Coder + PostgreSQL

intermediate

Self-hosted remote development environments.

Overview

Coder is an open-source platform that provisions secure, standardized development environments in your cloud or datacenter. Originally developed to solve the challenges of remote development and developer onboarding, Coder creates consistent, reproducible workspaces that developers can access from anywhere using their favorite IDEs like VS Code, JetBrains, or vim. Unlike traditional local development setups, Coder workspaces run on powerful cloud infrastructure while maintaining the familiar development experience. This stack combines Coder's workspace orchestration with PostgreSQL as the backend database, creating a production-ready remote development platform. PostgreSQL stores all workspace metadata, user sessions, audit logs, and template configurations with the reliability and ACID compliance that enterprise development teams require. The database handles complex queries for workspace analytics, user permissions, and resource tracking across potentially hundreds of concurrent development environments. Development teams transitioning to remote work, organizations with complex onboarding processes, and companies managing developers across multiple projects will find this combination invaluable. Coder eliminates 'works on my machine' problems by standardizing development environments, while PostgreSQL ensures that workspace state, user data, and audit trails are preserved with enterprise-grade reliability. This is particularly powerful for teams working with resource-intensive applications, legacy codebases, or strict security requirements where local development isn't feasible.

Key Features

Template-based workspace provisioning with Terraform for consistent development environments across teams
IDE-agnostic development supporting VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, vim, and web-based terminals
Resource quotas and automatic workspace shutdown to control cloud infrastructure costs
Built-in SSH and port forwarding for secure access to development services and databases
Workspace sharing and collaboration features for pair programming and code reviews
PostgreSQL-backed audit logging with full ACID compliance for enterprise compliance requirements
Git integration with automatic repository cloning and credential management
Container and VM workspace support through Docker and Kubernetes providers

Common Use Cases

1Remote development teams needing consistent environments across macOS, Windows, and Linux developers
2Onboarding new developers with pre-configured workspaces containing all necessary tools and dependencies
3Companies with complex development stacks requiring GPU access, large datasets, or specialized hardware
4Organizations with strict security policies requiring air-gapped or controlled development environments
5Consulting firms managing multiple client projects with different technology stacks and access requirements
6Educational institutions providing standardized programming environments for computer science courses
7Open source projects enabling contributors to start coding immediately without complex local setup

Prerequisites

Docker Engine with access to Docker socket for workspace container management
Minimum 4GB RAM available (2GB for Coder, 1GB for PostgreSQL, 1GB for workspace overhead)
Port 7080 available for Coder web interface access
Basic understanding of Terraform for creating custom workspace templates
PostgreSQL knowledge for database maintenance and backup procedures
Network access to container registries for pulling workspace images

For development & testing. Review security settings, change default credentials, and test thoroughly before production use. See Terms

docker-compose.yml

1services: 
2  coder: 
3    image: ghcr.io/coder/coder:latest
4    environment: 
5      - CODER_PG_CONNECTION_URL=postgres://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@postgres:5432/coder?sslmode=disable
6      - CODER_HTTP_ADDRESS=0.0.0.0:7080
7      - CODER_ACCESS_URL=http://localhost:7080
8    volumes: 
9      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
10      - coder-data:/home/coder/.config
11    ports: 
12      - "7080:7080"
13    depends_on: 
14      - postgres
15    networks: 
16      - coder-network
17    restart: unless-stopped
18
19  postgres: 
20    image: postgres:15
21    environment: 
22      - POSTGRES_USER=${POSTGRES_USER}
23      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
24      - POSTGRES_DB=coder
25    volumes: 
26      - postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
27    networks: 
28      - coder-network
29    restart: unless-stopped
30
31volumes: 
32  coder-data: 
33  postgres-data: 
34
35networks: 
36  coder-network: 
37    driver: bridge

.env Template

.env

1# Coder
2POSTGRES_USER=coder
3POSTGRES_PASSWORD=secure_postgres_password
4
5# Create first user: coder server create-admin-user

Usage Notes

1Web UI at http://localhost:7080
2Create admin on first run
3Templates for workspaces
4Docker, Kubernetes providers
5VS Code integration

Individual Services(2 services)

Copy individual services to mix and match with your existing compose files.

coder

coder:
  image: ghcr.io/coder/coder:latest
  environment:
    - CODER_PG_CONNECTION_URL=postgres://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@postgres:5432/coder?sslmode=disable
    - CODER_HTTP_ADDRESS=0.0.0.0:7080
    - CODER_ACCESS_URL=http://localhost:7080
  volumes:
    - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
    - coder-data:/home/coder/.config
  ports:
    - "7080:7080"
  depends_on:
    - postgres
  networks:
    - coder-network
  restart: unless-stopped

postgres

postgres:
  image: postgres:15
  environment:
    - POSTGRES_USER=${POSTGRES_USER}
    - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
    - POSTGRES_DB=coder
  volumes:
    - postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
  networks:
    - coder-network
  restart: unless-stopped

Quick Start

terminal

1# 1. Create the compose file
2cat > docker-compose.yml << 'EOF'
3services:
4  coder:
5    image: ghcr.io/coder/coder:latest
6    environment:
7      - CODER_PG_CONNECTION_URL=postgres://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@postgres:5432/coder?sslmode=disable
8      - CODER_HTTP_ADDRESS=0.0.0.0:7080
9      - CODER_ACCESS_URL=http://localhost:7080
10    volumes:
11      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
12      - coder-data:/home/coder/.config
13    ports:
14      - "7080:7080"
15    depends_on:
16      - postgres
17    networks:
18      - coder-network
19    restart: unless-stopped
20
21  postgres:
22    image: postgres:15
23    environment:
24      - POSTGRES_USER=${POSTGRES_USER}
25      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
26      - POSTGRES_DB=coder
27    volumes:
28      - postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
29    networks:
30      - coder-network
31    restart: unless-stopped
32
33volumes:
34  coder-data:
35  postgres-data:
36
37networks:
38  coder-network:
39    driver: bridge
40EOF
41
42# 2. Create the .env file
43cat > .env << 'EOF'
44# Coder
45POSTGRES_USER=coder
46POSTGRES_PASSWORD=secure_postgres_password
47
48# Create first user: coder server create-admin-user
49EOF
50
51# 3. Start the services
52docker compose up -d
53
54# 4. View logs
55docker compose logs -f

One-Liner

Run this command to download and set up the recipe in one step:

terminal

1curl -fsSL https://docker.recipes/api/recipes/coder-workspace/run | bash

Troubleshooting

Coder fails to connect to PostgreSQL: Verify POSTGRES_USER and POSTGRES_PASSWORD environment variables match between services
Workspaces fail to start with 'docker socket permission denied': Ensure Docker socket has proper permissions or add coder user to docker group
Template builds timeout or fail: Check Docker daemon resources and increase build timeout in Coder admin settings
Users can't access workspace ports: Configure CODER_ACCESS_URL to match your actual domain/IP instead of localhost
PostgreSQL connection pool exhausted: Increase max_connections in PostgreSQL config or reduce concurrent workspace limits
Workspace data lost after container restart: Verify coder-data volume is properly mounted and persistent

Community Notes

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