Self-host Vikunja with Docker Compose

Simple task and project management with kanban boards and Gantt charts.

vikunja

postgres

postgres:18.3-alpine3.23

vikunja-storage-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 Vikunja needs.
Start Vikunja 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 Vikunja 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 Vikunja and save the file below into it as docker-compose.yml. It describes every container the stack needs — Vikunjaitself 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:
  postgres:
    image: postgres:18.3-alpine3.23
    restart: unless-stopped
    network_mode: service:vikunja
    environment:
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${RANDOM_PG_PASSWORD}
      POSTGRES_USER: app
  vikunja:
    image: vikunja/vikunja
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - 3456:3456
    environment:
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_DATABASE: app
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_HOST: localhost
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_PASSWORD: ${RANDOM_PG_PASSWORD}
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_PORT: "5432"
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_SSL_MODE: disable
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_TYPE: postgres
      VIKUNJA_DATABASE_USER: app
      VIKUNJA_SERVICE_PUBLICURL: http://localhost
      VIKUNJA_SERVICE_SECRET: ${RANDOM_VIKUNJA_SERVICE_SECRET}
    volumes:
      - storage:/app/vikunja/files
    depends_on:
      vikunja-storage-init:
        condition: service_completed_successfully
    healthcheck:
      test:
        - CMD
        - curl
        - -f
        - http://localhost:3456/health
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5
  vikunja-storage-init:
    image: busybox
    volumes:
      - storage:/app/vikunja/files
    command:
      - chown
      - 1000:1000
      - /app/vikunja/files
volumes:
  storage: null

Volumes

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

storage mounted at /app/vikunja/files

2. Secret generation

Vikunja 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 Vikunja with Docker Compose

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

Terminal

Start Vikunja 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:3456 in your browser.