Frigate with Docker Compose

What Frigate needs

Only figures Frigate'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 Frigate 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): no image for frigate. No image for this hardware; the builder leaves the app out.

A manifest says an image exists for a CPU, not how well Frigate 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 Frigate 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 Frigate alone on example.org: the official definition with its published ports removed and Caddy added in front. The time zone is Etc/UTC here; the builder uses your browser's.

# docker-compose.yml built at dankhost.com for: Frigate
# 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"

  # ---- Frigate (nvr.example.org) ----
  # Source: https://docs.frigate.video/frigate/installation (checked 2026-09-26)
  # Source: https://docs.frigate.video/guides/getting_started (checked 2026-09-26)
  # Source: https://docs.frigate.video/configuration/tls (checked 2026-09-26)
  # Source: https://docs.frigate.video/guides/reverse_proxy (checked 2026-09-26)
  # Source: https://caddyserver.com/docs/caddyfile/directives/reverse_proxy (checked 2026-09-26)
  # Changed: Removed the '8971:8971', '8554:8554', '8555:8555/tcp' and '8555:8555/udp' ports: Caddy reaches frigate:8971, the port the installation page says reverse proxies should use. RTSP and WebRTC are not published; the notes say how to add them.
  #          Written from the installation page's compose generator for a standard x86-64 machine; the folders are ./config and ./storage (the getting-started layout) and TZ is your time zone. The generator's optional FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD is left out: it only matters if your camera settings refer to {FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}.
  #          Caddy talks HTTPS to port 8971 and accepts Frigate's self-signed certificate with tls_insecure_skip_verify: one of the two ways Frigate's TLS page gives (the other is turning TLS off in Frigate).
  # ELEVATED ACCESS (privileged: true): kept from Frigate's installation page, which says it "may not be necessary for all setups". It gives the container every host device, so a Coral, a GPU at /dev/dri or a Raspberry Pi's /dev/video11 works without a devices: list, and nearly all of root's power on the host. To drop it, delete privileged and add only the devices: lines for your hardware from that page.
  # ELEVATED ACCESS (shm_size: 512mb): shared memory for decoded frames, the installation page's value. Its formula per camera is (width x height x 1.5 x 20 + 270480) / 1048576 MB at the detect resolution, about 27MB for 1280x720, plus up to 40MB for logs; raise it if Frigate exits with "Bus error".
  frigate:
    image: "ghcr.io/blakeblackshear/frigate:stable"
    container_name: "frigate"
    privileged: true
    restart: "unless-stopped"
    stop_grace_period: "30s"
    shm_size: "512mb"
    volumes:
      - "/etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro"
      - "./frigate/config:/config"
      - "./frigate/storage:/media/frigate"
      - type: "tmpfs"
        target: "/tmp/cache"
        tmpfs:
          size: 1000000000
    environment:
      TZ: "Etc/UTC"
    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 nvr.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.

# Frigate
nvr.example.org {
	reverse_proxy frigate:8971 {
		transport http {
			tls_insecure_skip_verify
		}
	}
}

.env

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

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

What Frigate needs beyond the proxy

Frigate asks for more than an ordinary container. The compose file keeps what the project documents and labels each item with an # ELEVATED ACCESS comment; /check/ flags them too, as it would in any file.

• privileged: true: kept from Frigate's installation page, which says it "may not be necessary for all setups". It gives the container every host device, so a Coral, a GPU at /dev/dri or a Raspberry Pi's /dev/video11 works without a devices: list, and nearly all of root's power on the host. To drop it, delete privileged and add only the devices: lines for your hardware from that page.
• shm_size: 512mb: shared memory for decoded frames, the installation page's value. Its formula per camera is (width x height x 1.5 x 20 + 270480) / 1048576 MB at the detect resolution, about 27MB for 1280x720, plus up to 40MB for logs; raise it if Frigate exits with "Bus error".

Changes from the official file

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

• Removed the '8971:8971', '8554:8554', '8555:8555/tcp' and '8555:8555/udp' ports: Caddy reaches frigate:8971, the port the installation page says reverse proxies should use. RTSP and WebRTC are not published; the notes say how to add them.
• Written from the installation page's compose generator for a standard x86-64 machine; the folders are ./config and ./storage (the getting-started layout) and TZ is your time zone. The generator's optional FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD is left out: it only matters if your camera settings refer to {FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}.
• Caddy talks HTTPS to port 8971 and accepts Frigate's self-signed certificate with tls_insecure_skip_verify: one of the two ways Frigate's TLS page gives (the other is turning TLS off in Frigate).

Notes for Frigate behind the proxy

• Log in at https://nvr.example.org as admin with the password Frigate prints on its first start: docker compose logs frigate | grep -i password. Change it under Settings > Users.
• Frigate creates its config file on the first start; add your cameras in the UI or in ./frigate/config/config.yml.
• RTSP restreaming (8554) and WebRTC (8555) are not published. To use them from devices on your network, add under the frigate service:
  ports:
  - "8554:8554"
  - "8555:8555/tcp"
  - "8555:8555/udp"
  The installation page says these RTSP streams are unauthenticated by default (the go2rtc section can add authentication), so never forward 8554 from your router.
• Caddy talks HTTPS to port 8971, which serves Frigate's own self-signed certificate by default, and accepts it with tls_insecure_skip_verify; Caddy's docs warn that option makes that hop open to a man in the middle, and here the hop is the Docker network inside this server. Visitors still get Caddy's Let's Encrypt certificate. To avoid it, turn TLS off in Frigate (Settings > System > TLS) and delete the transport block.
• Without a Coral, GPU or other detector, object detection runs on the CPU; the README says a GPU or AI accelerator is highly recommended.

Back it up

The installation page: /config holds the Frigate config file and its SQLite database; /media/frigate holds recordings, snapshots (clips) and exports; /tmp/cache is a tmpfs in memory.

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: Frigate

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)

## Frigate

The installation page: /config holds the Frigate config file and its SQLite database; /media/frigate holds recordings, snapshots (clips) and exports; /tmp/cache is a tmpfs in memory.

What this compose mounts:
- ./frigate/config (/config in frigate)
  BACK UP: config.yml and the SQLite database (events, users).
- ./frigate/storage (/media/frigate in frigate)
  OPTIONAL: recordings, snapshots and exports. Often hundreds of gigabytes; Frigate deletes old recordings by its retention settings.

1. Stop frigate. Stopping it keeps the SQLite database from changing mid-copy. Nothing is recorded until it is back.

    docker compose stop frigate

2. Copy while frigate is stopped:

    tar czf "$BACKUP/frigate-config.tar.gz" ./frigate/config

3. Start it again:

    docker compose start frigate

Restore check:

    tar tzf "$BACKUP/frigate-config.tar.gz" > /dev/null && echo OK

Put a copy back (with frigate stopped):

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

Stop it, put ./frigate/config (and ./frigate/storage if you kept it) back, start it.

Sources:
- Frigate docs: Installation (storage, ports, shm size, Docker Compose generator and example): https://docs.frigate.video/frigate/installation (checked 2026-09-26)
- 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 2026-09-26)

Sources

Every page below was fetched on the date shown.

• Frigate README on GitHub checked 2026-09-26 (what it does, hardware requirements)
• Frigate docs: Installation (storage, ports, shm size, Docker Compose generator and example) checked 2026-09-26 (compose definition and proxy settings, backup plan)
• Frigate docs: Getting started (./config and ./storage, admin password in the logs) checked 2026-09-26 (compose definition and proxy settings)
• Frigate docs: TLS (self-signed certificate on 8971 by default; allow it in the proxy or turn TLS off) checked 2026-09-26 (compose definition and proxy settings)
• Frigate docs: Setting up a reverse proxy (port 8971, WebSockets) checked 2026-09-26 (compose definition and proxy settings)
• Caddy docs: reverse_proxy, transport http (tls_insecure_skip_verify) checked 2026-09-26 (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 2026-09-26 (backup plan)
• Caddy docs: Conventions, Data directory checked 2026-09-24 (backup plan)

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