Grocy with Docker Compose

What Grocy needs

Only figures Grocy'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 Grocy 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 grocy. No image for this hardware; the builder leaves the app out.

A manifest says an image exists for a CPU, not how well Grocy 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 Grocy 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 Grocy 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: Grocy
# 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"

  # ---- Grocy (grocy.example.org) ----
  # Source: https://github.com/linuxserver/docker-grocy (checked 2026-09-26)
  # Source: https://github.com/grocy/grocy (checked 2026-09-26)
  # Changed: Removed the '9283:80' port; Caddy reaches grocy:80 on the proxy network.
  #          /path/to/grocy/config becomes ./config; TZ is your time zone instead of Etc/UTC.
  grocy:
    image: "lscr.io/linuxserver/grocy:latest"
    container_name: "grocy"
    environment:
      PUID: "1000"
      PGID: "1000"
      TZ: "Etc/UTC"
    volumes:
      - "./grocy/config:/config"
    restart: "unless-stopped"
    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 grocy.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.

# Grocy
grocy.example.org {
	reverse_proxy grocy:80
}

.env

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

# .env for Grocy, from dankhost.com/app/grocy/. 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 grocy (so any set of apps can share one file), these are all the differences from what the project documents:

• Removed the '9283:80' port; Caddy reaches grocy:80 on the proxy network.
• /path/to/grocy/config becomes ./config; TZ is your time zone instead of Etc/UTC.

Notes for Grocy behind the proxy

• Grocy's README sends Docker users to LinuxServer.io's image: it is maintained by LinuxServer.io, not by the Grocy project.
• Log in with admin / admin and change the password at once (user menu, top right), as both READMEs say.

Back it up

Grocy's README: an update keeps the data directory, which holds the SQLite database and config.php. In LinuxServer.io's image it lives under /config, which is ./config here.

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: Grocy

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)

## Grocy

Grocy's README: an update keeps the data directory, which holds the SQLite database and config.php. In LinuxServer.io's image it lives under /config, which is ./config here.

What this compose mounts:
- ./grocy/config (/config in grocy)
  BACK UP: Grocy's data folder (the SQLite database, config.php, uploaded pictures) and the image's web server settings.

1. Stop grocy. Stopping it keeps the SQLite database from changing mid-copy.

    docker compose stop grocy

2. Copy while grocy is stopped:

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

3. Start it again:

    docker compose start grocy

Restore check:

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

Put a copy back (with grocy stopped):

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

Stop it, put ./grocy/config back, start it.

Sources:
- Grocy README on GitHub (how to run using Docker, default login, data directory): https://github.com/grocy/grocy (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.

• Grocy README on GitHub checked 2026-09-26 (what it does)
• LinuxServer.io: docker-grocy README (docker-compose, port 80, /config, admin/admin) checked 2026-09-26 (compose definition and proxy settings)
• Grocy README on GitHub (how to run using Docker, default login, data directory) checked 2026-09-26 (compose definition and proxy settings, backup plan)
• 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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