How to Self-Host Vikunja: Open Source Todoist and TickTick Alternative 2026

TL;DR

Vikunja (GPL 3.0, ~3K GitHub stars, Go + Vue) is a self-hosted task management app — a free replacement for Todoist or TickTick. It supports projects, team sharing, labels, priorities, due dates, recurring tasks, reminders, and CalDAV sync (connects to any CalDAV client for todo sync). Todoist Pro costs $4/month; TickTick Premium $2.79/month. Vikunja is free to self-host. Single Go binary + SQLite/MySQL/PostgreSQL backend.

Key Takeaways

Vikunja: GPL 3.0, ~3K stars — full-featured todo manager, CalDAV sync
CalDAV sync: Connect to iOS/macOS Reminders, Thunderbird, DAVx⁵ for bidirectional task sync
Team sharing: Share projects with team members, assign tasks
Multiple views: List, Gantt chart, table view
Reminders: Push notifications, email reminders
Labels and priorities: Organize tasks across projects

Vikunja vs Todoist vs Alternatives

Feature	Vikunja	Todoist Pro	Tasks.org (OSS)
License	GPL 3.0	Proprietary	GPL 3.0
Cost	Free	$4/mo	Free
CalDAV	Yes	No	Yes
Team projects	Yes	Yes	No (personal)
Subtasks	Yes	Yes	Yes
Recurring tasks	Yes	Yes	Yes
Labels	Yes	Yes	Yes
Priorities	Yes	Yes	Yes
Gantt chart	Yes	No (add-on)	No
Mobile app	PWA (web)	iOS/Android	Android only
API	Yes	Yes	—
Self-hosted	Yes	No	—

Part 1: Docker Setup

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  vikunja:
    image: vikunja/vikunja:latest
    container_name: vikunja
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3456:3456"
    volumes:
      - vikunja_files:/app/vikunja/files
      - ./config.yml:/app/vikunja/config.yml:ro
    depends_on:
      - db
    environment:
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_TYPE: postgres
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_HOST: db
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_DATABASE: vikunja
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_USER: vikunja
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_PASSWORD: "${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}"
      VIKUNJA_SERVICE_JWTSECRET: "${JWT_SECRET}"
      VIKUNJA_SERVICE_FRONTENDURL: "https://tasks.yourdomain.com"

  db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: vikunja
      POSTGRES_USER: vikunja
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: "${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}"
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U vikunja"]
      interval: 10s

volumes:
  vikunja_files:
  postgres_data:

# .env
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=your-db-password
JWT_SECRET=$(openssl rand -hex 32)

docker compose up -d

Visit http://your-server:3456 → register your account.

Part 2: HTTPS with Caddy

tasks.yourdomain.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:3456
}

Part 3: Configuration (config.yml)

# config.yml
service:
  JWTSecret: "${VIKUNJA_SERVICE_JWTSECRET}"
  frontendUrl: "https://tasks.yourdomain.com"
  enableRegistration: false      # Set true for initial setup, then disable
  enableEmailReminders: true
  enableTaskAttachments: true
  maxAvatarSize: 1048576         # 1MB

database:
  type: postgres
  host: db
  database: vikunja
  user: vikunja
  password: "${VIKUNJA_DATABASE_PASSWORD}"

mailer:
  enabled: true
  host: smtp.yourdomain.com
  port: 587
  username: noreply@yourdomain.com
  password: "${SMTP_PASSWORD}"
  skiptlsverify: false
  fromemail: noreply@yourdomain.com
  fromname: Vikunja

Part 4: CalDAV Sync

Vikunja exposes a CalDAV endpoint for todo sync with any CalDAV client.

CalDAV URL: https://tasks.yourdomain.com/dav/principals/USER/

iOS Reminders

Settings → Reminders → Accounts → Add Account → Other
Add CalDAV Account
Server: https://tasks.yourdomain.com/dav/
Username + password
iOS Reminders now shows your Vikunja projects as lists

DAVx⁵ (Android)

Install DAVx⁵
Add account with base URL: https://tasks.yourdomain.com/dav/
Enable CalDAV (for todo sync)
Use with Tasks.org or any Android todo app

Thunderbird

Install the TbSync and Provider for CalDAV extensions
Add CalDAV account with the Vikunja DAV URL

Part 5: Creating and Organizing Tasks

Projects (formerly Namespaces + Lists)

My Projects/
  Work/
    Q1 Roadmap
    Bug Backlog
  Personal/
    Shopping
    Home Projects

+ New Project → name it
Add tasks within the project

Task Properties

Each task supports:

Title + description (Markdown)
Due date + time
Reminders: Email or push notifications
Priority: Urgent / High / Medium / Low / None
Labels: Color-coded tags
Assignees: Assign to team members
Subtasks: Nested task hierarchy
Attachments: File uploads
Recurring: Daily/weekly/monthly/custom repeat

Bulk Operations

Select multiple tasks → bulk change due date, priority, assignee, labels.

Share a project with other users:

Project → Share → Invite User
Enter their username or email
Set permission: Read, Write, or Admin
They see the project in their dashboard

For public sharing (no account required):

Project → Share → Generate Share Link
Share the link — viewers can see tasks without logging in

Part 7: Views

Switch between views on any project:

List: Default linear task list, group by priority/due date/label
Gantt Chart: Timeline view for projects with due dates — see task overlaps
Table: Spreadsheet-like, shows all task properties as columns
Kanban Board: Drag-and-drop cards across status columns

Part 8: Labels

Create labels across all projects:

Labels → + New Label
Set name and color
Apply to any task from any project

Labels are shared across all projects — useful for cross-project filtering:

Filter all tasks labeled #urgent across every project

Part 9: API

# Get auth token:
TOKEN=$(curl -s -X POST https://tasks.yourdomain.com/api/v1/login \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"username":"alice","password":"your-password"}' \
  | jq -r .token)

# List all projects:
curl https://tasks.yourdomain.com/api/v1/projects \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" | jq '.[].title'

# Create a task:
curl -X POST "https://tasks.yourdomain.com/api/v1/projects/42/tasks" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "title": "Review pull request",
    "description": "PR #123",
    "due_date": "2026-03-15T10:00:00Z",
    "priority": 3
  }'

# Complete a task:
curl -X POST "https://tasks.yourdomain.com/api/v1/tasks/123" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"done": true}'

Maintenance

# Update Vikunja:
docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

# Backup database:
docker exec db pg_dump -U vikunja vikunja \
  | gzip > vikunja-db-$(date +%Y%m%d).sql.gz

# Backup file attachments:
tar -czf vikunja-files-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz \
  $(docker volume inspect vikunja_vikunja_files --format '{{.Mountpoint}}')

# Logs:
docker compose logs -f vikunja

See all open source productivity and task management tools at OSSAlt.com/categories/productivity.

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