Docker

You can install and run Coder using the official Docker images published on GitHub Container Registry.

**Before you install** If you would like your workspaces to be able to run Docker, we recommend that you install Sysbox before proceeding.

As part of the Sysbox installation you will be required to remove all existing Docker containers including containers used by Coder workspaces. Installing Sysbox ahead of time will reduce disruption to your Coder instance.

Requirements

Docker is required. See the official installation documentation.

Note that the below steps are only supported on a Linux distribution. If on macOS, please run Coder via the standalone binary.

Run Coder with the built-in database (quick)

For proof-of-concept deployments, you can run a complete Coder instance with the following command.

export CODER_DATA=$HOME/.config/coderv2-docker
export DOCKER_GROUP=$(getent group docker | cut -d: -f3)
mkdir -p $CODER_DATA
docker run --rm -it \
  -v $CODER_DATA:/home/coder/.config \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  --group-add $DOCKER_GROUP \
  ghcr.io/coder/coder:latest

^{Note: Coder runs as a non-root user, we use --group-add to ensure Coder has permissions to manage Docker via docker.sock. If the host systems /var/run/docker.sock is not group writeable or does not belong to the docker group, the above may not work as-is.}

Coder configuration is defined via environment variables. Learn more about Coder's configuration options.

Run Coder with access URL and external PostgreSQL (recommended)

For production deployments, we recommend using an external PostgreSQL database (version 13 or higher). Set ACCESS_URL to the external URL that users and workspaces will use to connect to Coder.

docker run --rm -it \
  -e CODER_ACCESS_URL="https://coder.example.com" \
  -e CODER_PG_CONNECTION_URL="postgresql://username:password@database/coder" \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  ghcr.io/coder/coder:latest

Coder configuration is defined via environment variables. Learn more about Coder's configuration options.

Run Coder with docker-compose

Coder's publishes a docker-compose example which includes an PostgreSQL container and volume.

1. Install Docker Compose

2. Clone the coder repository:

   git clone https://github.com/coder/coder.git
   

3. Start Coder with docker-compose up:

   In order to use cloud-based templates (e.g. Kubernetes, AWS), you must have an external URL that users and workspaces will use to connect to Coder.

   For proof-of-concept deployments, you can use Coder's tunnel:

   cd coder
   
   docker-compose up
   

   For production deployments, we recommend setting an access URL:

   cd coder
   
   CODER_ACCESS_URL=https://coder.example.com docker-compose up
   

4. Visit the web ui via the configured url. You can add /login to the base url to create the first user via the ui.

5. Follow the on-screen instructions log in and create your first template and workspace

Troubleshooting

Docker-based workspace is stuck in "Connecting..."

Ensure you have an externally-reachable CODER_ACCESS_URL set. See troubleshooting templates for more steps.

Permission denied while trying to connect to the Docker daemon socket

See Docker's official documentation to Manage Docker as a non-root user

Next steps