Installation

Install Docklift on any Linux VPS with Docker. Production installs land under /opt/docklift by default.

Production install (recommended)

Latest GitHub release:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SSujitX/docklift/master/install.sh | sudo bash

Pin a specific release (see Releases). Pass the version to bash, not in the curl URL:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SSujitX/docklift/master/install.sh | sudo bash -s -- v=2.0.2

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SSujitX/docklift/master/install.sh | sudo DOCKLIFT_VERSION=2.0.2 bash

Tags may include or omit a leading v. Omitting the pin installs latest.

WARNING

Pinning or downgrading with install.sh rebuilds that tag and does not run upgrade.sh's DB snapshot. Prefer upgrade.sh to move forward; backup before installing an older tag.

After install

The installer prints:

Dashboard: http://YOUR_SERVER_IP:8080
Setup code: <bootstrap-secret>

1. Open that URL
2. Paste the setup code
3. Create the first admin account (or restore a backup)

Raw HTTP on a public IP is intentional for first-run convenience — it is not encrypted. Later options:

• Settings → Domain for an HTTPS panel hostname
• Firewall rules limiting who can reach :8080
• DASHBOARD_BIND=127.0.0.1 in /opt/docklift/.env for localhost-only access (then use an SSH tunnel)

Recover the bootstrap secret if needed:

docker logs docklift-backend | grep -A8 "Fresh install"

sudo cat /opt/docklift/data/.bootstrap-secret

Manual Compose install

git clone https://github.com/SSujitX/docklift.git
cd docklift
docker compose up -d

Upgrade (preserves data)

Safe upgrade to the latest GitHub release. Keeps the database, projects, and user app containers; takes an auto-backup and can roll back on build/health failure.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SSujitX/docklift/master/upgrade.sh | sudo bash

Preserved	Notes
Database	Control-plane SQLite and settings
Projects	Sources under deployments/
Certificates	nginx-proxy / certbot data
App containers	User workloads stay running where possible

Uninstall (destructive)

curl -fsSL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SSujitX/docklift/master/uninstall.sh" | sudo bash -s -- -y

This removes every Docklift container, image, volume and network, the build cache, and /opt/docklift (database, deployments, backups, certificates). Other Docker workloads on the same host are left alone, as are Docker Engine and git.

Manual teardown of a clone:

cd docklift
docker compose down -v
cd .. && rm -rf docklift

Development build (latest master)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SSujitX/docklift/master/install-dev.sh | sudo bash

Installs unreleased code from master. Use the production install for stable deployments.

Local development

Prerequisites: Docker and Bun.

git clone https://github.com/SSujitX/docklift.git
cd docklift

Backend (http://localhost:8000):

cd backend
cp .env.local.example .env.local
bun install
bun run db:generate && bun run db:push
bun run dev

Frontend (separate terminal, http://127.0.0.1:3600):

cd frontend
bun install
bun run dev

backend/.env is server/production config (committed). Copy .env.local.example → .env.local (gitignored) for the Vite origin in CORS_ORIGIN and optional GitHub App credentials.

Optional configuration

Create /opt/docklift/.env and re-run docker compose up -d from that directory:

Variable	Default	Purpose
DASHBOARD_BIND	0.0.0.0	Panel listen address. Default allows http://SERVER_IP:8080. Set 127.0.0.1 for localhost-only.
PORT_RANGE_START / PORT_RANGE_END	5500 / 5600	Host port pool when Publish host ports is enabled
CERTBOT_EMAIL	—	Let's Encrypt account email
CERTBOT_STAGING	false	Staging CA while testing (avoid rate limits)
CORS_ORIGIN	—	Extra allowed browser origins
DOCKLIFT_FRONTEND_URL	http://localhost:8080	Public dashboard URL (GitHub App callbacks)
JWT_SECRET / INTERNAL_API_SECRET	auto-generated	Override only if you manage secrets yourself

Secrets auto-generate and persist under data/.secrets.