BASE_URL=https://api.macrocontent.dev
SCOUT_PLATFORM_SECRET=your-shared-secret
```
4
Run Scout with Docker Compose
Start API + Redis on your machine or VM. The server refuses /v1 without a valid license. Optional: set SCOUT_INSTANCE_ID so the console shows a stable deployment name.
5
Confirm heartbeat in the console
curl /health → license.valid: true. In Scout console → Self-hosted, your deployment appears with a green heartbeat within ~15 minutes.
```
curl http://localhost:3009/health
```

Cloud = we run the browsers, you pay subscription + credits. Self-hosted = you run the software, you pay an annual license by workers — not per screenshot or crawl.

→ Inspect private websites and staging systems
→ Automate internal applications without sending data to our cloud
→ Control browser workers, scaling, and network rules yourself
→ No consumption-based billing — annual license by worker count
→ Meet security and compliance requirements on your own infra

Cloud vs self-hosted

Area	Scout Cloud	Scout Self-Hosted
Infrastructure	Macrocontent	Your servers / VPC / K8s
Operations	Managed by Macro	Managed by you
Scaling	Automatic	Your worker pool
Billing	Subscription + credits	Annual license (no credits)
Domain verify	Required for powerful actions	Configurable (off by default)
Private networks	Blocked in production	Yes — staging, VPN, intranet
Data residency	Scout cloud	Stays on your infra
Updates	Automatic	Pinned image tags you control
Best for	Fast start, developers, agents	Compliance, internal QA, private apps

Plans (annual, no credits)

Developer (free, non-commercial) — one license per account. Developer+ — commercial use, same limits, from €990/year. Team / Business — more workers and deployments.

What is a worker? One browser worker can run one active browser job at a time.

Developer

Free

Full API for local dev, evaluation, and personal projects — not licensed for commercial use.

Free Developer: development, evaluation, and personal projects only. Commercial use requires Developer+ or higher.

Deployments: 1 non-production
Browser workers: 2
API calls: Unlimited
Support: Community

Get free license

Developer+

€990/year~€83/mo

For freelancers and small products: commercial personal and small commercial projects on one deployment.

Commercial use allowed — same limits as Developer, licensed for production.

Deployments: 1 production
Browser workers: 2
API calls: Unlimited
Support: Email
Effective rate: ~€495/worker/year

Buy Developer+

Team

€2,990/year~€249/mo

Software, updates, browser orchestration, security patches, API compatibility, and email support.

Commercial production with higher parallel throughput.

Deployments: 1 production
Browser workers: 10
API calls: Unlimited
Support: Email
Effective rate: ~€299/worker/year

Buy in console

Business

€7,990/year~€666/mo

Volume pricing vs Team — more deployments and priority support for larger orgs.

Multiple clusters and environments.

Deployments: 5 production
Browser workers: 30
API calls: Unlimited
Support: Priority
Effective rate: ~€266/worker/year

Buy in console

Free Developer: development, evaluation, and personal projects only. Commercial use requires Developer+ or higher. Macrocontent Terms of Use (§6 Scout) apply — same account as Macrocontent Cloud.

At a glance

Account

Macro account + Scout console

License

Generate lic_scout_…

Free Developer (1×) or paid Developer+ / Team / Business via Stripe.

Deploy

Docker on your infra

Compose file below — API, Redis, optional workers. You control the host.

Live

Heartbeat + API

License validated; use the same /v1 API as Scout Cloud on your URL.

Architecture

Scout API
    ↓
Job queue (Redis)
    ↓
Browser workers
    ↓
Result storage / webhook
    ↓
API response

Start with Docker Compose on a single host. Kubernetes Helm charts follow later.

Docker Compose

Paste your lic_scout_… from the console into .env, then docker compose up.

docker-compose.yml

# .env — paste your license key from the Scout console
SCOUT_LICENSE_KEY=lic_scout_…
SCOUT_PLATFORM_SECRET=your-shared-secret

services:
  scout-api:
    image: ghcr.io/macrocontent/scout:latest
    ports:
      - "3009:3009"
    environment:
      SCOUT_DEPLOYMENT_MODE: self_hosted
      SCOUT_LICENSE_KEY: ${SCOUT_LICENSE_KEY}
      SCOUT_PLATFORM_API_BASE_URL: https://api.macrocontent.dev
      SCOUT_PLATFORM_SECRET: ${SCOUT_PLATFORM_SECRET}
      SCOUT_REDIS_URL: redis://redis:6379
      SCOUT_INSTANCE_ID: my-laptop
    depends_on:
      - redis

  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine

Configurable security policy

Self-hosted does not require DNS domain verification by default — you operate the infrastructure. Optional allow/block lists, private network toggle, and the ability to turn verify back on.

Environment

SCOUT_DEPLOYMENT_MODE=self_hosted
SCOUT_LICENSE_KEY=lic_scout_…

# JSON policy (or use individual env vars below)
SCOUT_SECURITY_POLICY='{
  "requireDomainVerification": false,
  "allowPrivateNetworks": true,
  "allowedDomains": ["*.example.com", "staging.internal"],
  "blockedDomains": ["*.bank.example"]
}'

# Or:
# SCOUT_REQUIRE_DOMAIN_VERIFY=false
# SCOUT_ALLOW_PRIVATE_NETWORKS=true
# SCOUT_ALLOWED_DOMAINS=*.example.com,staging.internal
# SCOUT_BLOCKED_DOMAINS=*.bank.example

Get your license key Self-hosted docs Cloud pricing (credits)