Dokploy: Simple Management of Docker Applications on Your Server

Dokploy — a free panel for deploying Docker applications on your own server. It handles building from Git, running containers, routing via Traefik and issuing Let’s Encrypt certificates, so you don’t need to configure Docker Compose, Nginx or Traefik manually. This is a practical guide: how to install the panel and get started with it. Dokploy’s place among deployment platforms, its license and backups are discussed in the article “Platforms for deployment: Part 4 — Dokploy on your own server”, comparison with Vercel and Netlify — in the first part of the series.

Dokploy is suitable for:

• developers who need an easy way to publish their applications;
• small teams who need inexpensive Git-based deployment without a separate CI/CD system;
• those who want to keep infrastructure on-premises but not configure every service manually;
• those looking for a replacement for Heroku, Vercel or Netlify on their own VPS.

What’s in the panel

The panel is operated through a web interface that brings together applications, databases, domains and server settings:

• Apps from Git. Build from a Dockerfile or without it, automatic deployment on every branch change.
• Templates. Ready-made configurations for popular open-source apps — for example, WordPress, Ghost, n8n, Plausible, Uptime Kuma — deployable from a templates catalog.
• Docker Compose. Multi-service projects are described with a standard docker-compose.yml file; Dokploy runs them itself.
• HTTPS. Traefik routes requests to applications and automatically obtains and renews Let’s Encrypt certificates.
• Databases. PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB and Redis are created from the panel; database backups are uploaded on a schedule to S3-compatible storage.
• Logs and monitoring. Real-time application logs, CPU, memory, disk and network usage.
• Multiple servers. Remote servers connect to a single panel over SSH.

Installing Dokploy on your server

You need a clean VPS or dedicated server. According to Dokploy documentation, Ubuntu 18.04–24.04, Debian 10–12, Fedora 40 and CentOS 8–9 are supported; minimum requirements — 2 GB of RAM and 30 GB of disk. Builds run on the same server, so for Next.js projects or those with many dependencies it’s better to choose 4 GB. Ports 80 and 443 (Traefik) and 3000 (web interface) must be free.

Installation steps:

1. Connect to the server via SSH:

   bash Copy

   ssh root@your_server_ip

2. Update the system:

   bash Copy

   sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y # Debian and Ubuntu
   sudo yum update -y # CentOS and Fedora

3. Run the Dokploy install script:

   bash Copy

   curl -sSL https://dokploy.com/install.sh | sh

   The script installs Docker if it’s missing, initializes Docker Swarm and runs the panel together with Traefik. The installation takes a few minutes.

4. Open the panel:

   Copy

   http://your_server_ip:3000

   An administrator account is created on first login.

5. Close port 3000. After the panel becomes available via a domain, restrict access to port 3000 in your provider’s firewall. Docker rules bypass ufw, so closing the port via ufw alone is not sufficient.

6. Configure the domain and HTTPS:

   • create an A record for the panel’s domain (for example, dokploy.yourdomain.com) pointing to the server IP;
   • in the panel settings specify this domain and enable the Let’s Encrypt certificate.

7. Add remote servers (if needed). If applications will run on other servers, add them to the panel using the SSH key generated in Dokploy.

Summary

Dokploy handles the typical tasks of deploying on your own server: building from Git, running containers, domains and certificates — through a single web interface, without manually configuring Traefik and Docker Compose. Installation takes a few minutes, but before using it in production you should close the panel port and set up backups — more on that in the article of the deployment platforms series.