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Adding your own containers to Saltbox

When you install existing roles in saltbox, some things get handled behind the scenes for you. Notably, this includes creating the subdomain[s] at cloudflare and creating the /opt/APPNAME directory tree.

When you add a container manually as outlined on this page, neither of those things will be done for you (unless you have installed our ddns container), so prior to running the docker commands described below you will have to create the APPNAME.domain.tld subdomain at cloudflare [or wherever your DNS is] and create the required /opt/APPNAME directory tree.

If you want to create a role file that you can install like the built-in applications, see here.

IMPORTANT: In the examples below, APPNAME, APPLICATION_PORT, /CONFIG, and DOCKER/IMAGE:TAG are placeholders. You need to change those everywhere they appear to match the application you are installing.

Docker Compose

version: "3"
services:
  APPNAME:
    restart: unless-stopped # (1)!
    container_name: APPNAME # (2)!
    image: DOCKER/IMAGE:TAG # (3)!
    hostname: APPNAME # (4)!
    environment: # (5)!
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=Etc/UTC
    networks: # (6)!
      - saltbox
    labels:
      com.github.saltbox.saltbox_managed: true # (7)!
      traefik.enable: true # (8)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME-http.entrypoints: web # (9)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME-http.middlewares: globalHeaders@file,redirect-to-https@docker,robotHeaders@file,cloudflarewarp@docker,authelia@docker # (10)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME-http.rule: Host(`APPNAME.yourdomain.com`) # (11)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME-http.service: APPNAME # (12)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME.entrypoints: websecure # (13)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME.middlewares: globalHeaders@file,secureHeaders@file,robotHeaders@file,cloudflarewarp@docker,authelia@docker # (14)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME.rule: Host(`APPNAME.yourdomain.com`) # (15)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME.service: APPNAME # (16)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME.tls.certresolver: cfdns # (17)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME.tls.options: securetls@file # (18)!
      traefik.http.services.APPNAME.loadbalancer.server.port: APPLICATION_PORT # (19)!
    volumes: # (20)!
      - /opt/APPNAME:/CONFIG
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro

networks: # (21)!
  saltbox:
    external: true

  1. Defines the containers restart policy.

    Reference

  2. Defines the name of the container.

  3. Defines the image and tag used when creating the container.
  4. Defines the hostname used on the Docker network.

  5. Defines the environment variables which are often used to change configuration of the underlying application inside of the container.

    While the TZ (Timezone) variable is used in pretty much all containers you will have to figure out the rest as it can differ quite a bit between different containers.

  6. Defines which Docker networks the container will join upon creation.

    We generally recommend using the saltbox network unless you know what you are doing.

  7. This label will tell Saltbox to manage the container during backups (stopping and starting it).

  8. This label enables router creation in Traefik.

  9. Defines the entrypoint used for the HTTP Traefik router.

    Leave as is unless you know what you are doing.

  10. Defines which middleware is used on the router.

    A list of currently added middleware can be found on the Traefik dashboard (dash.domain.tld).

    Unless you intend to allow HTTP traffic instead of auto-upgrading to HTTPS make sure to include the redirect-to-https middleware.

  11. This value defines which locations Traefik routes to the application.

    Docs: https://doc.traefik.io/traefik/routing/routers/#rule

  12. Defines which service the router should route traffic to.

  13. Defines the entrypoint used for the HTTP Traefik router.

    Leave as is unless you know what you are doing.

  14. Defines which middleware is used on the router.

    A list of currently added middleware can be found on the Traefik dashboard (dash.domain.tld).

  15. This value defines which locations Traefik routes to the application.

    Docs: https://doc.traefik.io/traefik/routing/routers/#rule

  16. Defines which service the router should route traffic to.

  17. Defines the certificate resolver to use in order to generate a certificate.

    If the url is using Cloudflare, with the same account as Saltbox uses, the value should be cfdns.

    If you don't use Cloudflare with the URL used or another reason why it cannot use DNS validation use httpresolver.

    Remember to enable http_validation in the adv_settings.yml config to enable the httpresolver when using Cloudflare.

  18. Defines the configuration used for SSL, leave this alone unless you know what you are doing.

  19. Defines which port Traefik routes the traffic to.

  20. Add any volume mounts the container needs.

    /host_path:/container_path

  21. This section tells docker compose that the network is managed outside of this compose file.

version: "3"
services:
  APPNAME:
    restart: unless-stopped # (1)!
    container_name: APPNAME # (2)!
    image: DOCKER/IMAGE:TAG # (3)!
    hostname: APPNAME # (4)!
    environment: # (5)!
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=Etc/UTC
    networks: # (6)!
      - saltbox
    labels:
      com.github.saltbox.saltbox_managed: true # (7)!
      traefik.enable: true # (8)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME-api-http.entrypoints: web # (9)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME-api-http.middlewares: globalHeaders@file,redirect-to-https@docker,robotHeaders@file,cloudflarewarp@docker # (10)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME-api-http.priority: 99 # (11)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME-api-http.rule: Host(`APPNAME.domain.tld`) && (PathPrefix(`/api`) || PathPrefix(`/ping`)) # (12)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME-api-http.service: APPNAME # (13)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME-api.entrypoints: websecure # (14)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME-api.middlewares: globalHeaders@file,secureHeaders@file,robotHeaders@file,cloudflarewarp@docker # (15)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME-api.priority: 99 # (16)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME-api.rule: Host(`APPNAME.domain.tld`) && (PathPrefix(`/api`) || PathPrefix(`/ping`)) # (17)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME-api.service: APPNAME # (18)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME-api.tls.certresolver: cfdns # (19)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME-api.tls.options: securetls@file # (20)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME-http.entrypoints: web # (21)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME-http.middlewares: globalHeaders@file,redirect-to-https@docker,robotHeaders@file,cloudflarewarp@docker,authelia@docker # (22)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME-http.rule: Host(`APPNAME.yourdomain.com`) # (23)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME-http.service: APPNAME # (24)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME.entrypoints: websecure # (25)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME.middlewares: globalHeaders@file,secureHeaders@file,robotHeaders@file,cloudflarewarp@docker,authelia@docker # (26)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME.rule: Host(`APPNAME.yourdomain.com`) # (27)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME.service: APPNAME # (28)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME.tls.certresolver: cfdns # (29)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME.tls.options: securetls@file # (30)!
      traefik.http.services.APPNAME.loadbalancer.server.port: APPLICATION_PORT # (31)!
    volumes: # (32)!
      - /opt/APPNAME:/CONFIG
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro

networks: # (33)!
  saltbox:
    external: true

  1. Defines the containers restart policy.

    Reference

  2. Defines the name of the container.

  3. Defines the image and tag used when creating the container.
  4. Defines the hostname used on the Docker network.

  5. Defines the environment variables which are often used to change configuration of the underlying application inside of the container.

    While the TZ (Timezone) variable is used in pretty much all containers you will have to figure out the rest as it can differ quite a bit between different containers.

  6. Defines which Docker networks the container will join upon creation.

    We generally recommend using the saltbox network unless you know what you are doing.

  7. This label will tell Saltbox to manage the container during backups (stopping and starting it).

  8. This label enables router creation in Traefik.

  9. Defines the entrypoint used for the HTTP Traefik router.

    Leave as is unless you know what you are doing.

  10. Defines which middleware is used on the router.

    A list of currently added middleware can be found on the Traefik dashboard (dash.domain.tld).

    Unless you intend to allow HTTP traffic instead of auto-upgrading to HTTPS make sure to include the redirect-to-https middleware.

  11. Defines router priority.

    If multiple router paths match a given address the one with the highest priority is used.

  12. This value defines which locations Traefik routes to the application.

    With the API Router we only add paths to the router that should go around Authelia.

    Docs: https://doc.traefik.io/traefik/routing/routers/#rule

  13. Defines which service the router should route traffic to.

  14. Defines the entrypoint used for the HTTP Traefik router.

    Leave as is unless you know what you are doing.

  15. Defines which middleware is used on the router.

    A list of currently added middleware can be found on the Traefik dashboard (dash.domain.tld).

  16. Defines router priority.

    If multiple router paths match a given address the one with the highest priority is used.

  17. This value defines which locations Traefik routes to the application.

    With the API Router we only add paths to the router that should go around Authelia.

    Docs: https://doc.traefik.io/traefik/routing/routers/#rule

  18. Defines which service the router should route traffic to.

  19. Defines the certificate resolver to use in order to generate a certificate.

    If the url is using Cloudflare, with the same account as Saltbox uses, the value should be cfdns.

    If you don't use Cloudflare with the URL used or another reason why it cannot use DNS validation use httpresolver.

    Remember to enable http_validation in the adv_settings.yml config to enable the httpresolver when using Cloudflare.

  20. Defines the configuration used for SSL, leave this alone unless you know what you are doing.

  21. Defines the entrypoint used for the HTTP Traefik router.

    Leave as is unless you know what you are doing.

  22. Defines which middleware is used on the router.

    A list of currently added middleware can be found on the Traefik dashboard (dash.domain.tld).

    Unless you intend to allow HTTP traffic instead of auto-upgrading to HTTPS make sure to include the redirect-to-https middleware.

  23. This value defines which locations Traefik routes to the application.

    Docs: https://doc.traefik.io/traefik/routing/routers/#rule

  24. Defines which service the router should route traffic to.

  25. Defines the entrypoint used for the HTTP Traefik router.

    Leave as is unless you know what you are doing.

  26. Defines which middleware is used on the router.

    A list of currently added middleware can be found on the Traefik dashboard (dash.domain.tld).

  27. This value defines which locations Traefik routes to the application.

    Docs: https://doc.traefik.io/traefik/routing/routers/#rule

  28. Defines which service the router should route traffic to.

  29. Defines the certificate resolver to use in order to generate a certificate.

    If the url is using Cloudflare, with the same account as Saltbox uses, the value should be cfdns.

    If you don't use Cloudflare with the URL used or another reason why it cannot use DNS validation use httpresolver.

    Remember to enable http_validation in the adv_settings.yml config to enable the httpresolver when using Cloudflare.

  30. Defines the configuration used for SSL, leave this alone unless you know what you are doing.

  31. Defines which port Traefik routes the traffic to.

  32. Add any volume mounts the container needs.

    /host_path:/container_path

  33. This section tells docker compose that the network is managed outside of this compose file.

version: "3"
services:
  APPNAME:
    restart: unless-stopped # (1)!
    container_name: APPNAME # (2)!
    image: DOCKER/IMAGE:TAG # (3)!
    hostname: APPNAME # (4)!
    environment: # (5)!
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=Etc/UTC
    networks: # (6)!
      - saltbox
    labels:
      com.github.saltbox.saltbox_managed: true # (7)!
      traefik.enable: true # (8)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME-http.entrypoints: web # (9)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME-http.middlewares: globalHeaders@file,redirect-to-https@docker,robotHeaders@file,cloudflarewarp@docker # (10)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME-http.rule: Host(`APPNAME.yourdomain.com`) # (11)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME-http.service: APPNAME # (12)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME.entrypoints: websecure # (13)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME.middlewares: globalHeaders@file,secureHeaders@file,robotHeaders@file,cloudflarewarp@docker # (14)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME.rule: Host(`APPNAME.yourdomain.com`) # (15)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME.service: APPNAME # (16)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME.tls.certresolver: cfdns # (17)!
      traefik.http.routers.APPNAME.tls.options: securetls@file # (18)!
      traefik.http.services.APPNAME.loadbalancer.server.port: APPLICATION_PORT # (19)!
    volumes: # (20)!
      - /opt/APPNAME:/CONFIG
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro

networks: # (21)!
  saltbox:
    external: true

  1. Defines the containers restart policy.

    Reference

  2. Defines the name of the container.

  3. Defines the image and tag used when creating the container.
  4. Defines the hostname used on the Docker network.

  5. Defines the environment variables which are often used to change configuration of the underlying application inside of the container.

    While the TZ (Timezone) variable is used in pretty much all containers you will have to figure out the rest as it can differ quite a bit between different containers.

  6. Defines which Docker networks the container will join upon creation.

    We generally recommend using the saltbox network unless you know what you are doing.

  7. This label will tell Saltbox to manage the container during backups (stopping and starting it).

  8. This label enables router creation in Traefik.

  9. Defines the entrypoint used for the HTTP Traefik router.

    Leave as is unless you know what you are doing.

  10. Defines which middleware is used on the router.

    A list of currently added middleware can be found on the Traefik dashboard (dash.domain.tld).

    Unless you intend to allow HTTP traffic instead of auto-upgrading to HTTPS make sure to include the redirect-to-https middleware.

  11. This value defines which locations Traefik routes to the application.

    Docs: https://doc.traefik.io/traefik/routing/routers/#rule

  12. Defines which service the router should route traffic to.

  13. Defines the entrypoint used for the HTTP Traefik router.

    Leave as is unless you know what you are doing.

  14. Defines which middleware is used on the router.

    A list of currently added middleware can be found on the Traefik dashboard (dash.domain.tld).

  15. This value defines which locations Traefik routes to the application.

    Docs: https://doc.traefik.io/traefik/routing/routers/#rule

  16. Defines which service the router should route traffic to.

  17. Defines the certificate resolver to use in order to generate a certificate.

    If the url is using Cloudflare, with the same account as Saltbox uses, the value should be cfdns.

    If you don't use Cloudflare with the URL used or another reason why it cannot use DNS validation use httpresolver.

    Remember to enable http_validation in the adv_settings.yml config to enable the httpresolver when using Cloudflare.

  18. Defines the configuration used for SSL, leave this alone unless you know what you are doing.

  19. Defines which port Traefik routes the traffic to.

  20. Add any volume mounts the container needs.

    /host_path:/container_path

  21. This section tells docker compose that the network is managed outside of this compose file.

version: "3"
services:
  APPNAME:
    restart: unless-stopped # (1)!
    container_name: APPNAME # (2)!
    image: DOCKER/IMAGE:TAG # (3)!
    hostname: APPNAME # (4)!
    environment: # (5)!
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=Etc/UTC
    networks: # (6)!
      - saltbox
    labels:
      com.github.saltbox.saltbox_managed: true # (7)!
    volumes: # (8)!
      - /opt/APPNAME:/CONFIG
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro

networks: # (9)!
  saltbox:
    external: true

  1. Defines the containers restart policy.

    Reference

  2. Defines the name of the container.

  3. Defines the image and tag used when creating the container.
  4. Defines the hostname used on the Docker network.

  5. Defines the environment variables which are often used to change configuration of the underlying application inside of the container.

    While the TZ (Timezone) variable is used in pretty much all containers you will have to figure out the rest as it can differ quite a bit between different containers.

  6. Defines which Docker networks the container will join upon creation.

    We generally recommend using the saltbox network unless you know what you are doing.

  7. This label will tell Saltbox to manage the container during backups (stopping and starting it).

  8. Add any volume mounts the container needs.

    /host_path:/container_path

  9. This section tells docker compose that the network is managed outside of this compose file.

Creating and running the container

Once you have a docker-compose file as described above, you will use standard docker commands to create and run the container.

If the file is named docker-compose.yml and is located in the current working directory:

docker compose up -d

If the file has some other name or is located elsewhere in the file system:

docker compose up -d /path/to/something.yml

Remember to create the APPNAME.domain.tld subdomain at cloudflare [or wherever your DNS is] and create the required /opt/APPNAME directory tree prior to running that command.