Docker apps

Most apps are easiest to install from the Apps catalog. If you already run apps with Docker, the Docker page is where they go: add your own Compose file.

The first time you open Docker, Bitsmith may ask to set it up. Choose Set up Docker and it installs and checks Docker once.

Add a Compose app

1. Open Docker and choose Add compose app.
2. Give it a name, and optionally a description and an icon, and pick the storage it lives on.
3. Paste your docker-compose.yml. This defines the services, image, ports, and environment the app runs with.
4. Choose Next. Bitsmith reads the file and shows what it will do with your volumes and ports.
5. Choose Install.

Caution

A Compose app runs the image and configuration you provide. Use Compose files and images you trust, and keep secrets (passwords, API keys) in environment variables rather than committing them anywhere shared.

Folders and ports

The review lists every volume in the file:

• A relative path like ./data, or a named volume, lives in the app’s own folder. It moves and backs up with the app.
• A host path like /media is marked Not portable. Choose Choose folder to use one of your Bitsmith folders instead, or Keep path to leave it as it is.

A path you keep is not part of the app’s backup and does not follow the app to another server. The app shows Not portable on the Docker page until you change it.

Ports show the address each one opens on. A port without a host port is reachable only by the app’s other containers.

Manage a Docker app

Your Compose apps appear on the Docker page with their status. On an app’s page you can:

• Open it at the port you set.
• Start, Stop, or Restart it.
• Read its Logs when something misbehaves.
• Edit its Compose file. Saving restarts the app.
• Change its Folder assignments.
• Update it when a newer image is available.
• Move to storage to put its data on another storage space.
• Back it up.

Leftover containers

Bitsmith notices Docker containers it didn’t create. When it finds old containers from apps it no longer tracks, an App leftovers card lists them with Clean up containers alongside. Cleaning up removes the containers; your files are left alone.

Uninstall

Uninstall removes the app and its containers. Bitsmith confirms first. Folders you pointed the app at are your data and are not deleted.