Beszel with Docker Compose

What Beszel needs

Only figures Beszel's own documentation publishes, each linked to the page it is on. Where the project gives no number, this page does not invent one.

On top of this, Caddy (the reverse proxy in the file) is a single small container.

Which hardware Beszel has images for

Read from each image's manifest list in its registry (anonymous, read-only) when this page was built. An app counts for a CPU only if every one of its images lists it.

• x86-64 PC or NAS (linux/amd64): every image has a build.
• Raspberry Pi 4/5, 64-bit OS (linux/arm64): every image has a build.
• Raspberry Pi 3 or Zero 2 W, 32-bit OS (linux/arm/v7): every image has a build.

A manifest says an image exists for a CPU, not how well Beszel runs on it: a build for arm64 or arm/v7 can still be too slow or need more memory than the board has. The RAM and disk Beszel publishes are in the table above and, for a whole set of apps against a Raspberry Pi, on Will it run on my machine?. A tag like latest can move to a new digest after the date checked.

docker-compose.yml

This is exactly what the builder writes for Beszel alone on example.org: the official definition with its published ports removed and Caddy added in front.

# docker-compose.yml built at dankhost.com for: Beszel
# Each app block is its official compose definition. Only the names were prefixed with
# the app slug (services, containers, volumes, bind folders, .env variables) so any set of
# apps can share one file; other differences are listed under "Changed:" in each block.
# Only Caddy publishes ports. Secrets live in .env next to this file.

services:
  # ---- Caddy: the one reverse proxy, HTTPS certificates from Let's Encrypt ----
  # Source: https://caddyserver.com/docs/running (checked 2026-09-23)
  # Source: https://github.com/dani-garcia/vaultwarden/wiki/Using-Docker-Compose (checked 2026-09-23)
  # Caddyfile goes in ./caddy/Caddyfile. Fixed address 172.30.0.2 so apps can trust it exactly.
  caddy:
    image: "caddy:2"
    container_name: "caddy"
    restart: "unless-stopped"
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
      - "443:443/udp"
    volumes:
      - "./caddy:/etc/caddy"
      - "caddy-data:/data"
      - "caddy-config:/config"
    networks:
      proxy:
        ipv4_address: "172.30.0.2"

  # ---- Beszel (beszel.example.org) ----
  # Source: https://beszel.dev/guide/hub-installation (checked 2026-10-03)
  # Source: https://beszel.dev/guide/reverse-proxy (checked 2026-10-03)
  # Source: https://beszel.dev/guide/agent-installation (checked 2026-10-03)
  # Source: https://beszel.dev/guide/environment-variables (checked 2026-10-03)
  # Changed: Removed the documented '8090:8090' port and container_name; Caddy reaches beszel:8090 on the proxy network.
  #          APP_URL, http://localhost:8090 in the file, is https://beszel.example.org: the Reverse Proxy page recommends the public address, used in notification links and in the agent settings the hub generates.
  #          The Caddyfile carries the Reverse Proxy page's two settings for Beszel: request_body max_size 10MB and a 360 s read_timeout towards the hub.
  beszel:
    image: "henrygd/beszel"
    container_name: "beszel"
    restart: "unless-stopped"
    environment:
      APP_URL: "https://beszel.example.org"
    volumes:
      - "./beszel/beszel_data:/beszel_data"
    networks:
      proxy: {}

networks:
  # Pinned so the trusted-proxy address given to each app (172.30.0.2) is exact.
  # If "docker compose up" reports "Pool overlaps", change 172.30.0 here, in Caddy's
  # ipv4_address and in every trusted-proxy value to a free 172.x.0 range.
  proxy:
    ipam:
      config:
        - subnet: "172.30.0.0/24"
          ip_range: "172.30.0.128/25"
          gateway: "172.30.0.1"

volumes:
  caddy-data:
  caddy-config:

Caddyfile save as caddy/Caddyfile

Caddy gets and renews the HTTPS certificate for beszel.example.org by itself once the DNS record points at your server and ports 80 and 443 reach it.

# Caddyfile built at dankhost.com. Save it as ./caddy/Caddyfile next to docker-compose.yml.
# Caddy gets and renews a Let's Encrypt certificate for each name below by itself,
# once the DNS records point at this server and ports 80 and 443 reach it.

# Beszel
beszel.example.org {
	request_body {
		max_size 10MB
	}
	reverse_proxy beszel:8090 {
		transport http {
			read_timeout 360s
		}
	}
}

Already running nginx, Nginx Proxy Manager, Caddy or Traefik? The reverse-proxy settings Beszel needs, for all four, each cited to Beszel's own docs.

.env

Beszel needs no secret here; the builder adds nothing you have to fill in by hand.

# .env for Beszel, from dankhost.com/app/beszel/. Nothing here is secret.
# Keep this file private (chmod 600).
# None of the chosen apps needs a variable here.

Changes from the official file

Besides prefixing every service, container, volume, folder and variable with beszel (so any set of apps can share one file), these are all the differences from what the project documents:

• Removed the documented '8090:8090' port and container_name; Caddy reaches beszel:8090 on the proxy network.
• APP_URL, http://localhost:8090 in the file, is https://beszel.example.org: the Reverse Proxy page recommends the public address, used in notification links and in the agent settings the hub generates.
• The Caddyfile carries the Reverse Proxy page's two settings for Beszel: request_body max_size 10MB and a 360 s read_timeout towards the hub.

Notes for Beszel behind the proxy

• This is the hub only, as the Hub Installation page gives it. It monitors nothing until you add a system: in the web UI choose Add System, and it shows a docker-compose.yml for the agent with the key and token filled in. The agent runs on each monitored machine with host networking and reads the Docker socket (read-only) for container stats, so it is not part of this file.
• An agent on another machine connects to the hub over WebSocket at https://beszel.example.org, through the proxy; the Reverse Proxy page says the proxy must pass WebSocket connections for agents set up with a universal token.
• Create the first account in the web UI straight after the first start: until then anyone who reaches the address can create it. USER_EMAIL and USER_PASSWORD (Environment Variables page) can create it at start-up instead.

Back it up

Beszel publishes no backup procedure for the Docker hub. Everything the hub keeps (users, systems, alert rules and the metric history) is in ./beszel_data, its PocketBase data folder with SQLite databases.

Below is the BACKUP.md the builder writes next to the compose file above: which of its folders and volumes hold data, what to copy with which container stopped, and a restore check. Pick more apps in the builder and it covers them all in one file.

# BACKUP.md built at dankhost.com for: Beszel

What to copy from the docker-compose.yml built with this file, the database dump each project documents (rewritten for the service names in that file), what to copy with which container stopped, and how to check the result. Run every command in the folder that holds docker-compose.yml.

The folders are owned by the containers' users: put sudo in front of tar if it says "Permission denied". Named volumes live under /var/lib/docker/volumes, not next to the compose file, so they are copied through a throwaway ubuntu container (Docker's documented --volumes-from method). tar makes a full copy each run; for large folders an incremental tool (restic, borg, rsync) saves time and space.

Never run "docker compose down -v" on this file: it deletes the named volumes of every app in it.

## Before you start

    BACKUP=/mnt/backup/selfhost   # change this: a disk or machine other than this server's system disk
    mkdir -p "$BACKUP"

## Every time: the three stack files

    tar czf "$BACKUP/stack-files.tar.gz" docker-compose.yml .env caddy

.env holds the database passwords and secret keys the apps were set up with; keep this archive as private as the data.

## Caddy (the reverse proxy)

Caddy's docs: 'The data directory must not be treated as a cache.' It holds the TLS certificates and their private keys; without it Caddy has to ask Let's Encrypt for every certificate again.

- caddy-data (named volume, /data in caddy)
  BACK UP: TLS certificates, private keys, OCSP staples.
- caddy-config (named volume, /config in caddy)
  SKIP: the last active configuration, kept for 'caddy run --resume', which this setup does not use: it starts from the Caddyfile.
- ./caddy (/etc/caddy in caddy)
  IN stack-files.tar.gz: the Caddyfile, copied with the stack files above.

Copy (Caddy keeps serving while you copy):

    docker run --rm --volumes-from caddy -v "$BACKUP":/backup ubuntu tar cvf /backup/caddy-data.tar /data

Restore check:

    tar tf "$BACKUP/caddy-data.tar" > /dev/null && echo OK
    docker run --rm --volumes-from caddy -v "$BACKUP":/backup ubuntu bash -c "cd /data && tar xvf /backup/caddy-data.tar --strip 1"

Sources:
- Caddy docs: Conventions, Data directory: https://caddyserver.com/docs/conventions#data-directory (checked 2026-09-24)
- Docker docs: Volumes, Back up, restore, or migrate data volumes: https://docs.docker.com/engine/storage/volumes/#back-up-restore-or-migrate-data-volumes (checked 2026-09-24)

## Beszel

Beszel publishes no backup procedure for the Docker hub. Everything the hub keeps (users, systems, alert rules and the metric history) is in ./beszel_data, its PocketBase data folder with SQLite databases.

What this compose mounts:
- ./beszel/beszel_data (/beszel_data in beszel)
  BACK UP: the hub's PocketBase data: SQLite databases with users, systems, alerts and the recorded metrics.

1. Stop beszel. The hub writes new metrics into its SQLite databases every minute; stopping it keeps the copy consistent. Agents keep running and reconnect when it is back.

    docker compose stop beszel

2. Copy while beszel is stopped:

    tar czf "$BACKUP/beszel-beszel_data.tar.gz" ./beszel/beszel_data

3. Start it again:

    docker compose start beszel

Restore check:

    tar tzf "$BACKUP/beszel-beszel_data.tar.gz" > /dev/null && echo OK

Put a copy back (with beszel stopped):

    tar xzf "$BACKUP/beszel-beszel_data.tar.gz"   # recreates ./beszel/beszel_data; move the old folder aside first

Stop it, put ./beszel/beszel_data back, start it.

Sources:
- Beszel docs: Hub Installation (docker-compose.yml, port 8090, ./beszel_data, APP_URL): https://beszel.dev/guide/hub-installation (checked 2026-10-03)
- Docker docs: Volumes, Back up, restore, or migrate data volumes: https://docs.docker.com/engine/storage/volumes/#back-up-restore-or-migrate-data-volumes (checked 2026-10-03)

Update it

What docker compose pull does depends only on how each image line in the compose file above is tagged. For Beszel as this page writes it:

What Beszel's docs say about updating

Beszel publishes no update procedure for this setup; the steps below are Docker's generic method.

The steps

1. Back up first, as in Back it up above. An update can migrate Beszel's data on its first start; the copy is the way back.
2. Download the new images. Running containers are not touched yet:

   docker compose pull

3. Recreate the containers whose image changed. Volumes and bind-mounted folders stay as they are:

   docker compose up -d

4. Watch Beszel start (Ctrl+C stops following the log, not the app):

   docker compose logs -f beszel

5. Optional: remove the old images the pull left without a tag. This covers every stack on the machine, not only this one:

   docker image prune

Docker's reference for these commands: Docker docs: docker compose pull checked 2026-09-30; Docker docs: docker compose up (recreates changed containers, keeps volumes) checked 2026-09-30; Docker docs: docker image prune checked 2026-09-30

Sources

Every page below was fetched on the date shown.

• Beszel on GitHub (repository description) checked 2026-10-03 (what it does)
• Beszel docs: Hub Installation (docker-compose.yml, port 8090, ./beszel_data, APP_URL) checked 2026-10-03 (compose definition and proxy settings, backup plan)
• Beszel docs: Reverse Proxy (APP_URL; WebSocket for agents; Caddy and Nginx examples with a 10 MB body limit and a 360 s read timeout) checked 2026-10-03 (compose definition and proxy settings)
• Beszel docs: Agent Installation checked 2026-10-03 (compose definition and proxy settings)
• Beszel docs: Environment Variables (APP_URL, USER_EMAIL, USER_PASSWORD) checked 2026-10-03 (compose definition and proxy settings)
• Caddy docs: Keep Caddy running (Docker Compose section) checked 2026-09-23 (Caddy)
• Vaultwarden wiki: Caddy with HTTP challenge (uses the caddy:2 image) checked 2026-09-23 (Caddy)
• Docker docs: Volumes, Back up, restore, or migrate data volumes checked 2026-10-03 (backup plan)
• Caddy docs: Conventions, Data directory checked 2026-09-24 (backup plan)
• Docker docs: docker compose pull checked 2026-09-30 (update steps)
• Docker docs: docker compose up (recreates changed containers, keeps volumes) checked 2026-09-30 (update steps)
• Docker docs: docker image prune checked 2026-09-30 (update steps)

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