Owncast with Docker Compose

What Owncast needs

Only figures Owncast'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 Owncast 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 Owncast 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 Owncast 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 Owncast alone on example.org: the official definition with its published ports removed except 1935:1935, which cannot go through a web proxy (see below), and Caddy added in front.

# docker-compose.yml built at dankhost.com for: Owncast
# 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.
# Caddy publishes 80 and 443. The only other published ports, each labelled where
# it is written: 1935/tcp (Owncast: RTMP).
# 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"

  # ---- Owncast (owncast.example.org) ----
  # Source: https://owncast.online/docs/getting-started/install/container/ (checked 2026-10-08)
  # Source: https://owncast.online/docs/sslproxies/ (checked 2026-10-08)
  # Source: https://owncast.online/docs/sslproxies/nginx/ (checked 2026-10-08)
  # Source: https://owncast.online/docs/configuration/runtime-flags/ (checked 2026-10-08)
  # Source: https://owncast.online/docs/backups/ (checked 2026-10-08)
  # Source: https://github.com/owncast/owncast/blob/develop/Earthfile (checked 2026-10-08)
  # Changed: Removed the documented '8080:8080' port; Caddy reaches owncast:8080 on the proxy network, so the web page is not open on plain HTTP as the reverse-proxy page warns.
  #          '1935:1935' stays published: it is RTMP, not HTTP.
  # PORT OUTSIDE THE PROXY 1935/tcp: the stream from OBS or other broadcasting software (rtmp://<this server>/live with your stream key). RTMP is not HTTP, so it cannot go through the proxy: the reverse-proxy page says OBS "sends RTMP to Owncast on port 1935, not through the proxy".
  owncast:
    image: "owncast/owncast:latest"
    container_name: "owncast"
    restart: "unless-stopped"
    volumes:
      - "./owncast/data:/app/data"
    ports:
      - "1935:1935"  # RTMP
    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 owncast.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.

# Owncast
owncast.example.org {
	reverse_proxy owncast:8080
}

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

.env

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

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

What Owncast needs beyond the proxy

Every other app in the builder is reached only through the proxy on ports 80 and 443. Owncast also needs this port on the server itself, because it carries traffic that is not HTTP. The compose file labels it with a # PORT OUTSIDE THE PROXY comment.

• 1935:1935 (RTMP): the stream from OBS or other broadcasting software (rtmp://<this server>/live with your stream key). RTMP is not HTTP, so it cannot go through the proxy: the reverse-proxy page says OBS "sends RTMP to Owncast on port 1935, not through the proxy".
• Port 1935 (RTMP) must reach this server from the computer you stream from. Streaming from outside your home, forward it on your router or open it in the VPS firewall; viewers never need it.

Changes from the official file

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

• Removed the documented '8080:8080' port; Caddy reaches owncast:8080 on the proxy network, so the web page is not open on plain HTTP as the reverse-proxy page warns.
• '1935:1935' stays published: it is RTMP, not HTTP.

Notes for Owncast behind the proxy

• Sign in at https://owncast.example.org/admin as admin with the password abc123 and change it straight away under Configuration, Server Setup; the stream key is also abc123 by default and is a separate setting, change it too.
• In OBS, stream to rtmp://owncast.example.org/live with your stream key. The video goes to port 1935 directly, not through the proxy.
• The tag is latest, the container page's stable image.

Back it up

Owncast's backup page: it writes a database backup every hour to data/backup/owncastdb.bak, but that covers only the database. "To fully protect an instance, or to move it to another machine, back up the entire data/ directory instead."

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: Owncast

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)

## Owncast

Owncast's backup page: it writes a database backup every hour to data/backup/owncastdb.bak, but that covers only the database. "To fully protect an instance, or to move it to another machine, back up the entire data/ directory instead."

What this compose mounts:
- ./owncast/data (/app/data in owncast)
  BACK UP: the database (configuration, users, chat history, tokens), the hourly owncastdb.bak, custom emoji and public files.

1. Stop owncast. Stopping it keeps the database from changing mid-copy; the hourly owncastdb.bak inside is a consistent copy either way.

    docker compose stop owncast

2. Copy while owncast is stopped:

    tar czf "$BACKUP/owncast-data.tar.gz" ./owncast/data

3. Start it again:

    docker compose start owncast

Restore check:

    tar tzf "$BACKUP/owncast-data.tar.gz" > /dev/null && echo OK

Put a copy back (with owncast stopped):

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

Put ./owncast/data back and run docker compose up -d. To roll the database back to an hourly backup, the page's --restoreDatabase flag does it with Owncast stopped.

Sources:
- Owncast docs: Back up your stream data and configuration (data/, hourly owncastdb.bak): https://owncast.online/docs/backups/ (checked 2026-10-08)
- 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 2026-10-08)

Update it

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

What Owncast's docs say about updating

Owncast's container page: "To upgrade to a newer release later, pull the latest image and recreate the container". With this file:

docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

Source: Owncast docs: Use a container image (docker-compose.yml, ports 8080 and 1935, default login) checked 2026-10-08

The steps

1. Back up first, as in Back it up above. An update can migrate Owncast'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 Owncast start (Ctrl+C stops following the log, not the app):

   docker compose logs -f owncast

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

Locked out? Reset the admin password

Owncast's runtime flags include --adminpassword, "the usual way to recover access if you lost yours". The image runs /app/owncast, so the flag goes after the service name.

1. Stop Owncast, then start it once with the flag. The new password is saved to the database. Source: Owncast docs: Configuration via runtime flags (--adminpassword) read 2026-10-08; Owncast: Earthfile (the image's ENTRYPOINT ["/app/owncast"]) read 2026-10-08; Docker docs: docker compose run read 2026-10-03

   docker compose stop owncast
   docker compose run --rm owncast --adminpassword '<new password>'

2. When the log shows Owncast running, stop it with Ctrl+C and start the service as usual. Sign in at /admin as admin with the new password. Source: Owncast docs: Configuration via runtime flags (--adminpassword) read 2026-10-08; Docker docs: docker compose start read 2026-10-03

   docker compose start owncast

Run the commands in the folder that holds docker-compose.yml. Words in angle brackets are placeholders: replace them, brackets included.

Sources

Every page below was fetched on the date shown.

• Owncast on GitHub (repository description) checked 2026-10-08 (what it does)
• Owncast docs: Resources and requirements (CPU transcoding, upload bandwidth) checked 2026-10-08 (hardware requirements)
• Owncast docs: Use a container image (docker-compose.yml, ports 8080 and 1935, default login) checked 2026-10-08 (compose definition and proxy settings, update notes)
• Owncast docs: SSL and reverse proxies (RTMP on 1935 does not go through the proxy; /ws for chat) checked 2026-10-08 (compose definition and proxy settings)
• Owncast docs: NGINX (WebSocket map, Authorization header) checked 2026-10-08 (compose definition and proxy settings)
• Owncast docs: Configuration via runtime flags (--adminpassword) checked 2026-10-08 (compose definition and proxy settings)
• Owncast docs: Back up your stream data and configuration (data/, hourly owncastdb.bak) checked 2026-10-08 (compose definition and proxy settings, backup plan)
• Owncast: Earthfile (the image's ENTRYPOINT ["/app/owncast"]) checked 2026-10-08 (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 2026-10-08 (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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