Self-host Mailpit with Docker Compose

SMTP server and email preview tool for developers testing outgoing mail

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.
Start Mailpit 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 Mailpit 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 Mailpit and save the file below into it as docker-compose.yml. It describes every container the stack needs — Mailpititself 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:
  mailpit:
    image: axllent/mailpit:v1.30.6
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - 8025:8025
    volumes:
      - mailpit-tmp:/tmp
    healthcheck:
      test:
        - CMD
        - curl
        - -f
        - http://localhost:8025/readyz
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5
volumes:
  mailpit-tmp: null

Volumes

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

mailpit-tmp mounted at /tmp: Mailpit's default message store is a temp SQLite file under /tmp, recreated on every startup; the platform's read-only root filesystem otherwise blocks writing it.

2. Start Mailpit with Docker Compose

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

Terminal

Start Mailpit 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:8025 in your browser.