Termix with Docker Compose

What Termix needs

Only figures Termix'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. Termix itself runs as 2 containers: termix, termix-guacd.

Which hardware Termix 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 termix, guacd. No image for this hardware; the builder leaves the app out.

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

  # ---- Termix (termix.example.org) ----
  # Source: https://docs.termix.site/install/server/docker/ (checked 2026-10-08)
  # Source: https://docs.termix.site/setup/reverse-proxy/ (checked 2026-10-08)
  # Source: https://docs.termix.site/features/authentication/security/ (checked 2026-10-08)
  # Source: https://docs.termix.site/features/authentication/overview/ (checked 2026-10-08)
  # Source: https://docs.termix.site/setup/environment-variables/ (checked 2026-10-08)
  # Source: https://docs.termix.site/setup/remote-desktop/ (checked 2026-10-08)
  # Source: https://docs.termix.site/benchmarks/ (checked 2026-10-08)
  # Changed: Removed the documented '8080:8080' port and both container_names; Caddy reaches termix:8080 on the proxy network.
  #          Removed guacd's published '4822:4822': only Termix talks to guacd, on this app's own network, where the service still answers to the name guacd.
  #          The file's termix-net network is this app's own network, and it allows outgoing traffic: guacd opens the RDP, VNC and Telnet connections to your machines.
  termix:
    image: "ghcr.io/lukegus/termix:latest"
    container_name: "termix"
    restart: "unless-stopped"
    volumes:
      - "termix-data:/app/data"
    environment:
      PORT: "8080"
    depends_on:
      - "termix-guacd"
    networks:
      proxy: {}
      termix-backend: {}
  termix-guacd:
    image: "guacamole/guacd:1.6.0"
    container_name: "termix-guacd"
    restart: "unless-stopped"
    networks:
      termix-backend:
        aliases:
          - "guacd"

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"
  termix-backend: {}

volumes:
  caddy-data:
  caddy-config:
  termix-data:

Caddyfile save as caddy/Caddyfile

Caddy gets and renews the HTTPS certificate for termix.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.

# Termix
termix.example.org {
	reverse_proxy termix:8080
}

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

.env

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

# .env for Termix, from dankhost.com/app/termix/. 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 termix (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 and both container_names; Caddy reaches termix:8080 on the proxy network.
• Removed guacd's published '4822:4822': only Termix talks to guacd, on this app's own network, where the service still answers to the name guacd.
• The file's termix-net network is this app's own network, and it allows outgoing traffic: guacd opens the RDP, VNC and Telnet connections to your machines.

Notes for Termix behind the proxy

• Open https://termix.example.org and create your account straight away: the first account becomes the admin (Authentication page). Then switch registration off in Admin Settings, or lock it with ALLOW_REGISTRATION=false under termix's environment (Environment Variables page).
• Remote desktop: in Admin Settings, General, tick "Enable RDP/VNC/Telnet Support" and give the guacd URL guacd:4822, the value the Remote Desktop page gives for the official compose file. Without remote desktop you can drop the termix-guacd service and the depends_on line; the Docker page has that variant too.
• The tag is latest, which the Docker page says always points to the newest release; it also lists version tags such as :2.4.0 for pinning.
• Termix keeps everything in the termix-data volume: the SQLite database (encrypted on disk), its encryption keys, SSL certificates and session recordings.

Back it up

Termix publishes no backup procedure. Its Docker page names the one thing to keep, the termix-data volume ("Keep a backup of the termix-data volume before you switch" to a beta), which holds the database, the encryption keys, SSL certificates and session recordings.

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: Termix

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)

## Termix

Termix publishes no backup procedure. Its Docker page names the one thing to keep, the termix-data volume ("Keep a backup of the termix-data volume before you switch" to a beta), which holds the database, the encryption keys, SSL certificates and session recordings.

What this compose mounts:
- termix-data (named volume, /app/data in termix)
  BACK UP: the SQLite database (hosts, credentials, users), the keys that decrypt it, SSL certificates and session recordings.

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

    docker compose stop termix

2. Copy while termix is stopped:

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

3. Start it again:

    docker compose start termix

Restore check:

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

Put a copy back (with termix stopped):

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

Stop Termix, put the termix-data volume back, start it. The database and its keys must come back together: one without the other cannot be read.

Sources:
- Termix docs: Docker (compose with guacd, image tags, database, termix-data volume): https://docs.termix.site/install/server/docker/ (checked 2026-10-08)
- Termix docs: Security (password reset by a code the server logs; encrypted user data): https://docs.termix.site/features/authentication/security/ (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 Termix as this page writes it:

What Termix's docs say about updating

Termix publishes no update procedure for this setup; the steps below are Docker's generic method.

The steps

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

   docker compose logs -f termix

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

Termix resets a forgotten password with a code the server writes to its log. The security notes warn that this deletes the user's encrypted data, because its key is derived from the old password.

1. On the login page, use the password reset for your username. Termix generates a temporary code and logs it on the server ("It requires generating a temporary code that is logged by the server"). Source: Termix docs: Security (password reset by a code the server logs; encrypted user data) read 2026-10-08
2. Read the code from the log: Source: Termix docs: Security (password reset by a code the server logs; encrypted user data) read 2026-10-08; Docker docs: docker compose logs read 2026-10-03

   docker compose logs termix

3. Enter the code and a new password. Saved host passwords, keys and other user-encrypted data are gone afterwards and have to be entered again. If the reset is not offered, an admin switched it off: ALLOW_PASSWORD_RESET=true under termix's environment overrides that setting (then docker compose up -d). Source: Termix docs: Security (password reset by a code the server logs; encrypted user data) read 2026-10-08; Termix docs: Environment Variables (ALLOW_REGISTRATION, ALLOW_PASSWORD_RESET, EXTERNAL_FORCE_HTTPS) read 2026-10-08

Run the commands in the folder that holds docker-compose.yml.

Sources

Every page below was fetched on the date shown.

• Termix on GitHub (repository description) checked 2026-10-08 (what it does)
• Termix docs: Benchmarks (CPU, RAM and disk by number of hosts) checked 2026-10-08 (hardware requirements, compose definition and proxy settings)
• Termix docs: Docker (compose with guacd, image tags, database, termix-data volume) checked 2026-10-08 (compose definition and proxy settings, backup plan)
• Termix docs: Reverse Proxy (NGINX WebSocket upgrade, Traefik, Caddy) checked 2026-10-08 (compose definition and proxy settings)
• Termix docs: Security (password reset by a code the server logs; encrypted user data) checked 2026-10-08 (compose definition and proxy settings, backup plan)
• Termix docs: Authentication (the first account becomes the admin) checked 2026-10-08 (compose definition and proxy settings)
• Termix docs: Environment Variables (ALLOW_REGISTRATION, ALLOW_PASSWORD_RESET, EXTERNAL_FORCE_HTTPS) checked 2026-10-08 (compose definition and proxy settings)
• Termix docs: Remote Desktop (guacd, its URL in Admin Settings) 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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