Mealie with Docker Compose

Mealie is a self hosted recipe manager, meal planner and shopping list with a RestAPI backend and a reactive frontend built in Vue for a pleasant user experience for the whole family. In the project's words: Mealie README (About The Project) checked 2026-09-23

Add Mealie to the builder to use your own domain and combine it with other apps in one file.

What Mealie needs

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

Resource	Minimum	Recommended
RAM	Not published by the project
	No minimum is published. The official compose file caps the container at 1000M, and the docs recommend an explicit limit because Python can pre-allocate far more memory than it needs on a machine with a lot of RAM. Source: Mealie docs: Installation, SQLite (Recommended) checked 2026-09-23
CPU	Not published by the project
	No speed or core count. Images exist for linux/amd64 and linux/arm64 only: 32-bit ARM is not supported, so a Raspberry Pi needs a 64-bit OS. Source: Mealie docs: Installation Checklist (Docker, 32bit Support) checked 2026-09-23
Disk	Not published by the project

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

docker-compose.yml

This is exactly what the builder writes for Mealie 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: Mealie
# 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"

  # ---- Mealie (recipes.example.org) ----
  # Source: https://docs.mealie.io/documentation/getting-started/installation/sqlite/ (checked 2026-09-23)
  # Source: https://docs.mealie.io/documentation/getting-started/installation/installation-checklist/ (checked 2026-09-23)
  # Changed: Removed the documented '9925:9000' port; Caddy reaches mealie:9000 on the proxy network.
  #          BASE_URL is your address instead of the documented example address mealie.yourdomain.com; TZ is your browser's time zone instead of the example America/Anchorage.
  mealie:
    image: "ghcr.io/mealie-recipes/mealie:v3.27.0"
    container_name: "mealie"
    restart: "always"
    deploy:
      resources:
        limits:
          memory: "1000M"
    volumes:
      - "mealie-data:/app/data/"
    environment:
      ALLOW_SIGNUP: "false"
      PUID: "1000"
      PGID: "1000"
      TZ: "Etc/UTC"
      BASE_URL: "https://recipes.example.org"
    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:
  mealie-data:

Caddyfile save as caddy/Caddyfile

Caddy gets and renews the HTTPS certificate for recipes.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.

# Mealie
recipes.example.org {
	reverse_proxy mealie:9000
}

.env

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

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

Removed the documented '9925:9000' port; Caddy reaches mealie:9000 on the proxy network.
BASE_URL is your address instead of the documented example address mealie.yourdomain.com; TZ is your browser's time zone instead of the example America/Anchorage.

Notes for Mealie behind the proxy

Mealie starts with a default account: log in as changeme@example.com with the password MyPassword (both from Mealie's installation checklist) and change them at once, because anyone who finds the address can use them until you do.
ALLOW_SIGNUP is "false" as documented, so nobody can register; invite other people from the admin pages.
The image is pinned to v3.27.0, the version the docs gave on the checked date. The Mealie team advises a fixed version tag and reading the release notes before you raise it.

How to run it

At your DNS provider, add an A record named recipes on your domain pointing at the server's public IP address, and forward TCP 80, TCP 443 and UDP 443 to it.
Save the three files in one folder: docker-compose.yml and .env side by side, the Caddyfile at ./caddy/Caddyfile. Replace example.org with your domain in the Caddyfile, the compose file and the .env, or let the builder do it.
Nothing in .env needs filling in; chmod 600 .env all the same.

Start it:

docker compose up -d
docker compose logs -f caddy   # watch the certificate arrive

Open the new address (recipes. plus your domain) in a browser and follow the notes above.

Back it up

Mealie's docs: with SQLite (as here) all data is in /app/data/, and stopping the container and backing up that folder 'is the best way to backup your data'. Mealie also makes in-app backups under Settings > Admin Settings > Backups.

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: Mealie

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)

## Mealie

What this compose mounts:
- mealie-data (named volume, /app/data in mealie)
BACK UP: the SQLite database, recipe images and settings.

1. Stop mealie. Mealie's docs say to stop the container before copying the folder.

docker compose stop mealie

2. Copy while mealie is stopped:

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

3. Start it again:

docker compose start mealie

Restore check:

tar tf "$BACKUP/mealie-data.tar" > /dev/null && echo OK

Put a copy back (with mealie stopped):

docker run --rm --volumes-from mealie -v "$BACKUP":/backup ubuntu bash -c "cd /app/data && tar xvf /backup/mealie-data.tar --strip 2"

Stop it, restore the volume with the command above, start it. An in-app backup is restored from the same Backups page; that restore deletes all current data and cannot be undone.

Sources:
- Mealie docs: Backups and Restores: https://docs.mealie.io/documentation/getting-started/usage/backups-and-restoring/ (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)

Sources

Every page below was fetched on the date shown.

Mealie README (About The Project) checked 2026-09-23 (what it does)
Mealie docs: Installation, SQLite (Recommended) checked 2026-09-23 (hardware requirements)
Mealie docs: Installation Checklist (Docker, 32bit Support) checked 2026-09-23 (hardware requirements)
Mealie docs: Installation, SQLite (Recommended) docker-compose.yaml checked 2026-09-23 (compose definition and proxy settings)
Mealie docs: Installation Checklist (default credentials, architectures) checked 2026-09-23 (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)
Mealie docs: Backups and Restores checked 2026-09-24 (backup plan)
Docker docs: Volumes, Back up, restore, or migrate data volumes checked 2026-09-24 (backup plan)
Caddy docs: Conventions, Data directory checked 2026-09-24 (backup plan)

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