Homarr: One Dashboard for My Self-Hosted Stack

Homarr is one of the most useful containers in my stack. It’s a free, open-source dashboard that puts my self-hosted services on one page.

The screenshot shows my own instance: Immich, Nextcloud, Seafile, Joplin, Mattermost, Matrix/Element, Vikunja, OpenProject, Invoice Ninja, Akaunting, n8n, and Uptime Kuma, among others. The green dots are status indicators, so I can see what’s responding without digging through bookmarks and port numbers.

Quick setup with Docker Compose

Create a docker-compose.yml file with this example:

services:
  homarr:
    image: ghcr.io/homarr-labs/homarr:latest
    container_name: homarr
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "7575:7575"
    volumes:
      - ./homarr/appdata:/appdata
      # Optional: add the Docker socket only for Docker integration.
      # - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
    environment:
      - SECRET_ENCRYPTION_KEY=${SECRET_ENCRYPTION_KEY}

1. Run openssl rand -hex 32 to generate a key, then put it in a .env file next to the Compose file as SECRET_ENCRYPTION_KEY=your-generated-key. Keep that key and your appdata directory backed up.
2. Run docker compose up -d.
3. Open http://YOUR_HOST_IP:7575 and complete the initial account setup.
4. Add a tile for each service with its URL and icon. Configure status checks and the widgets you want, such as weather, calendar, or Docker information.

If you enable Docker discovery or management, uncomment the Docker socket mount. That grants the dashboard significant control over the Docker host, so only enable it when you need the integration and secure access to the dashboard.

Check Homarr’s current Docker installation guide before deploying, since the project’s setup can change.

You can build a dashboard like this yourself on an old PC or mini PC. If you’d rather have the server, services, and dashboard set up for you, contact Kituwa IT.

What’s on your dashboard? Do you prefer another option over Homarr?