Navidrome with Docker Compose

What Navidrome needs

Only figures Navidrome'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.

docker-compose.yml

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

  # ---- Navidrome (music.example.org) ----
  # Source: https://www.navidrome.org/docs/installation/docker/ (checked 2026-09-23)
  # Changed: Removed the documented '4533:4533' port; Caddy reaches navidrome:4533 on the proxy network.
  #          The documented /path/to/data and /path/to/your/music/folder become ./navidrome/data and ./navidrome/music.
  navidrome:
    image: "deluan/navidrome:latest"
    container_name: "navidrome"
    user: "1000:1000"
    restart: "unless-stopped"
    volumes:
      - "./navidrome/data:/data"
      - "./navidrome/music:/music:ro"
    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 music.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.

# Navidrome
music.example.org {
	reverse_proxy navidrome:4533
}

.env

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

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

• Removed the documented '4533:4533' port; Caddy reaches navidrome:4533 on the proxy network.
• The documented /path/to/data and /path/to/your/music/folder become ./navidrome/data and ./navidrome/music.

Notes for Navidrome behind the proxy

• 'user: 1000:1000' is the documented example. Run 'id -u' and 'id -g' and change it if yours differ; that user must own ./navidrome/data and be able to read ./navidrome/music, or the database cannot be created.
• The first visitor creates the admin account, so open it straight away.

Back it up

Navidrome's backup command (0.54 and newer) copies only its database (users, play counts, playlists); it does not include the music or the configuration.

Below is the BACKUP.md the builder writes next to the compose file above: which of its folders and volumes hold data, the dump command the project documents, rewritten for this file's service names, 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: Navidrome

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)

## Navidrome

Navidrome's backup command (0.54 and newer) copies only its database (users, play counts, playlists); it does not include the music or the configuration.

What this compose mounts:
- ./navidrome/data (/data in navidrome)
  COVERED BY THE COMMAND BELOW: navidrome.db and caches; the backup command below copies the database out of it safely.
- ./navidrome/music (/music in navidrome)
  YOUR FILES: your music, mounted read-only: Navidrome never writes to it.

YOUR FILES folders hold your own media, not Navidrome data. If this server has the only copy, back them up like any other files; the steps below leave them out.

1. Database backup with Navidrome's own command:

    docker compose run --rm -e ND_BACKUP_PATH=/data/backup navidrome backup create
    tar czf "$BACKUP/navidrome-db-backups.tar.gz" ./navidrome/data/backup

   Navidrome documents 'docker compose run <service_name> backup create' and reads the backup folder from ND_BACKUP_PATH, which this compose does not set, so the command sets it for this one run: backups land in ./navidrome/data/backup. --rm removes the one-off container afterwards.

2. Nothing else to copy: the command above holds all of Navidrome's data. Navidrome's docs run the backup command without stopping the server; only a restore needs it stopped.

Restore check:

    ls -l ./navidrome/data/backup   # a new, non-empty file from today

Navidrome restores with 'navidrome backup restore', and only while the server is stopped. Its docs name the command without its options; this lists them:

    docker compose stop navidrome
    docker compose run --rm -e ND_BACKUP_PATH=/data/backup navidrome backup restore --help

Sources:
- Navidrome docs: Automated Backup: https://www.navidrome.org/docs/usage/admin/backup/ (checked 2026-09-24)

Sources

Every page below was fetched on the date shown.

• Navidrome README checked 2026-09-23 (what it does, what it replaces)
• Navidrome docs: Overview checked 2026-09-23 (hardware requirements)
• Navidrome docs: Installing with Docker 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)
• Navidrome docs: Automated Backup checked 2026-09-24 (backup plan)
• Caddy docs: Conventions, Data directory checked 2026-09-24 (backup plan)
• Docker docs: Volumes, Back up, restore, or migrate data volumes checked 2026-09-24 (backup plan)

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