CapRover Application Platform

Key Features

• Web-based dashboard for application lifecycle management with real-time deployment logs
• One-click marketplace apps including WordPress, Ghost, MongoDB, Redis, and PostgreSQL
• Automatic NGINX reverse proxy configuration with custom domain mapping
• Built-in Let's Encrypt integration via Certbot for automatic SSL certificate management
• Docker registry support for private image deployments with authentication
• Application clustering and zero-downtime deployments with health checks
• Built-in monitoring dashboard with container resource usage and application metrics
• CLI tool for CI/CD pipeline integration and automated deployments

Common Use Cases

• 1Rapid prototyping environment for development teams testing multiple microservices
• 2Small to medium business hosting platform for WordPress sites and web applications
• 3Staging and testing infrastructure for software development workflows
• 4Personal cloud platform for self-hosted alternatives to SaaS applications
• 5Startup MVP deployment platform requiring quick iteration and scaling
• 6Educational environment for teaching containerization and deployment concepts
• 7Remote team collaboration platform hosting development tools and databases

Prerequisites

• Linux server with Docker and Docker Compose installed (Ubuntu 18+ recommended)
• Minimum 1GB RAM and 10GB storage (2GB+ RAM recommended for multiple applications)
• Domain name with DNS access for subdomain configuration and SSL certificates
• Ports 80, 443, and 3000 available and accessible from the internet
• SERVER_IP environment variable configured with your server's public IP address
• Basic understanding of Docker concepts and command line interface

docker-compose.yml

1services: 
2  caprover: 
3    image: caprover/caprover:latest
4    container_name: caprover
5    environment: 
6      - CAPTAIN_IS_DEBUG=0
7      - MAIN_NODE_IP_ADDRESS=${SERVER_IP}
8    volumes: 
9      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
10      - caprover-data:/captain
11    ports: 
12      - "80:80"
13      - "443:443"
14      - "3000:3000"
15    networks: 
16      - caprover-network
17    restart: unless-stopped
18
19volumes: 
20  caprover-data: 
21
22networks: 
23  caprover-network: 
24    driver: bridge

.env Template

1# CapRover
2SERVER_IP=your_server_ip
3
4# Initial captain password: captain42
5# Change immediately after first login

Usage Notes

Quick Start

1# 1. Create the compose file
2cat > docker-compose.yml << 'EOF'
3services:
4  caprover:
5    image: caprover/caprover:latest
6    container_name: caprover
7    environment:
8      - CAPTAIN_IS_DEBUG=0
9      - MAIN_NODE_IP_ADDRESS=${SERVER_IP}
10    volumes:
11      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
12      - caprover-data:/captain
13    ports:
14      - "80:80"
15      - "443:443"
16      - "3000:3000"
17    networks:
18      - caprover-network
19    restart: unless-stopped
20
21volumes:
22  caprover-data:
23
24networks:
25  caprover-network:
26    driver: bridge
27EOF
28
29# 2. Create the .env file
30cat > .env << 'EOF'
31# CapRover
32SERVER_IP=your_server_ip
33
34# Initial captain password: captain42
35# Change immediately after first login
36EOF
37
38# 3. Start the services
39docker compose up -d
40
41# 4. View logs
42docker 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/caprover-paas/run | bash

Troubleshooting