DevPanel
Get Started
Documentation
Core Concepts

Docker Compose

DevPanel uses standard Docker Compose v2 syntax. Any valid compose.yml file works without modification.

Tips & best practices

  • Use named volumes

    Persistent data survives redeploys. Without named volumes, data is lost on container recreation.

  • Avoid hardcoding secrets

    Use environment variables managed in DevPanel instead of baking secrets into your Compose file.

  • Pin image tags

    Use specific tags like postgres:16-alpine to prevent unexpected upgrades on redeploy.

  • Use restart: unless-stopped

    Ensures containers come back up after server reboots or crashes.

  • Use depends_on

    Control startup order so your app doesn't start before its database is ready.

Using environment variables

Variables added in the DevPanel UI are injected as a .env file alongside your Compose file at deploy time. Reference them with ${VAR_NAME}.

compose.yml
services:
  app:
    image: myapp:latest
    environment:
      DATABASE_URL: ${DATABASE_URL}
      SECRET_KEY: ${SECRET_KEY}
      NODE_ENV: production

Networking

Each service stack gets an isolated Docker network by default. Services within the same Compose file can reach each other by container name:

compose.yml
services:
  app:
    image: myapp:latest
    environment:
      # "db" resolves to the postgres container's IP
      DATABASE_URL: postgresql://user:pass@db:5432/mydb
    depends_on: [db]

  db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    # No "ports:" needed — only app can reach db

Full example stack

compose.yml
services:
  web:
    image: nginx:alpine
    ports:
      - "80:80"
    volumes:
      - ./nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf:ro
    depends_on: [app]
    restart: unless-stopped

  app:
    image: ghcr.io/youruser/myapp:latest
    environment:
      DATABASE_URL: ${DATABASE_URL}
      SECRET_KEY: ${SECRET_KEY}
    depends_on: [db]
    restart: unless-stopped

  db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: ${DB_USER}
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASS}
      POSTGRES_DB: ${DB_NAME}
    volumes:
      - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  pgdata:
PreviousServicesNextDomains & SSL