Move your Strand addons to a free cloud Remux server

Why bother

Without a server, every device carries its own copy of your addons, and reconfiguring one means reconfiguring all of them. With Remux, Strand reads your catalogues from your server the way it reads a Jellyfin library. Change an addon once, every device follows. And because this server lives in the cloud rather than your house, there's no local-vs-remote split: the same address works everywhere, so Strand's Remote URL stays empty and there's no VPN to toggle.

Oracle's free tier is genuinely free (2 ARM cores, 12 GB RAM, 200 GB disk) and comfortably faster than a Raspberry Pi, which matters for the migration wait. The trade-off: Oracle sign-up can be finicky.

Two placeholders appear in commands, highlighted in yellow. Replace them after pasting, before pressing Return:

• YOUR_EMAIL: the email you sign up to Oracle with
• YOUR_PUBLIC_IP: your server's public address (you get it in Part 4)

Time: 45–60 minutes of your attention, plus possible waiting for Oracle capacity, plus the migration wait itself.

1Oracle account

1. Go to oracle.com/cloud/free and click Start for free.
2. Use a real credit or debit card (prepaid and virtual cards are rejected). Nothing is charged on the free tier.
3. Enter your billing address exactly as it appears on your bank statement.
4. If verification fails: try a private browser window, a different email, a different card, and turn off adblockers and VPNs.
5. After sign-up, note your Cloud Account Name. Future logins at cloud.oracle.com: Cloud Account Name, then email and password. Save all three in a password manager.

2SSH key (on your Mac)

Open Terminal: press Cmd + Space, type Terminal, press Return. Then:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "YOUR_EMAIL"

Press Enter to accept the default location, then set a passphrase. To make the key file visible for uploading later: in Finder press Cmd + Shift + G, type ~/.ssh, press Enter. Keep that window open; the file you need is id_ed25519.pub.

3Create the server

1. Oracle dashboard → Create a VM instance. Name: remux.
2. Scroll to Image and shape:
   • Change image → Ubuntu → Canonical Ubuntu 24.04 → Select image
   • Change shape → Ampere → click the arrow next to VM.Standard.A1.Flex to expand the row → OCPUs 2, memory 12 → Select shape
3. Networking (may be labelled Primary VNIC): Create new virtual cloud network, Create new public subnet, and make sure Assign a public IPv4 address is ticked.
4. Add SSH keys → Upload public key files → drag in id_ed25519.pub from the Finder window.
5. Storage → custom boot volume → size 200, performance 120.
6. Review (Ubuntu 24.04, A1.Flex 2/12, 200GB, key listed), ignore the cost estimate, Create.

4Public IP

On the instance page, copy the Public IPv4 address; this is YOUR_PUBLIC_IP everywhere below.

If it shows a dash: Networking tab → zoom the browser out (Cmd and minus) and scroll to Attached VNICs → click the VNIC name → IPv4 Addresses → three-dot menu on the private IP → Edit → Public IP Type: Ephemeral Public IP → Update.

5Open port 3000

1. Instance page → Networking tab → click the Subnet link.
2. Security tab → Default Security List for vcn-…
3. Security rules → Add Ingress Rules: Source Type CIDR · Source CIDR 0.0.0.0/0 · IP Protocol TCP · Source Port Range blank · Destination Port Range 3000 · Description remux.
4. Add Ingress Rules.

6Connect and update

Connect (type yes at the host prompt, then your key passphrase):

ssh ubuntu@YOUR_PUBLIC_IP

Apply updates, then reboot:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y && sudo reboot

Wait a minute, connect again with the ssh command above, then open the port in Ubuntu's own firewall:

sudo iptables -I INPUT 6 -m state --state NEW -p tcp --dport 3000 -j ACCEPT
sudo netfilter-persistent save

7Docker

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
sudo usermod -aG docker ubuntu
exit

Reconnect (the permission change needs a fresh login), then confirm:

ssh ubuntu@YOUR_PUBLIC_IP

docker compose version

8Remux

One paste sets up and starts everything:

mkdir -p ~/remux && cd ~/remux
cat > docker-compose.yml << 'YML'
services:
  remux:
    image: ghcr.io/lostb1t/remux:latest
    container_name: remux
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
    volumes:
      - ./data:/data
    restart: unless-stopped
YML
docker compose up -d
docker ps

The last command should show remux with STATUS "Up".

9Create the admin login

1. On any phone or computer, open http://YOUR_PUBLIC_IP:3000 (your real IP, keep the :3000).
2. Run the short wizard: a server name (anything), then an admin username and a long, unique password; this login faces the whole internet, and it's what Strand signs in with.

Don't add addons by hand. Strand's migration installs your addons on the server for you, exactly as they're configured now. Page won't load? Recheck Part 5 saved, and run docker logs remux on the server.

10The Strand side

Back up first. Settings → Share Setup, include everything, and save the .strand file (not the link; a real setup exceeds a link's length limit) somewhere you'll find it: Files on iPhone or iPad, anywhere on a Mac. That file is a complete snapshot of your addons, shelves and servers; opening it puts everything back.

1. Settings → Media Servers → Add a Server → the manual form (not Plex or Emby Connect):
   • Server URL: http://YOUR_PUBLIC_IP:3000; leaving off the :3000 is the most common mistake
   • Remote URL: leave blank; the server isn't in your house, so one URL works everywhere
   • Username / Password: the Remux admin login from Part 9 (not your Jellyfin, Plex or Trakt login)
   • Display Name: anything you like
2. Save. The dot beside the server shows whether this device can reach it; you want green. Strand works out on its own that it's a Remux; there's no Remux option to pick.
3. Settings → Addons → Move Addons to Remux. (The row only appears when you have addons with catalogues to move.) Pick your server, read the summary, press Move to Remux.

4. After the summary: check your home screen; the rows should look exactly as they did, now reading from your server. Read any warnings: shelves that couldn't be matched still point at their addon, and running the migration again usually picks them up. Skipped addons are ones whose catalogue kinds Remux doesn't hold; they're untouched and still work.
5. The server then runs a Refresh Library task (Tasks page in the Remux dashboard) that actually fills the collections. Shelves can look empty until it finishes. Wait for it, and don't re-run the migration in the meantime, which can create duplicate collections.
6. Only when your home screen looks right: press Turn Off Migrated Addons. It's a separate button for a reason: nothing changes until you've seen your home screen working. The addons are switched off, not deleted; any of them turns back on with one tap under Settings → Addons.

11If something goes wrong

• Migration stopped with an error: anything that moved stayed moved; running it again picks up where it stopped. Just try again.
• A shelf is empty afterwards: check the catalogue is enabled on the server, wait for Refresh Library to finish, then run the migration again to re-point it.
• Duplicate collections after a re-run: delete the extras in the Remux dashboard, never in Strand (a deleted Strand shelf loses its title, order and home position). Then re-point any blank shelf.
• You'd rather go back: turn the addons back on under Settings → Addons; that alone undoes the last step. To undo the whole move, open your .strand backup.

12Handy commands (run in ~/remux on the server)

docker compose stop

docker compose start

docker compose pull && docker compose up -d

docker compose restart remux

cd ~/remux && docker compose down && sudo rm -rf data && docker compose up -d

13Keeping it free and alive

• Free means: this one A1.Flex instance at max 2 OCPUs / 12 GB, max 200 GB storage, no extra instances or volumes.
• Monthly, on the server:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

• Reboot if it asks; Remux comes back by itself.
• Note: Oracle's policy allows it to stop Always Free servers it considers idle. If yours is ever affected, Oracle emails first and the server is stopped, not deleted.
• Don't run do-release-upgrade (major Ubuntu version jumps); regular updates are all you need.

14Optional: SSH shortcut on your Mac

cat >> ~/.ssh/config << 'CFG'
Host oracle
  HostName YOUR_PUBLIC_IP
  User ubuntu
CFG

From then on ssh oracle connects.

Disclaimer. This is an unofficial community guide, written and shared by a Strand user. It is not made, reviewed, or endorsed by Strand, Remux, Oracle, or Cloudflare, and no affiliation with any of them is implied. Follow it at your own risk: you are responsible for your own Oracle account, your server, its security, and any addons you configure on it. Nothing here is guaranteed to stay accurate as these products change. If something breaks, the guide's rollback steps and your .strand backup are your safety net. Remux is an independent open-source project: github.com/lostb1t/remux.