Docker Setup

Everything here assumes you've already cloned the repo and filled in a real .env.local — see the self-host quickstart if you haven't done that part yet. Docker Compose reads that file; it doesn't generate secrets or register OAuth apps for you.

Start

docker compose up --build

On first run this:

Builds the Next.js app image
Starts Postgres with a named volume (postgres-data) for persistence
Runs Drizzle migrations automatically
Serves the app on http://localhost:3000

Stop (keep data)

docker compose down

Never run docker compose down -v. The -v flag deletes named volumes, which includes your Postgres data. All articles, tickets, and org settings will be lost.

Rebuild after code changes

docker compose up --build

View logs

# All services
docker compose logs -f

# App only
docker compose logs app -f

# Postgres only
docker compose logs postgres -f

Access the database

docker compose exec postgres psql -U community -d community

Common queries:

-- List all tables
\dt

-- Check org onboarding status
SELECT id, name, onboarded_at FROM orgs;

-- Check users
SELECT id, email, provider FROM users;

-- Exit
\q

Named volumes

Volume	Contents
`postgres-data`	All database data
`pnpm-store`	pnpm package cache (speeds up rebuilds)

Environment variables in Docker

Docker Compose reads from your .env file automatically. Any variable set in .env is available inside the app container.

To verify a variable is loaded:

docker compose exec app printenv OPENAI_API_KEY