Full docker example

This docker compose configuration will run Vikunja with a mariadb database. It uses a proxy configuration to make it available under a domain.

For all available configuration options, see configuration.

After registering all your users, you might also want to disable the user registration.

File permissions #

Vikunja runs as user 1000 and no group by default. You can use Docker's --user flag to change that.

You must ensure Vikunja is able to write into the files directory. To do this, create the folder and chown it before starting the stack:

mkdir $PWD/files
chown 1000 $PWD/files

You'll need to do this before running any of the examples on this page.

Vikunja will not try to acquire ownership of the files folder, as that would mean it had to run as root.

PostgreSQL #

Vikunja supports postgres, mysql and sqlite as a database backend. The examples on this page use mysql with a mariadb container. To use postgres as a database backend, change the db section of the examples to this:

db:
  image: postgres:17
  environment:
    POSTGRES_PASSWORD: changeme
    POSTGRES_USER: vikunja
  volumes:
    - ./db:/var/lib/postgresql/data
  restart: unless-stopped
  healthcheck:
    test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -h localhost -U $$POSTGRES_USER"]
    interval: 2s

You'll also need to change the VIKUNJA_DATABASE_TYPE to postgres on the vikunja container declaration.

Sqlite #

Vikunja supports postgres, mysql and sqlite as a database backend. The examples on this page use mysql with a mariadb container. To use sqlite as a database backend, change the vikunja section of the examples to this:

vikunja:
  image: vikunja/vikunja
  environment:
    VIKUNJA_SERVICE_JWTSECRET: <a super secure random secret>
    VIKUNJA_SERVICE_PUBLICURL: http://<your public frontend url with slash>/
    # Note the default path is /app/vikunja/vikunja.db.
    # This config variable moves it to a different folder so you can use a volume and 
    # store the database file outside the container so state is persisted even if the container is destroyed.
    VIKUNJA_DATABASE_PATH: /db/vikunja.db
  ports:
    - 3456:3456
  volumes:
    - ./files:/app/vikunja/files
    - ./db:/db
  restart: unless-stopped

The default path Vikunja uses for sqlite is relative to the binary, which in the docker container would be /app/vikunja/vikunja.db. The VIKUNJA_DATABASE_PATH environment variable moves changes it so that the database file is stored in a volume at /db, to persist state across restarts.

You'll also need to remove or change the VIKUNJA_DATABASE_TYPE to sqlite on the container declaration.

You can also remove the db section.

To run the container, you need to create the directories first and make sure they have all required permissions:

mkdir $PWD/files $PWD/db
chown 1000 $PWD/files $PWD/db

Example without any proxy #

This example lets you host Vikunja without any reverse proxy in front of it. This is the absolute minimum configuration you need to get something up and running. If you want to make Vikunja available on a domain or need tls termination, check out one of the other examples.

Note that you need to change the VIKUNJA_SERVICE_PUBLICURL environment variable to the public ip or hostname including the port (the docker host you're running this on) is reachable at, prefixed with http://. Because the browser you'll use to access the Vikunja frontend uses that url to make the requests, it has to be able to reach it from the outside.

services:
  vikunja:
    image: vikunja/vikunja
    environment:
      VIKUNJA_SERVICE_PUBLICURL: http://<the public ip or host where Vikunja is reachable>
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_HOST: db
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_PASSWORD: changeme
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_TYPE: mysql
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_USER: vikunja
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_DATABASE: vikunja
      VIKUNJA_SERVICE_JWTSECRET: <a super secure random secret>
    ports:
      - 3456:3456
    volumes:
      - ./files:/app/vikunja/files
    depends_on:
      db:
        condition: service_healthy
    restart: unless-stopped
  db:
    image: mariadb:10
    command: --character-set-server=utf8mb4 --collation-server=utf8mb4_unicode_ci
    environment:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: supersecret
      MYSQL_USER: vikunja
      MYSQL_PASSWORD: changeme
      MYSQL_DATABASE: vikunja
    volumes:
      - ./db:/var/lib/mysql
    restart: unless-stopped
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "mysqladmin ping -h localhost -u $$MYSQL_USER --password=$$MYSQL_PASSWORD"]
      interval: 2s
      start_period: 30s

Example with Traefik 2 #

This example assumes traefik version 2 installed and configured to use docker as a configuration provider.

We also make a few assumptions here which you'll most likely need to adjust for your traefik setup:

• Your domain is vikunja.example.com
• The entrypoint you want to make Vikunja available from is called https
• The tls cert resolver is called acme

services:
  vikunja:
    image: vikunja/vikunja
    environment:
      VIKUNJA_SERVICE_PUBLICURL: http://<the public url where Vikunja is reachable>
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_HOST: db
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_PASSWORD: changeme
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_TYPE: mysql
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_USER: vikunja
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_DATABASE: vikunja
      VIKUNJA_SERVICE_JWTSECRET: <a super secure random secret>
    volumes: 
      - ./files:/app/vikunja/files
    networks:
      - web
      - default
    depends_on:
      db:
        condition: service_healthy
    restart: unless-stopped
    labels:
      - "traefik.enable=true"
      - "traefik.docker.network=web"
      - "traefik.http.routers.vikunja.rule=Host(`vikunja.example.com`)"
      - "traefik.http.routers.vikunja.entrypoints=https"
      - "traefik.http.routers.vikunja.tls.certResolver=acme"
  db:
    image: mariadb:10
    command: --character-set-server=utf8mb4 --collation-server=utf8mb4_unicode_ci
    environment:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: supersupersecret 
      MYSQL_USER: vikunja
      MYSQL_PASSWORD: changeme
      MYSQL_DATABASE: vikunja
    volumes:
      - ./db:/var/lib/mysql
    restart: unless-stopped
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "mysqladmin ping -h localhost -u $$MYSQL_USER --password=$$MYSQL_PASSWORD"]
      interval: 2s
      start_period: 30s

networks:
  web:
    external: true

Example with Caddy v2 as proxy #

You will need the following Caddyfile on your host (or elsewhere, but then you'd need to adjust the proxy mount at the bottom of the compose file):

vikunja.example.com {
    reverse_proxy vikunja:3456
}

Note that you need to change the VIKUNJA_SERVICE_PUBLICURL environment variable to the ip (the docker host you're running this on) is reachable at. Because the browser you'll use to access the Vikunja frontend uses that url to make the requests, it has to be able to reach that ip + port from the outside.

Docker Compose config:

services:
  vikunja:
    image: vikunja/vikunja
    environment:
      VIKUNJA_SERVICE_PUBLICURL: http://<the public url where Vikunja is reachable>
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_HOST: db
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_PASSWORD: changeme
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_TYPE: mysql
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_USER: vikunja
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_DATABASE: vikunja
      VIKUNJA_SERVICE_JWTSECRET: <a super secure random secret>
    ports:
      - 3456:3456
    volumes:
      - ./files:/app/vikunja/files
    depends_on:
      db:
        condition: service_healthy
    restart: unless-stopped
  db:
    image: mariadb:10
    command: --character-set-server=utf8mb4 --collation-server=utf8mb4_unicode_ci
    environment:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: supersecret
      MYSQL_USER: vikunja
      MYSQL_PASSWORD: changeme
      MYSQL_DATABASE: vikunja
    volumes:
      - ./db:/var/lib/mysql
    restart: unless-stopped
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "mysqladmin ping -h localhost -u $$MYSQL_USER --password=$$MYSQL_PASSWORD"]
      interval: 2s
      start_period: 30s
  caddy:
    image: caddy
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    depends_on:
      - vikunja 
    volumes:
      - ./Caddyfile:/etc/caddy/Caddyfile:ro

Setup on a Synology NAS #

There is a proxy preinstalled in DSM, so if you want to access Vikunja from outside, you need to prepare a proxy rule the Vikunja Service.

You should also add 2 empty folders for MariaDB and Vikunja inside Synology's docker main folders:

• Docker
  • vikunja
  • mariadb

Synology has its own GUI for managing Docker containers, but it's easier via docker compose.

To do that, you can

• Either activate SSH and paste the adapted compose file in a terminal (using Putty or similar)
• Without activating SSH as a "custom script" (go to Control Panel / Task Scheduler / Create / Scheduled Task / User-defined script)
• Without activating SSH, by using Portainer (you have to install first, check out this tutorial for example):
  1. Go to Dashboard / Stacks click the button "Add Stack"
  2. Give it the name Vikunja and paste the adapted docker compose file
  3. Deploy the Stack with the "Deploy Stack" button:

The docker-compose file we're going to use is exactly the same from the example without any proxy above.

You may want to change the volumes to match the rest of your setup.

After registering all your users, you might also want to disable the user registration.

Redis #

While Vikunja has support to use redis as a caching backend, you'll probably not need it unless you're using Vikunja with more than a handful of users.

To use redis, you'll need to add this to the config examples below:

services:
  vikunja:
    image: vikunja/vikunja
    environment:
      VIKUNJA_REDIS_ENABLED: 1
      VIKUNJA_REDIS_HOST: 'redis:6379'
      VIKUNJA_CACHE_ENABLED: 1
      VIKUNJA_CACHE_TYPE: redis
    volumes:
      - ./files:/app/vikunja/files
  redis:
    image: redis