Self-host Seafile with Docker Compose

Self-hosted file sync and sharing for teams and individuals

seafile

mysql

mariadb:12.2.2-noble

mysql-mysql-data-init

busybox

mysql-mysql-socket-init

busybox

mysql-mysql-tmp-init

busybox

This is still a work in progress.

The generated compose file and instructions may not be complete or correct for every app yet. Please report any issues you encounter to contact@bitflake.com.

The steps below take a few minutes end to end.

Docker compose setup and file
save the generated compose and env files.
Secret generation
create the random passwords Seafile needs.
Start Seafile with Docker Compose
bring the stack up and check it's healthy.

Requirements

You'll need these installed on the machine you're deploying to:

Docker

Packages Seafile and everything it depends on into an isolated container, so it runs the same way on your machine as it does everywhere else.

Install guide

Docker Compose

Reads docker-compose.ymland starts everything in it together. Ships with Docker Desktop. On Linux servers it's usually a separate install.

Install guide

1. Docker compose setup and file

Create a folder for Seafile and save the file below into it as docker-compose.yml. It describes every container the stack needs — Seafileitself and any supporting services, such as its database — along with the ports, volumes and environment variables each one uses. You'll also need an empty .env file in the same folder; Docker Compose reads it automatically and uses it to fill in the ${VARIABLE}references you'll see in the file below.

docker-compose.yml

version: "3.9"
services:
  mysql:
    image: mariadb:12.2.2-noble
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      MARIADB_DATABASE: app
      MARIADB_PASSWORD: ${RANDOM_MYSQL_PASSWORD}
      MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD: ${RANDOM_MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD}
      MARIADB_USER: app
    volumes:
      - mysql-data:/var/lib/mysql
      - mysql-tmp:/tmp
      - mysql-socket:/run/mysqld
    depends_on:
      mysql-mysql-data-init:
        condition: service_completed_successfully
      mysql-mysql-socket-init:
        condition: service_completed_successfully
      mysql-mysql-tmp-init:
        condition: service_completed_successfully
  mysql-mysql-data-init:
    image: busybox
    volumes:
      - mysql-data:/var/lib/mysql
    command:
      - chown
      - 999:999
      - /var/lib/mysql
  mysql-mysql-socket-init:
    image: busybox
    volumes:
      - mysql-socket:/run/mysqld
    command:
      - chown
      - 999:999
      - /run/mysqld
  mysql-mysql-tmp-init:
    image: busybox
    volumes:
      - mysql-tmp:/tmp
    command:
      - chown
      - 999:999
      - /tmp
  seafile:
    image: seafileltd/seafile-mc:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - 80:80
    environment:
      DB_HOST: 127.0.0.1
      DB_PORT: "3306"
      DB_ROOT_PASSWD: ${RANDOM_MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD}
      FORCE_HTTPS_IN_CONF: "true"
      INIT_SEAFILE_ADMIN_EMAIL: admin
      INIT_SEAFILE_ADMIN_PASSWORD: admin
      SEAFILE_ADMIN_EMAIL: admin
      SEAFILE_ADMIN_PASSWORD: admin
      SEAFILE_MYSQL_DB_HOST: 127.0.0.1
      SEAFILE_MYSQL_DB_PASSWORD: ${RANDOM_MYSQL_PASSWORD}
      SEAFILE_MYSQL_DB_PORT: "3306"
      SEAFILE_MYSQL_DB_USER: app
      SEAFILE_SERVER_HOSTNAME: seafile.localhost
      TIME_ZONE: UTC
    volumes:
      - data:/shared
    configs:
      - source: seafile-bflk-fix-service-url.sh
        target: /scripts/bflk-fix-service-url.sh
        mode: 493
    depends_on:
      mysql:
        condition: service_started
    command:
      - /sbin/my_init
      - --
      - /bin/bash
      - -c
      - /scripts/bflk-fix-service-url.sh & exec /scripts/enterpoint.sh
volumes:
  data: null
  mysql-data: null
  mysql-socket: null
  mysql-tmp: null
configs:
  seafile-bflk-fix-service-url.sh:
    content: |
      #!/bin/bash
      # bflk: force an https SERVICE_URL in seahub_settings.py. See the
      # deployment.command comment in details.yaml for the root cause.
      #
      # Timing: bootstrap.py writes the file in /opt/seafile/conf, then moves the
      # whole conf dir to /shared/seafile/conf (symlinking it back) at the very end
      # of init_seafile_server(); only then does start.py run check_upgrade and
      # seafile.sh/seahub.sh start. Watching the /shared path means we only ever
      # see the fully generated file, and we append several seconds before seahub
      # is started, so no seahub restart is needed (a restart would race with
      # start.py's own seahub.sh start and make it fail).
      set -u

      SETTINGS=/shared/seafile/conf/seahub_settings.py
      HOST="$${SEAFILE_SERVER_HOSTNAME:-}"

      log() { echo "[bflk-fix-service-url] $$(date '+%F %T') $$*"; }

      log "start; waiting for $${SETTINGS} (host=$${HOST})"
      while [ ! -f "$${SETTINGS}" ]; do sleep 0.2; done

      if grep -q '^SERVICE_URL = "https://' "$${SETTINGS}"; then
          log "SERVICE_URL already https; no change needed"
      else
          printf '\nSERVICE_URL = "https://%s"\n' "$${HOST}" >> "$${SETTINGS}"
          log "appended SERVICE_URL = https://$${HOST}"
      fi

      if grep -q '^CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS' "$${SETTINGS}"; then
          log "CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS already set; no change needed"
      else
          printf '\nCSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS = ["https://%s"]\n' "$${HOST}" >> "$${SETTINGS}"
          log "appended CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS = [https://$${HOST}]"
      fi

      if grep -q '^SECURE_PROXY_SSL_HEADER' "$${SETTINGS}"; then
          log "SECURE_PROXY_SSL_HEADER already set; no change needed"
      else
          printf '\nSECURE_PROXY_SSL_HEADER = ("HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO", "https")\n' >> "$${SETTINGS}"
          log "appended SECURE_PROXY_SSL_HEADER"
      fi
      log "done"

Volumes

Seafile stores its data in named Docker volumes, so it survives container restarts and updates:

data mounted at /shared: Seafile's data: the file library storage and its databases, plus the generated server config and logs.

2. Secret generation

Seafile needs a few randomly generated secrets — for example, database passwords or an internal session key — before it can start. These are referenced from docker-compose.ymlabove but don't live in it, so they need to end up in your .env file. Pick one of the two options below.

Generating secrets…

3. Start Seafile with Docker Compose

From the folder with docker-compose.yml and .env, run:

Terminal

Start Seafile and all its supporting services in the background.

docker compose up -d

The -d flag runs the stack in the background so it keeps running after you close the terminal. Docker will pull the images the first time, which can take a minute or two.

To check on it afterwards: docker compose ps shows whether containers are healthy, and docker compose logs -f follows their logs if something looks wrong. Once it's running, open http://localhost:80 in your browser.