How to Deploy Fathom Lite from Oikos OpenHub: Privacy-Focused Analytics

Fathom Lite is a leading solution for website owners seeking privacy-focused analytics. As an open-source and lightweight alternative to traditional tracking tools, it prioritizes visitor privacy by being entirely cookie-free and GDPR-compliant. This means you can gather essential metrics—like page views, visitors, and referrers—without the need for intrusive tracking or annoying cookie banners.

Deploying Fathom Lite via the Oikos OpenHub Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) provides an efficient, one-click solution. Oikos manages the container hosting and database configuration, giving you a secure, dedicated endpoint for your self-hosted analytics dashboard.

1. Accessing the Oikos OpenHub Catalog#

Access the Oikos Console#

  • Visit: Navigate to the Oikos platform launchpad at https://launch.nife.io.
  • Log In: Use your registered credentials to access the application management console.

Navigate to OpenHub#

  • Locate: Find the OpenHub option in the left-hand navigation sidebar. (Note: This catalog was previously referred to as the Marketplace).
  • Selection: Click OpenHub to view the comprehensive catalog of deployable open-source applications.

Search for Fathom Lite#

  • Search Bar: Utilize the search functionality within the OpenHub interface and enter the term Fathom Lite.
  • Identify: Locate the official Fathom Lite application card, pre-configured for efficient container deployment on Oikos.

2. Configuring and Initiating Deployment#

Fathom Lite requires minimal configuration, but setting up a secure administrator user is essential.

Start Deployment and Configuration Review#

  • Action: Hover over the Fathom Lite application card and click the Deploy button. This takes you to the configuration screen.

Define Mandatory Credentials#

You will typically be prompted to set the initial login credentials for the Fathom Lite dashboard:

  • FATHOM_ADMIN_EMAIL: The email address for the primary administrative user.
  • FATHOM_ADMIN_PASSWORD: A strong, secure password for logging into your analytics dashboard.

Database Note: Fathom Lite usually runs on SQLite by default, which is managed internally by the Oikos container. For high-traffic sites, you may optionally configure an external database via environment variables like FATHOM_DB_DRIVER and FATHOM_DB_URL.

  • Review Settings: Review all other optional settings, such as application name and cloud region.
  • Finalization: Confirm the configuration details, then click Submit or the final Deploy button to begin the container launch process.

Monitor Deployment Status#

  • Process: Oikos provisions the necessary resources, pulls the Fathom Lite container image, applies your environment variables, and establishes a secure HTTPS network endpoint.
  • Completion: Wait for the status indicator to change to Running.

3. Accessing and Integrating Fathom Lite#

Wait for Completion and Launch#

  • Action: Once the status is Running, click the Open App button.
  • Result: This redirects you to the unique, secure URL of your deployed Fathom Lite analytics dashboard.

Initial Login and Tracking Snippet#

  • Login: Log in using the FATHOM_ADMIN_EMAIL and password you configured in Step 2.
  • Integration: Inside the dashboard, you will find your unique tracking code snippet. Copy this code and paste it just before the closing </head> tag on every website you wish to track. This small snippet is all that's required to start collecting privacy-focused metrics.

Core Benefits of Deploying Fathom Lite on Oikos#

Utilizing the Oikos PaaS for Fathom Lite provides operational stability alongside privacy benefits:

1. Guaranteed GDPR Compliance#

By design, Fathom Lite is cookieless, ensuring your website tracking adheres to strict global data protection regulations like GDPR and CCPA immediately, without requiring user consent banners.

2. High Performance and Speed#

Fathom Lite is famously lightweight. When deployed on Oikos's optimized PaaS infrastructure, the tracking script is served quickly, ensuring that the analytics tracking does not introduce any noticeable latency or drag on your website's performance.

3. Data Ownership and Security#

By self-hosting on Oikos, you retain full ownership of all collected traffic data. Oikos secures your dashboard with HTTPS and isolates the container, providing better control and security over your sensitive web metrics than typical third-party services.

4. Simplified Maintenance for Open Source#

Oikos abstracts away the complexities of server setup, maintenance, and dependencies required to run the Fathom Lite Go application. Future updates to Fathom Lite can be applied through a simplified container update process within the Oikos console.

Official Documentation#

For information on Fathom Lite's underlying code, contributing, and advanced tracking features:

Fathom Lite GitHub Repository: https://github.com/usefathom/fathom