Portainer CE with Docker Compose

What Portainer CE needs

Only figures Portainer CE'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 Portainer CE 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 Portainer CE 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 Portainer CE 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 Portainer CE 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: Portainer CE
# 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"

  # ---- Portainer CE (portainer.example.org) ----
  # Source: https://docs.portainer.io/start/install-ce/server/docker/linux (checked 2026-09-26)
  # Source: https://docs.portainer.io/faqs/installing/setup-token (checked 2026-09-26)
  # Source: https://docs.portainer.io/advanced/reverse-proxy (checked 2026-09-26)
  # Changed: Removed the '9443:9443' and '8000:8000' ports: Caddy reaches Portainer's plain-HTTP port 9000 inside the container (the page's "-p 9000:9000" for legacy reasons). 8000 is only for Edge Agents, as the file's comment says.
  #          The fixed volume name portainer_data and network name portainer_network are left out, so the volume carries the portainer- prefix like every other.
  # ELEVATED ACCESS (Docker socket): /var/run/docker.sock is mounted read-write, as on Portainer's install page: that is how Portainer manages Docker, and control of the Docker socket is the same power as root on this server. Anyone who can log in to Portainer as an administrator can start a container that reads every file on the host.
  portainer:
    image: "portainer/portainer-ce:lts"
    container_name: "portainer"
    restart: "always"
    volumes:
      - "/var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock"
      - "portainer-portainer_data:/data"
    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:
  portainer-portainer_data:

Caddyfile save as caddy/Caddyfile

Caddy gets and renews the HTTPS certificate for portainer.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.

# Portainer CE
portainer.example.org {
	reverse_proxy portainer:9000
}

.env

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

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

What Portainer CE needs beyond the proxy

Portainer CE 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 it too, as it would in any file.

• Docker socket: /var/run/docker.sock is mounted read-write, as on Portainer's install page: that is how Portainer manages Docker, and control of the Docker socket is the same power as root on this server. Anyone who can log in to Portainer as an administrator can start a container that reads every file on the host.

Changes from the official file

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

• Removed the '9443:9443' and '8000:8000' ports: Caddy reaches Portainer's plain-HTTP port 9000 inside the container (the page's "-p 9000:9000" for legacy reasons). 8000 is only for Edge Agents, as the file's comment says.
• The fixed volume name portainer_data and network name portainer_network are left out, so the volume carries the portainer- prefix like every other.

Notes for Portainer CE behind the proxy

• Within 5 minutes of the first start, open https://portainer.example.org and create the admin user with the setup token from the logs: docker compose logs portainer | grep setup_token. Portainer's setup-token page says the token is one-time and the user must be created within 5 minutes; after that, restart Portainer to try again.
• Caddy passes the original Host and X-Forwarded-Proto: https, which Portainer's reverse-proxy page says it uses for its Secure login cookie and its CSRF check.
• Portainer controls Docker on this server with root-equal power (see the ELEVATED ACCESS line in the compose file). Use a long admin password; picking Authelia in the builder puts its login in front of Portainer's too.

Back it up

Portainer keeps its database, settings and stacks in the portainer_data volume at /data; the Docker socket belongs to the host.

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: Portainer CE

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)

## Portainer CE

Portainer keeps its database, settings and stacks in the portainer_data volume at /data; the Docker socket belongs to the host.

What this compose mounts:
- /var/run/docker.sock (/var/run/docker.sock in portainer)
  SKIP: the host's Docker socket, not Portainer data.
- portainer-portainer_data (named volume, /data in portainer)
  BACK UP: Portainer's database: users, settings, environments and the stacks you created.

1. Stop portainer. Stopping it keeps its database from changing mid-copy. The containers it manages keep running.

    docker compose stop portainer

2. Copy while portainer is stopped:

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

3. Start it again:

    docker compose start portainer

Restore check:

    tar tf "$BACKUP/portainer-portainer_data.tar" > /dev/null && echo OK

Put a copy back (with portainer stopped):

    docker run --rm --volumes-from portainer -v "$BACKUP":/backup ubuntu bash -c "cd /data && tar xvf /backup/portainer-portainer_data.tar --strip 1"

Stop it, put the volume back with the command above, start it.

Sources:
- Portainer docs: Install Portainer CE with Docker on Linux (compose file, ports 9443, 8000, 9000): https://docs.portainer.io/start/install-ce/server/docker/linux (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.

• Portainer README on GitHub checked 2026-09-26 (what it does)
• Portainer docs: Install Portainer CE with Docker on Linux (compose file, ports 9443, 8000, 9000) checked 2026-09-26 (compose definition and proxy settings, backup plan)
• Portainer docs: How do I find, skip, or customize my setup token? checked 2026-09-26 (compose definition and proxy settings)
• Portainer docs: Using Portainer with reverse proxies (X-Forwarded-Proto, Host, Secure cookies) 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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