Docker deploy

This guide covers building the RustyGPT container image and running it alongside PostgreSQL with Docker Compose.

Build the image

The repository ships a multi-stage Dockerfile that builds the workspace and bundles the server binary plus static assets:

docker build -t rustygpt/server:latest -f Dockerfile .

Set BUILD_PROFILE=release to compile with optimisations. The final image exposes the server on port 8080.

Compose stack

docker-compose.yaml defines two services:

• backend – builds from the Dockerfile (target runtime). Environment variables include DATABASE_URL, OAuth credentials, and feature toggles. Update them to match your deployment.
• postgres – postgres:17-alpine with credentials matching config.example.toml.

Bring the stack up:

docker compose up --build

The compose file mounts ./.data/postgres for database storage and ./.data/postgres-init for init scripts. To reuse the workspace schema, copy the contents of scripts/pg into that directory before the first run:

mkdir -p .data/postgres-init
cp -r scripts/pg/* .data/postgres-init/

Alternatively, rely on the server’s bootstrap runner by exposing the same directory inside the backend container and pointing [db].bootstrap_path at it.

Configuration and secrets

• Copy config.example.toml to a volume or bake it into the image and set RUSTYGPT__CONFIG variables as needed.
• Provide OAuth credentials (GITHUB_*, APPLE_*) if you plan to use those flows; otherwise the endpoints return placeholder URLs.
• Set features.auth_v1, features.sse_v1, and features.well_known to true via environment variables or the config file.
• If running behind TLS terminate HTTPS at the reverse proxy and set server.public_base_url to the external URL.

Post-deployment checks

1. Hit http://HOST:8080/healthz and http://HOST:8080/readyz until both return 200.
2. POST to /api/setup to create the initial admin account.
3. Use the CLI container (or a local build) to log in: docker compose exec backend rustygpt login.
4. Visit /metrics and confirm counters increment when making requests.
5. If using the web UI, serve the rustygpt-web build either from the same container (set [web.static_dir]) or via a separate static host.

Rollback

Tag each release in your registry. To roll back:

docker compose pull backend:previous-tag
docker compose up -d backend

The PostgreSQL data directory is persisted on disk so sessions and conversations remain intact.