---
title: "Operator track"
space: "BenchPress Documentation"
url: "https://docs.benchpress.cloud/docs/operator/index"
updated: "2026-08-29"
---

# Operator track

Everything about the machine BenchPress runs on, rather than the benches it
hands out.

**Who this is for.** Whoever owns the host: installs the app, keeps the shared
MariaDB alive, decides how large a bench may be, and gets called when a deploy
fails for everybody at once.

**Before you start.** The [user track](/docs/user/quick-tour) describes the same
product from the other side. Read it first if you have never deployed a bench —
several pages here only make sense once you have watched one run.

## The path through this track

Read these in order on a new host. Each one assumes the last.

| # | Page | What it settles |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Prerequisites](/docs/operator/prerequisites) | whether this machine can run BenchPress at all |
| 2 | [Install](/docs/operator/install) | the app, the shared infrastructure, the first screen |
| 3 | [WireGuard and the VPN plane](/docs/operator/wireguard-setup) | how benches and laptops reach each other |
| 4 | [Settings reference](/docs/operator/settings-reference) | every field, every default, and where each one is edited |
| 5 | [The shared database server](/docs/operator/database-server) | the one MariaDB every bench site lives in |
| 6 | [Backup and restore](/docs/operator/backup-and-restore) | what is dumped, when, and how to put it back |

## Then, as you need them

| Page | Read it when |
|---|---|
| [Golden images](/docs/operator/golden-images) | a deploy feels slow, or a lab takes the cold path |
| [The image cache](/docs/operator/image-cache) | disk is filling, or a template has no image |
| [Users and roles](/docs/operator/users-and-roles) | somebody needs access, or has too much |
| [Upgrading](/docs/operator/upgrading) | you are moving to a newer BenchPress release |
| [Production safety](/docs/operator/production-safety) | before you point anything you care about at this host |
| [Diagnostics](/docs/operator/diagnostics) | something is wrong and you do not yet know what |

## Optional, off by default

Two pages describe running BenchPress **for a team**: metering time, capping
concurrency, and letting people sign themselves up. None of it runs on a
self-hosted install, because `enable_credits` is `0` out of the box.

| Page | What it turns on |
|---|---|
| [Credits and billing](/docs/operator/credits-and-billing) | leases, a balance per user, and an optional payment gateway |
| [Admission and limits](/docs/operator/admission-and-limits) | concurrency caps, size ceilings, device and build quotas |
| [Self-serve signup](/docs/operator/hosted-signup) | a public signup page instead of a waitlist |

Skip all three if you are the only person on the box. BenchPress is a
dev-environment tool, not a hosting platform, and none of this is needed to
deploy a bench.

## What an operator actually owns

BenchPress drives Docker on one host. It does not run a control plane
elsewhere, and there is no second machine to keep in step.

- **One shared MariaDB.** Every bench site is a database inside
  `benchpress-mariadb`. See [The shared database server](/docs/operator/database-server).
- **One image per lab**, tagged `benchpress/<lab_id>:lab`, 5.5 GB to 19.7 GB
  each. See [The image cache](/docs/operator/image-cache).
- **One WireGuard interface**, owned by the `vpn_management` app. See
  [WireGuard and the VPN plane](/docs/operator/wireguard-setup).
- **Two settings documents**, `BenchPress Settings` and `Credit Settings`. See
  [Settings reference](/docs/operator/settings-reference).

## Related

- [Quick tour](/docs/user/quick-tour) — the screens, from a user's side.
- [Troubleshooting](/docs/user/troubleshooting) — the symptom index a user reads before calling you.