Webtop Linux Desktop

Key Features

• Complete KDE Plasma desktop environment accessible through any modern web browser
• Multiple Linux distribution bases including Ubuntu, Alpine, and Fedora variants
• Persistent user home directory and application data across container restarts
• NGINX reverse proxy with WebSocket support for optimized desktop streaming
• Built-in noVNC web client eliminating need for separate VNC viewers
• Configurable desktop resolution and display settings via environment variables
• Pre-installed development tools and applications in the containerized desktop
• NGINX SSL/TLS termination for secure HTTPS access to the desktop environment

Common Use Cases

• 1Remote development environments for distributed software teams
• 2Secure Linux desktop access for employees working from personal devices
• 3Educational computer labs accessible from student personal computers
• 4DevOps administration interfaces for managing servers and infrastructure
• 5Isolated testing environments for software development and QA
• 6Temporary Linux desktop instances for training and demonstrations
• 7Browser-based access to Linux-specific tools and applications on Windows/Mac networks

Prerequisites

• Minimum 2GB RAM for basic KDE desktop functionality, 4GB+ recommended
• Docker host with at least 10GB free disk space for desktop environment
• Ports 80, 443, and 3000 available on the Docker host
• Modern web browser with WebSocket and HTML5 support
• Basic understanding of Linux desktop environments and file permissions
• Valid TZ environment variable configured for proper timezone display

docker-compose.yml

1services: 
2  webtop: 
3    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/webtop:ubuntu-kde
4    environment: 
5      PUID: 1000
6      PGID: 1000
7      TZ: ${TZ}
8      SUBFOLDER: /
9    ports: 
10      - "3000:3000"
11    volumes: 
12      - webtop_config:/config
13    shm_size: "1gb"
14    networks: 
15      - webtop-net
16    restart: unless-stopped
17
18  nginx: 
19    image: nginx:alpine
20    ports: 
21      - "80:80"
22      - "443:443"
23    volumes: 
24      - ./nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf:ro
25    depends_on: 
26      - webtop
27    networks: 
28      - webtop-net
29    restart: unless-stopped
30
31volumes: 
32  webtop_config: 
33
34networks: 
35  webtop-net: 
36    driver: bridge

.env Template

1# Timezone
2TZ=UTC
3
4# User/Group IDs
5PUID=1000
6PGID=1000

Usage Notes

Individual Services(2 services)

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

webtop:
  image: lscr.io/linuxserver/webtop:ubuntu-kde
  environment:
    PUID: 1000
    PGID: 1000
    TZ: ${TZ}
    SUBFOLDER: /
  ports:
    - "3000:3000"
  volumes:
    - webtop_config:/config
  shm_size: 1gb
  networks:
    - webtop-net
  restart: unless-stopped

nginx:
  image: nginx:alpine
  ports:
    - "80:80"
    - "443:443"
  volumes:
    - ./nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf:ro
  depends_on:
    - webtop
  networks:
    - webtop-net
  restart: unless-stopped

Quick Start

1# 1. Create the compose file
2cat > docker-compose.yml << 'EOF'
3services:
4  webtop:
5    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/webtop:ubuntu-kde
6    environment:
7      PUID: 1000
8      PGID: 1000
9      TZ: ${TZ}
10      SUBFOLDER: /
11    ports:
12      - "3000:3000"
13    volumes:
14      - webtop_config:/config
15    shm_size: "1gb"
16    networks:
17      - webtop-net
18    restart: unless-stopped
19
20  nginx:
21    image: nginx:alpine
22    ports:
23      - "80:80"
24      - "443:443"
25    volumes:
26      - ./nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf:ro
27    depends_on:
28      - webtop
29    networks:
30      - webtop-net
31    restart: unless-stopped
32
33volumes:
34  webtop_config:
35
36networks:
37  webtop-net:
38    driver: bridge
39EOF
40
41# 2. Create the .env file
42cat > .env << 'EOF'
43# Timezone
44TZ=UTC
45
46# User/Group IDs
47PUID=1000
48PGID=1000
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:

1curl -fsSL https://docker.recipes/api/recipes/webtop-linux-desktop/run | bash

Troubleshooting