Docker and Docker Compose

Requirements: a Linux server with Docker and Docker Compose and, for online booking, a domain pointing to it.

Try it locally

The compose.yaml file at the repository root builds the image from source and starts an instance in development mode with Mailpit to read outgoing mail. Do not use it in production.

git clone https://github.com/coste360/porto.git && cd porto
PORTO_BOOTSTRAP_OWNER_EMAIL=owner@porto.test PORTO_BOOTSTRAP_OWNER_NAME="Mario Rossi" \
PORTO_BOOTSTRAP_OWNER_ORG="Test Marina Ltd" PORTO_ADMIN_PASSWORD=test-password-123 \
  docker compose up --build        # or: make up

Open http://localhost:8080/admin/ and sign in with those credentials (password of at least 12 characters); mail is at http://localhost:8025. To load the demo marina: docker compose exec porto /porto seed demo (Demo data).

Installing on a server

The production files are in deploy/: docker-compose.yml (SQLite in the porto-data volume) and docker-compose.postgres.yml (PostgreSQL 17). The container runs as a non-root user with a read-only file system and no capabilities.

1. Configuration. Start from .env.example and create deploy/.env:

   git clone https://github.com/coste360/porto.git && cd porto
   cat > deploy/.env <<END
   PORTO_BASE_URL=https://porto.my-marina.example
   PORTO_SECRET_KEY=$(openssl rand -base64 32)
   PORTO_SMTP_URL=
   PORTO_BOOTSTRAP_OWNER_EMAIL=owner@my-marina.example
   PORTO_BOOTSTRAP_OWNER_NAME=Mario Rossi
   PORTO_BOOTSTRAP_OWNER_ORG=Example Marina Ltd
   PORTO_ADMIN_PASSWORD=choose-a-long-password
   END

   The variables are described in Configuration.

2. Image. Once the image is published the compose file pulls it (PORTO_VERSION, default latest). Until then, build it on the server and set the tag:

   docker build -f deploy/Dockerfile -t ghcr.io/coste360/porto:dev .     # or: make docker
   echo "PORTO_VERSION=dev" >> deploy/.env

3. Start.

   docker compose -f deploy/docker-compose.yml up -d

4. First sign-in at https://porto.my-marina.example/admin/: see First start.

Keep the secret key

PORTO_SECRET_KEY encrypts provider keys, customer documents and other secrets. Keep it with your backups: without it the encrypted data cannot be recovered.

With PostgreSQL

Add POSTGRES_PASSWORD to deploy/.env and use the other file:

echo "POSTGRES_PASSWORD=$(openssl rand -hex 24)" >> deploy/.env
docker compose -f deploy/docker-compose.postgres.yml up -d

The compose file puts the password into DATABASE_URL without encoding it: use URL-safe characters only, like those of openssl rand -hex. See Database.

Binary commands in the container

The image is distroless and has no shell, but exec runs the binary directly:

docker compose -f deploy/docker-compose.yml exec porto /porto version
docker compose -f deploy/docker-compose.yml exec porto /porto migrate status
docker compose -f deploy/docker-compose.yml exec porto /porto backup --out /data/backup.porto-backup

HTTPS

Put Porto behind a reverse proxy or let it obtain Let’s Encrypt certificates itself: see HTTPS and reverse proxy. Health checks are done from outside with GET /healthz and GET /readyz (Monitoring and logs).