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Dokku

A self-hosted Platform-as-a-Service that works like a private Heroku. You install it on any VPS, then deploy applications via Git. Handles routing, SSL certificates, and add-on services (databases, caches) with zero configuration. Perfect for developers who want Heroku's workflow without the vendor lock-in

yaml

docker-compose.yml

services:
  dokku:
    image: dokku/dokku:0.37.10
    container_name: dokku
    network_mode: bridge
    ports:
      - "3022:22"
      - "8080:80"
      - "8443:443"
    volumes:
      - /var/lib/dokku:/mnt/dokku
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
    environment:
      DOKKU_HOSTNAME: ${DOKKU_HOSTNAME:-dokku.me}
      DOKKU_HOST_ROOT: ${DOKKU_HOST_ROOT:-/var/lib/dokku/home/dokku}
      DOKKU_LIB_HOST_ROOT: ${DOKKU_LIB_HOST_ROOT:-/var/lib/dokku/var/lib/dokku}
      DOKKU_PLUGIN_LIST: ${DOKKU_PLUGIN_LIST:-}
    restart: unless-stopped
volumes:
  dokku-data:
    driver: local
networks:
  default:
    driver: bridge

.ENV

.env example

# ─── Dokku Core ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
# Hostname for your Dokku instance (change to your domain)
DOKKU_HOSTNAME=dokku.example.com

# Where app repositories and configs are stored on the host
DOKKU_HOST_ROOT=/var/lib/dokku/home/dokku

# Where plugin data is stored on the host
DOKKU_LIB_HOST_ROOT=/var/lib/dokku/var/lib/dokku

# ─── Optional: Plugin List ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
# Auto-install plugins on boot. Format: plugin_name: repository_url
# DOKKU_PLUGIN_LIST=postgres: https://github.com/dokku/dokku-postgres.git
# DOKKU_PLUGIN_LIST=redis: https://github.com/dokku/dokku-redis.git
# DOKKU_PLUGIN_LIST=letsencrypt: https://github.com/dokku/dokku-letsencrypt.git

deployment

Quick Start

  1. Create a working directory named after the service.
  2. Copy the compose file and generated `.env` into that directory.
  3. Review the variables and replace placeholders with real values.
  4. Run `docker compose up -d`.
mkdir dokku
cd dokku
# create docker-compose.yml
# create .env
docker compose up -d