Docker Compose Setup

Docker Compose is an alternative to the recommended Podman Quadlet setup. It can be a good fit if:

• you prefer Docker over Podman
• you need to run on macOS or Windows as well as Linux
• your infrastructure already runs on Docker

Prerequisites

• Docker Engine or Docker Desktop
• Docker Compose v2+ (included with Docker Desktop)
• git and bash

Setup

Clone the project

cd ~/projects
git clone https://github.com/francoism90/stry.git
cd stry

Build the application image

Docker only reads .dockerignore from the root of the build context, so copy the template there first. Otherwise files such as your local .env or vendor/ end up inside the image:

cp containers/stubs/production/runtimes/dockerignore .dockerignore
docker build -f containers/stubs/production/runtimes/Containerfile -t stry:latest .

Create the environment files

Create the config folder:

mkdir -p containers/config

Then fill in these files:

File	Contents
containers/config/app.env	Application settings (see Application Configuration)
containers/config/postgres.env	PostgreSQL credentials
containers/config/typesense.env	Typesense settings
containers/config/rustfs.env	RustFS (S3) credentials

Use .env.example as the starting point for app.env:

cp .env.example containers/config/app.env
vi containers/config/app.env

Usage

docker compose -f containers/docker/docker-compose.yml up -d

The application is then available at http://localhost:8000.

For HTTPS and subdomains, put your own reverse proxy in front of port 8000. You don't need an extra proxy service for Reverb, RustFS or Mailpit: the app's built-in Caddy server already forwards requests to them. See Reverse Proxy.

Services

The service names below match containers/docker/docker-compose.yml. Compose names the containers stry-{service}, for example stry-app.

Service	Purpose	Port
app	Main application server (Octane)	8000
ssr	Server-side rendering (Node.js)	13714
queue	Background jobs (Horizon)	-
reverb	WebSocket server	6001
schedule	Task scheduler	-
pgsql	Database	5432
redis	Cache and sessions	6379
typesense	Full-text search	8108
rustfs	S3-compatible storage	9000-9001
mailpit	Catches mail during development	8025

Common commands

# Start, stop and restart
docker compose -f containers/docker/docker-compose.yml up -d
docker compose -f containers/docker/docker-compose.yml down
docker compose -f containers/docker/docker-compose.yml restart

# Follow the app's logs
docker compose -f containers/docker/docker-compose.yml logs -f app

# Run migrations or open a shell
docker exec stry-app php artisan migrate --force
docker exec -it stry-app /bin/bash

Development setup

To see code changes without rebuilding, mount the project folder in docker-compose.yml:

services:
    app:
        volumes:
            - ./:/app:rw
            - /app/vendor # keep the container's own vendor folder
            - /app/node_modules # keep the container's own node_modules folder
        environment:
            APP_ENV: local
            APP_DEBUG: 'true'

Then run Vite inside the container:

docker exec -it stry-app pnpm dev

GPU acceleration

Uncomment the devices block of the queue service in containers/docker/docker-compose.yml:

queue:
    devices:
        - /dev/dri:/dev/dri

NVIDIA

The image has no NVIDIA libraries: the NVIDIA Container Toolkit mounts the host driver's libcuda, libnvcuvid (NVDEC) and libnvidia-encode (NVENC) into the container. Install it on the host, then give the queue service the GPU instead of /dev/dri. The video capability is needed for NVENC and NVDEC, and isn't included by default:

queue:
    environment:
        APP_SERVICE: horizon
        NVIDIA_DRIVER_CAPABILITIES: compute,video,utility
    deploy:
        resources:
            reservations:
                devices:
                    - driver: nvidia
                      count: all
                      capabilities: [gpu]

Set MEDIA_LADDER_HARDWARE=nvenc in .env.

Troubleshooting

• A container won't start: check its logs with docker compose -f containers/docker/docker-compose.yml logs app.
• Permission denied: run sudo chown -R $USER:$USER ~/projects/stry.
• A port is already in use: change the host port under ports: for that service.
• The database connection fails: check containers/config/postgres.env and the output of docker compose ... ps.

Differences from Podman

Docker Compose doesn't support some Podman features that the Quadlet setup relies on: UserNS=keep-id (correct file ownership in rootless containers), AutoUpdate, and starting and managing services through systemd. With Docker, you need to handle these yourself.

Next steps

• Read the security checklist in Production Setup
• Set up a reverse proxy for HTTPS and subdomains
• Configure object storage (S3) for media files
• See Application Configuration for everything you can customize