# Deploying an Annotation Server

Source: https://www.potatoannotator.com/docs/guides/deploying-annotation-server

**Running an annotation study for real means moving Potato off your laptop and onto a server annotators can reach, with the right login method and HTTPS so credentials and data are protected.** This guide covers the deployment choices; for step-by-step setup see [Local Development](/docs/deployment/local-development) and the deployment section.

## Choose an authentication method

Match the login to your annotator population:

- **Passwordless**: annotators enter just a username. Fine for trusted internal teams or crowd studies where the platform already identified the worker. See [Passwordless Login](/docs/features/passwordless-login).
- **Passwords**: a managed user list, for a fixed set of named annotators.
- **OAuth / SSO**: sign in with Google or GitHub, or your institution's [single sign-on](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_sign-on). Best for larger or institutional deployments.

## Put it behind HTTPS

Any real deployment should serve over [HTTPS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTPS) so usernames, answers, and any personal data are encrypted in transit. The usual pattern is a [reverse proxy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_proxy) such as nginx terminating TLS in front of Potato, or a hosting platform that handles TLS for you.

## A typical production stack

- **Potato** running under a production server process.
- **nginx** (or similar) as a reverse proxy handling TLS and static assets.
- **Docker** to package it reproducibly, if you containerize.
- **A public DNS name** with a certificate (Let's Encrypt is free).

Pilot the exact config locally first, then deploy the same config, the only things that change are the URL, auth, and TLS.

## Operating the study

- Watch progress, throughput, and [agreement](/docs/guides/inter-annotator-agreement) in the admin dashboard.
- Back up the output directory regularly; annotations are written there.
- For crowd studies, see [Running a Study on Prolific and MTurk](/docs/guides/crowdsourcing-prolific-mturk).

## Further reading

- [Local Development](/docs/deployment/local-development)
- [Exporting Annotations for ML](/docs/guides/exporting-annotations-for-ml)
- [Remote Data Sources](/docs/features/remote-data-sources)