Self-host Kimai with Docker Compose

Zeiterfassung und Rechnungsstellung für Freelancer, Projektteams und Agenturen.

kimai

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 Kimai needs.
Start Kimai 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 Kimai 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 Kimai and save the file below into it as docker-compose.yml. It describes every container the stack needs — Kimaiitself 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:
  kimai:
    image: kimai/kimai2:apache
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - 8001:8001
    environment:
      ADMINMAIL: admin@example.com
      ADMINPASS: admin123
      APP_SECRET: ${RANDOM_APP_SECRET}
      DATABASE_URL: mysql://app:${RANDOM_MYSQL_PASSWORD}@127.0.0.1:3306/app
      RANDOM_MYSQL_PASSWORD: ${RANDOM_MYSQL_PASSWORD}
      TRUSTED_HOSTS: localhost
      TRUSTED_PROXIES: REMOTE_ADDR
    volumes:
      - data:/opt/kimai/var/data
      - cache:/opt/kimai/var/cache
      - kimai-log:/opt/kimai/var/log
      - apache-run:/var/run/apache2
      - apache-log:/var/log/apache2
      - apache-lock:/var/lock/apache2
      - tmp:/tmp
    healthcheck:
      test:
        - CMD
        - curl
        - -f
        - http://localhost:8001/
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5
  mysql:
    image: mariadb:12.2.2-noble
    restart: unless-stopped
    network_mode: service:kimai
    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
volumes:
  apache-lock: null
  apache-log: null
  apache-run: null
  cache: null
  data: null
  kimai-log: null
  mysql-data: null
  mysql-socket: null
  mysql-tmp: null
  tmp: null

Volumes

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

data mounted at /opt/kimai/var/data: Kimai's persistent app data, including the application secret (.appsecret) it generates on first run.
cache mounted at /opt/kimai/var/cache: Kimai's compiled Symfony application cache, rebuilt at startup.
kimai-log mounted at /opt/kimai/var/log: Kimai's runtime application log files.
apache-run mounted at /var/run/apache2: Runtime directory for Apache's pid file.
apache-log mounted at /var/log/apache2: Apache's access and error log files.
apache-lock mounted at /var/lock/apache2: Apache's runtime mutex lock files.
tmp mounted at /tmp: Temporary working files and PHP session storage.

2. Secret generation

Kimai 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 Kimai with Docker Compose

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

Terminal

Start Kimai 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:8001 in your browser.