Local installation with Camunda 8 Run

note

Camunda 8 Run is not supported for production use.

The Camunda 8 Run script allows you to install and start a simplified, single-application Camunda configuration in a local development environment. This page guides you through using Camunda 8 Run on a local or virtual machine.

Camunda 8 Run includes the following:

• Zeebe
• Operate
• Tasklist
• Identity
• Connectors
• Elasticsearch

Prerequisites

• OpenJDK 21+: Required for running Camunda 8 as a Java application.
• Docker 20.10.21+: Required for running Camunda 8 via Docker Compose.
• Desktop Modeler
• If using Ubuntu: Ubuntu 22.04 or newer

note

After installing OpenJDK, ensure JAVA_HOME is set by running java -version in a new terminal.

If no version of Java is found, follow your chosen installation's instructions for setting JAVA_HOME before continuing.

Install and start Camunda 8 Run

1. Download the latest release of Camunda 8 Run for your operating system and architecture. Opening the .tgz file extracts the Camunda 8 Run script into a new directory.
2. Navigate to the new c8run directory.
3. Start Camunda 8 Run by running one of the following in your terminal:
   • ./start.sh (or .\c8run.exe start on Windows): start Camunda 8 Run as a Java application.
   • ./start.sh --docker (or .\c8run.exe start -docker on Windows): start Camunda 8 Run via Docker Compose.

When successful, a new Operate window automatically opens.

note

If Camunda 8 Run fails to start, run the shutdown script to end the current processes, then run the start script again.

Configuration options

The following command line arguments are available:

Argument	Description
--config <path>	Applies the specified Zeebe application.yaml.
--username <arg>	Configure the first user’s username to <arg>.
--password <arg>	Configure the first user’s password to <arg>.
--keystore <arg>	Configure the TLS certificate for HTTPS. If not specified, use HTTP. For more information, see enabling TLS.
--keystorePassword <arg>	Provide the password to use with a JKS keystore file.
--port <arg>	Configure the Camunda core port to the value provided (default: 8080).
--log-level <arg>	Set a different log level for the Camunda core.
--docker	Download and run the Camunda Docker Compose distribution. Any additional options are not supported at this time, and will be ignored. See the shutdown script for information on stopping the Docker application.
--disable-elasticsearch	Do not start the built-in Elasticsearch. Ensure another Elasticsearch instance is provided via --config. See the external Elasticsearch options for more information.

Work with Camunda 8 Run

Access Camunda components

All Camunda 8 Run components can be accessed using the username/password combination demo/demo.

note

The URLs for the Docker Compose application can be found in the Docker Compose documentation.

Tasklist, Operate, and Identity are available at:

• Tasklist: http://localhost:8080/tasklist
• Operate: http://localhost:8080/operate
• Identity: http://localhost:8080/identity

The following components do not have a web interface, but the URLs may be required for additional configuration:

• Zeebe Gateway: http://localhost:26500
• Connectors: http://localhost:8085

note

The Connectors URL displays a login page, but cannot be logged into.

Deploy diagrams from Desktop Modeler

Make sure you have installed Desktop Modeler before continuing.

To deploy diagrams from Desktop Modeler, the following configuration is required:

• Target: Self-Managed
• Cluster endpoint: http://localhost:26500, the location of your Zeebe Gateway
• Authentication: None

A success notification displays when complete. Start a new process instance to view your running process in Operate.

Use built-in and custom Connectors

Desktop Modeler automatically fetches templates for pre-built Connectors. Custom Connectors can also be added to your Camunda 8 Run distribution.

To add a custom Connector:

1. Place the Connector's .jar file in the /custom_connectors folder contained in the /c8run directory.
2. Place the element template in the appropriate folder for your installation. See Search Paths for more information.

Once configured correctly, your Connectors are available for use in Modeler.

Use Camunda APIs

All served Camunda APIs are by default unprotected in Camunda 8 Run, and can be accessed without any authentication credentials or token provided.

The available APIs are Tasklist V1, Operate V1, Zeebe gRPC and the unified Camunda 8 REST API

Enable authentication and authorization

To work with authorizations, API authentication and authorization enforcement must be enabled. The following minimal application.yaml shows the required configuration for the APIs and authorizations:

camunda.security:
  authentication.unprotected-api: false
  authorizations.enabled: true

Place the above application.yaml into your root /c8run folder, provide it to Camunda 8 Run at startup using the --config flag:

./start.sh --config application.yaml

You are then required to provide basic authentication credentials on API requests, as in the following:

curl --request POST 'http://localhost:8080/v1/process-definitions/search'  \
  -u demo:demo \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data-raw '{}'

Shut down Camunda 8 Run

To shut down Camunda 8 Run and end all running processes, run ./shutdown.sh (or .\c8run.exe stop on Windows) from the c8run directory.

The Camunda 8 Run Docker distribution can be shut down using ./shutdown.sh --docker (or .\c8run.exe stop -docker on Windows).

Advanced options

Enable TLS

TLS can be enabled by providing a local file keystore using the --keystore argument at startup. Camunda 8 Run accepts .JKS certificate files.

Access metrics

Metrics are enabled in Camunda 8 Run by default, and can be accessed at /actuator/prometheus. For more information, see the metrics documentation.

Start external Elasticsearch

To start Elasticsearch outside of Camunda 8 Run, set the --disable-elasticsearch flag at startup. This prevents Camunda 8 Run from starting its own Elasticsearch instance.

The following command starts an external Elasticsearch instance via docker run:

docker run \
    -m 1GB \
    -d \
    --name elasticsearch \
    -p 9200:9200 \
    -p 9300:9300 \
    -e "discovery.type=single-node" \
    -e "xpack.security.enabled=false" \
    elasticsearch:8.15.2

Environment variables

The following advanced configuration options can be provided via environment variables:

Variable	Description
ES_JAVA_OPTS	Allows you to override Java command line parameters for Elasticsearch. This can allow you to increase memory limits. Default: -Xms1g -Xmx1g
JAVA_OPTS	Allows you to override Java command line parameters for Camunda.