Immich

intermediate

High-performance photo and video backup solution.

Overview

Immich is a self-hosted photo and video management solution that provides a Google Photos-like experience with complete control over your data. Developed as a modern alternative to cloud photo services, Immich offers automatic mobile backup, AI-powered search capabilities, face recognition, and intuitive organization features without the privacy concerns or storage limitations of commercial platforms. This Docker stack combines Immich's main server with PostgreSQL using the pgvecto-rs extension for vector similarity searches, Redis for caching and session management, and a dedicated machine learning container that handles AI features like face recognition, object detection, and CLIP-based semantic search. The specialized PostgreSQL variant includes vector database capabilities essential for Immich's AI-powered search functionality, while Redis ensures fast response times for the web interface and mobile apps. This configuration is ideal for families, photography enthusiasts, and privacy-conscious users who want professional-grade photo management without relying on third-party cloud services, offering unlimited storage capacity limited only by your hardware while maintaining complete data ownership.

Key Features

Automatic mobile photo and video backup with iOS and Android apps
AI-powered face recognition and clustering for easy person-based searching
CLIP-based semantic search allowing natural language queries like 'beach sunset'
Object and scene detection for automatic photo categorization and tagging
Interactive world map view showing geotagged photos with location clustering
Memories feature that creates automatic yearly recaps and highlights
Live Photos support preserving motion from iPhone captures
Multi-user support with individual libraries and shared album capabilities

Common Use Cases

1Family photo backup replacing Google Photos with unlimited storage capacity
2Photography enthusiast's personal archive with AI-powered organization and search
3Small business photo management for product catalogs or event documentation
4Travel photography collection with automatic location mapping and memories
5Multi-generational family sharing with secure album distribution to relatives
6Content creator's media library with semantic search for quick asset retrieval
7Privacy-focused individuals wanting complete control over personal photo data

Prerequisites

Minimum 4GB RAM recommended for smooth AI processing and face recognition
At least 50GB free disk space for initial setup plus storage for your photo collection
Port 2283 available for web interface access and mobile app connectivity
Mobile device with iOS or Android for automatic photo backup functionality
Basic understanding of environment variables for database password configuration
Network storage or external drive mounted if managing large photo collections

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

docker-compose.yml

1services: 
2  immich-server: 
3    image: ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-server:release
4    container_name: immich-server
5    restart: unless-stopped
6    environment: 
7      DB_HOSTNAME: postgres
8      DB_USERNAME: immich
9      DB_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
10      DB_DATABASE_NAME: immich
11      REDIS_HOSTNAME: redis
12    volumes: 
13      - ${UPLOAD_LOCATION}:/usr/src/app/upload
14    ports: 
15      - "2283:2283"
16    depends_on: 
17      - redis
18      - postgres
19    networks: 
20      - immich
21
22  immich-machine-learning: 
23    image: ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-machine-learning:release
24    container_name: immich-ml
25    restart: unless-stopped
26    volumes: 
27      - immich_ml:/cache
28    networks: 
29      - immich
30
31  postgres: 
32    image: tensorchord/pgvecto-rs:pg14-v0.2.0
33    container_name: immich-postgres
34    restart: unless-stopped
35    environment: 
36      POSTGRES_USER: immich
37      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
38      POSTGRES_DB: immich
39    volumes: 
40      - immich_postgres:/var/lib/postgresql/data
41    networks: 
42      - immich
43
44  redis: 
45    image: redis:alpine
46    container_name: immich-redis
47    restart: unless-stopped
48    networks: 
49      - immich
50
51volumes: 
52  immich_ml: 
53  immich_postgres: 
54
55networks: 
56  immich: 
57    driver: bridge

.env Template

.env

1DB_PASSWORD=changeme
2UPLOAD_LOCATION=./uploads

Usage Notes

1Docs: https://immich.app/docs/overview/introduction
2Access at http://localhost:2283 - create admin account on first visit
3Mobile apps: iOS and Android for automatic photo backup
4ML container handles face recognition, object detection, CLIP search
5Set UPLOAD_LOCATION to your photos directory path
6Google Photos alternative with excellent search and organization

Individual Services(4 services)

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

immich-server

immich-server:
  image: ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-server:release
  container_name: immich-server
  restart: unless-stopped
  environment:
    DB_HOSTNAME: postgres
    DB_USERNAME: immich
    DB_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
    DB_DATABASE_NAME: immich
    REDIS_HOSTNAME: redis
  volumes:
    - ${UPLOAD_LOCATION}:/usr/src/app/upload
  ports:
    - "2283:2283"
  depends_on:
    - redis
    - postgres
  networks:
    - immich

immich-machine-learning

immich-machine-learning:
  image: ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-machine-learning:release
  container_name: immich-ml
  restart: unless-stopped
  volumes:
    - immich_ml:/cache
  networks:
    - immich

postgres

postgres:
  image: tensorchord/pgvecto-rs:pg14-v0.2.0
  container_name: immich-postgres
  restart: unless-stopped
  environment:
    POSTGRES_USER: immich
    POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
    POSTGRES_DB: immich
  volumes:
    - immich_postgres:/var/lib/postgresql/data
  networks:
    - immich

redis

redis:
  image: redis:alpine
  container_name: immich-redis
  restart: unless-stopped
  networks:
    - immich

Quick Start

terminal

1# 1. Create the compose file
2cat > docker-compose.yml << 'EOF'
3services:
4  immich-server:
5    image: ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-server:release
6    container_name: immich-server
7    restart: unless-stopped
8    environment:
9      DB_HOSTNAME: postgres
10      DB_USERNAME: immich
11      DB_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
12      DB_DATABASE_NAME: immich
13      REDIS_HOSTNAME: redis
14    volumes:
15      - ${UPLOAD_LOCATION}:/usr/src/app/upload
16    ports:
17      - "2283:2283"
18    depends_on:
19      - redis
20      - postgres
21    networks:
22      - immich
23
24  immich-machine-learning:
25    image: ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-machine-learning:release
26    container_name: immich-ml
27    restart: unless-stopped
28    volumes:
29      - immich_ml:/cache
30    networks:
31      - immich
32
33  postgres:
34    image: tensorchord/pgvecto-rs:pg14-v0.2.0
35    container_name: immich-postgres
36    restart: unless-stopped
37    environment:
38      POSTGRES_USER: immich
39      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
40      POSTGRES_DB: immich
41    volumes:
42      - immich_postgres:/var/lib/postgresql/data
43    networks:
44      - immich
45
46  redis:
47    image: redis:alpine
48    container_name: immich-redis
49    restart: unless-stopped
50    networks:
51      - immich
52
53volumes:
54  immich_ml:
55  immich_postgres:
56
57networks:
58  immich:
59    driver: bridge
60EOF
61
62# 2. Create the .env file
63cat > .env << 'EOF'
64DB_PASSWORD=changeme
65UPLOAD_LOCATION=./uploads
66EOF
67
68# 3. Start the services
69docker compose up -d
70
71# 4. View logs
72docker 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/immich-v3/run | bash

Troubleshooting

Machine learning container consuming excessive memory: Reduce concurrent face recognition jobs in admin settings or allocate more RAM to the Docker host
Mobile app fails to backup photos: Check that port 2283 is accessible from your network and verify the server URL in mobile app settings
Face recognition not working on uploaded photos: Ensure the machine learning container is running and check job queue status in admin panel
PostgreSQL connection errors on startup: Verify DB_PASSWORD environment variable matches between immich-server and postgres containers
Slow photo loading and thumbnails: Increase Redis memory allocation or check if upload volume has sufficient disk space and proper permissions
Upload location permission denied: Ensure the UPLOAD_LOCATION directory has proper read/write permissions for the container user

Community Notes

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Components

immichpostgresredismachine-learning

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