Installing OpenKAT

This guide will help you get a working OpenKAT setup.

Before you start

You need:

  • at least 50GB of disk space. The OpenKAT installation takes about ~30GB, but you need some room for storing your scans, reports, etc.

Installation steps

This guide gives you two ways to install OpenKAT:

  • Automatic installation using a script (for Debian/Ubuntu)

  • Manual installation

Automatic installation using a script (Debian/Ubuntu)

Download the Debian installation script and give it executable rights.

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SSC-ICT-Innovatie/nl-kat-coordination/refs/heads/main/scripts/installation/openkat-install.sh
chmod 755 openkat-install.sh

Now execute the installation script. The installation script will prompt for an e-mailaddress and password. You need these for signing in once the installation is complete.

./openkat-install.sh

Grab a tea while you pet your cat. Once it is finished you can reach the OpenKAT interface at

You should see a login prompt. You can now continue on the next section Using OpenKAT for the first time.

Manual installation via GitHub

This installation can be used for other Linux distributions and Windows systems.

Docker installation

Do not install Docker directly from the default Ubuntu/Debian repositories. This version is older and OpenKAT generally uses newer features. This will likely break your OpenKAT installation.

  1. Follow the Docker installation steps as mentioned here: Docker Ubuntu Installation steps. This tutorial followed the installation steps using the apt repository. Make sure that you can run the hello-world Docker image.

  2. Follow the post-installations steps as described here: Docker post-installation steps. Make sure that the Docker hello-world image can run as a normal (non-root) user.

OpenKAT installation

When using Windows you need Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).

Make sure you have the following packages installed:

sudo apt install gcc g++ make python3-pip curl git

Next clone the OpenKAT repository to a folder of your choice:

git clone https://github.com/SSC-ICT-Innovatie/nl-kat-coordination.git

Now change into this directory:

cd nl-kat-coordination

Run the following commands to prepare your environment and then build the latest stable OpenKAT release version.

make env
make last-release

Grab a tea while you pet your cat. Once it is finished you can reach the OpenKAT interface at