Self-host Stirling PDF with Docker Compose

Selbstgehostetes PDF-Toolkit zum Zusammenführen, Aufteilen, Konvertieren und Bearbeiten von Dokumenten.

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 Stirling PDF 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 Stirling PDF 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 Stirling PDF and save the file below into it as docker-compose.yml. It describes every container the stack needs — Stirling PDFitself 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:
  stirling-pdf:
    image: stirlingtools/stirling-pdf:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - 8080:8080
    environment:
      SECURITY_ENABLELOGIN: "false"
    volumes:
      - tmp:/tmp
      - logs:/logs
      - configs:/configs
      - customfiles:/customFiles
      - pipeline:/pipeline
      - storage:/storage
      - home:/home/stirlingpdfuser
    configs:
      - source: stirling-pdf-stirling-diagnostics.sh
        target: /scripts/stirling-diagnostics.sh
    healthcheck:
      test:
        - CMD
        - curl
        - -f
        - http://localhost:8080/
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5
volumes:
  configs: null
  customfiles: null
  home: null
  logs: null
  pipeline: null
  storage: null
  tmp: null
configs:
  stirling-pdf-stirling-diagnostics.sh:
    content: |
      #!/bin/bash
      # Intentionally non-executable so init-without-ocr.sh skips symlinking
      # this into the read-only /usr/local/bin. Not meant to be run.
      exit 0

Volumes

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

tmp mounted at /tmp: Temporary working files: Java tmpdir, Stirling-PDF's per-request scratch files, and conversion intermediates.
logs mounted at /logs: Stirling-PDF's runtime log files.
configs mounted at /configs: Stirling-PDF's settings and configuration.
customfiles mounted at /customFiles: Stirling-PDF's user-provided custom files: static assets, custom templates, and signatures.
pipeline mounted at /pipeline: Stirling-PDF's pipeline working directory for its automated multi-step processing workflows.
storage mounted at /storage: Stirling-PDF's file storage for uploaded and processed documents.
home mounted at /home/stirlingpdfuser: Home directory for the LibreOffice/UNO conversion profile and its caches.

2. Start Stirling PDF with Docker Compose

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

Terminal

Start Stirling PDF 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:8080 in your browser.