Installation

For now, Docker is the recommended mode of installation. If you are a developer, you may be interested in the development guide.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have Docker installed on your server. See the official Docker installation guide based on your OS.

If you use Ubuntu, you can install Docker with the commands below:

Click to see Ubuntu docker installation commands

    # Add Docker's official GPG key:
    sudo apt-get update -qqy
    sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl -qqy
    sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
    sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
    sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
    
    # Add the repository to Apt sources:
    echo \
      "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
      $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | \
      sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
    sudo apt-get update -qqy
    sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-compose-plugin -qqy

Installation Steps

1. Setup the Docker compose file

Create a new directory for Docmost and download the Docker compose file with commands below:

mkdir docmost
cd docmost
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/docmost/docmost/main/docker-compose.yml

Next, open the docker-compose.yml file. On Linux, you can use vim:

vi docker-compose.yml

The downloaded docker-compose.yml file should contain the template below with default environment variables.

info

APP_URL is optional, but useful for correct email links.

docmost/docker-compose.yml

version: "3"

services:
  docmost:
    image: docmost/docmost:latest
    depends_on:
      - db
      - redis
    environment:
      APP_URL: "http://localhost:3000"
      APP_SECRET: "REPLACE_WITH_LONG_SECRET"
      DATABASE_URL: "postgresql://docmost:STRONG_DB_PASSWORD@db:5432/docmost?schema=public"
      REDIS_URL: "redis://redis:6379"
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - docmost:/app/data/storage

  db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: docmost
      POSTGRES_USER: docmost
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: STRONG_DB_PASSWORD
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - db_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data

  redis:
    image: redis:7.2-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - redis_data:/data

volumes:
  docmost:
  db_data:
  redis_data:

For health check, a dedicated endpoint is available at YOUR_URL/api/health.

Replace the default configs

You are to replace the default environment variables in the docker-compose.yml file.

The APP_URL should be replaced with your chosen domain. E.g. https://example.com or https://docmost.example.com.

The APP_SECRET value must be replaced with a long random secret key.
You can generate the secret with openssl rand -hex 32. If you leave the default value, the app will fail to start.

Replace STRONG_DB_PASSWORD in the POSTGRES_PASSWORD environment variable with a secure password.

Update the DATABASE_URL default STRONG_DB_PASSWORD value with your chosen Postgres password.

To configure Emails or File storage driver, see the Configuration doc.
The default File storage driver is local storage. You don't have to do anything unless you wish to use S3 storage.

Start the Services

Make sure you are inside the docmost directory which contains the docker-compose.yml file.

To start the services, run:

docker compose up -d

Once the services are up and running, verify the installation by opening your web browser and navigating to: http://localhost:3000 or the domain that points to your server.

If all is set, you should see the Docmost setup page which will enable you set up your workspace and account.

After a successful setup, you will become the workspace owner. You can then invite other users to join your workspace. Congratulations 🎉.

Reverse Proxy / WebSockets

If you are using a reverse proxy, make sure WebSockets is enabled. The real-time page editor depends on WebSockets to work.

If you encounter any issues, feel free to create an issue or discussion on the GitHub repo.

Upgrade

To upgrade to the latest Docmost version, run the following commands:

docker pull docmost/docmost
docker compose up --force-recreate --build docmost -d

Helpful docker commands

To stop the services:

docker compose down

To restart the services:

docker compose restart