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Self-hosted

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1. Install Tell

curl -sSfL https://tell.rs | bash
This installs a single binary with everything included — server, CLI, TUI, and MCP server.
Requires Rust 1.80+ and Cargo:
git clone https://github.com/tell-rs/tell.git
cd tell
cargo install --path crates/tell

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2. Start the server

tell run
With no config file, Tell starts with defaults: TCP source on port 50000, HTTP source on port 8080, routing to stdout. You’ll see incoming data printed to your terminal.

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3. Send a test event

In another terminal: 
tell test
This sends a few demo events. You should see them appear in the first terminal.

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4. Set up storage

For anything beyond testing, you’ll want to store data in ClickHouse. Tell can initialize everything for you: 
tell clickhouse init myproject
This creates the database, tables, and a config file at configs/myproject.toml with generated credentials. Then start Tell with that config: 
tell run -c configs/myproject.toml
You need a running ClickHouse instance. Install it locally, use ClickHouse Cloud, or see ClickHouse Setup for other options.

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5. Add an SDK

Pick the SDK for your platform and start tracking events.

JavaScript / TypeScript

Node.js, browsers, React, Next.js

Go

Backend services

Swift

iOS, macOS

Flutter

Cross-platform mobile

Rust

Rust services

C++

Native applications

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Cloud

Tell Cloud is a managed version of Tell — same SDKs, same data model, same query API. No infrastructure to manage. Coming soon. Sign up for early access at tell.rs.

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What’s next