Install Homarr with Docker Compose

Homarr is a self-hosted dashboard and app launcher. It links every service on your server, shows live status widgets, and gives you one browser tab to rule them all from. It's a small thing, but the tab it replaces is worth it.

What it is

Drag tiles onto a board, point each at a URL or a Docker container, and get a launcher with status indicators. Newer versions support multiple users with per-user boards, so a family dashboard can show only what each person actually uses.

Before you start

• Recent 1.x releases changed how boards and users are stored. Check whether your version wants SQLite or Postgres before assuming the old compose file works.
• Mounting the Docker socket lets Homarr show container status. Skip it if you'd rather not grant that access — the links work fine without it.
• Homarr is a launcher, not a monitor. Pair it with Uptime Kuma and link the status page from a board tile.

1 — Write the compose file

services:
  homarr:
    image: ghcr.io/homarr-labs/homarr:latest
    container_name: homarr
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:7575:7575"
    environment:
      SECRET_ENCRYPTION_KEY: CHANGE_ME_32_chars_minimum
      DB_TYPE: sqlite
      TZ: UTC
      NODE_ENV: production
    volumes:
      - ./homarr/appdata:/app/appdata
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "wget", "--spider", "-q", "http://localhost:7575/"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 3

2 — Start it

mkdir -p ~/services/homarr/appdata
cd ~/services/homarr
docker compose up -d
docker compose logs -f homarr | grep -i "ready\|error"

3 — First-run setup

1. Open http://yourhost:7575 and create the admin account.
2. Build a board and drag in tiles. The useful types: App for a link, Service Worker for a PWA, and Ping if you just want a green dot.
3. Use Groups to separate services by function — Infrastructure, Media, Productivity — so the board stays legible once you pass thirty tiles.
4. Add users under Settings → Users and give each their own board if this is a shared home server.
5. Set it as your browser's homepage and as the default page on any wall tablet. That's the entire workflow this app is for.

4 — If you run a lot of services

# copy the URL list straight out of docker
docker ps --format '{{.Names}}' | sed 's/^/http:\/\/localhost:7575 -> /'