Important

Before going any further, make sure you meet all the requirements.

Install using Containers (Docker/Kubernetes) - recommended
Install on Host (Linux/macOS/Windows)
Install using Cloud Images (DigitalOcean)

Install using Containers

Environment Variables

✅ = Required, ✴️ = Recommended

Env	Description	Required	Default Value
`ADMIN_EMAIL`	Email address to use to create the root administrator account. Has no effect if the root administrator account is already created.	✴️	`[email protected]`
`ADMIN_PASS`	Initial password to use to create the root administrator account. Has no effect if the root administrator account is already created.	✴️	`12345678`
`CONFIG_FILE`	Path to the config file		`./config.yml`
`DATABASE_URL`	Database Connection String (overrides all `DB_` prefixed env vars if set)
`DB_HOST`	Database Hostname / IP Address	✅
`DB_NAME`	Database Name	✅
`DB_USER`	Database Username	✅
`DB_PASS`	Database Password	✅
`DB_PASS_FILE`	Path to the mapped file containing the database password. (overrides `DB_PASS` if set)
`DB_PORT`	Database Port		`5432`
`DB_SCHEMA`	Database Schema		`wiki`
`DB_SSL`	Whether to use SSL to connect to the database. Accepted values: `0, 1, true, false`		`false`
`DB_SSL_CA`	Database CA certificate content, as a single line string (without spaces or new lines), without the prefix and suffix lines.
`LOG_FORMAT`	Logging format Accepted values: `default, json`		`default`
`LOG_LEVEL`	Severity level for logging Accepted values: `debug, info, warn, error`		`info`
`PORT`	HTTP Port to listen on		`3000`

Example

Assuming you have a PostgreSQL container named db on the same network (replace the values with your own!):

docker run -d -p 8080:3000 --name wiki --restart unless-stopped -e "[email protected]" -e "ADMIN_PASS=SuperSecret123" -e "DB_HOST=db" -e "DB_USER=wikijs" -e "DB_PASS=wikijsrocks" -e "DB_NAME=wiki" ghcr.io/requarks/wiki:3.0.0-beta

Once the container is started, browse to http://YOUR-IP-ADDRESS:8080 and login using the admin email and password you provided in the command above.

Docker Compose

Here's a full example of a Docker Compose file for Wiki.js listening on port 80: (replace the values of ADMIN_EMAIL and ADMIN_PASS with your own):

compose.yaml

services:

  db:
    image: postgres:18
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: wiki
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: wikijsrocks
      POSTGRES_USER: wikijs
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - db-data:/var/lib/postgresql

  wiki:
    image: ghcr.io/requarks/wiki:3.0.0-beta
    depends_on:
      - db
    environment:
      ADMIN_EMAIL: [email protected]
      ADMIN_PASS: SuperSecret123
      DB_HOST: db
      DB_USER: wikijs
      DB_PASS: wikijsrocks
      DB_NAME: wiki
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "80:3000"

volumes:
  db-data:

DB_HOST should match the service name (in this case, db). If container_name is specified for the service, its value should be used instead.

See the reference above for all available environment variables.

Once both containers are started, browse to http://YOUR-IP-ADDRESS and login using the admin email and password you provided above.

User Mode

By default, the Wiki.js docker image runs as the user wiki. Some deployments require the container to run as root. Simply add the -u root parameter when creating the container to do so.

This is however NOT a secure way to run containers. Make sure you understand the security implications before doing so.

Coming soon | Not available during beta phase

This guide provides an easy, no docker knowledge required, step-by-step instructions to install Wiki.js on a fresh Ubuntu server using containers.

Requirements

Ubuntu 26.04 or 24.04
Local Terminal or Remote SSH Access

Install dependencies

Update the machine

sudo apt -qqy update
sudo apt -qqy upgrade

Install Docker

# Add Docker's official GPG key:
sudo apt install ca-certificates curl
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

# Add the repository to Apt sources:
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.sources <<EOF
Types: deb
URIs: https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu
Suites: $(. /etc/os-release && echo "${UBUNTU_CODENAME:-$VERSION_CODENAME}")
Components: stable
Architectures: $(dpkg --print-architecture)
Signed-By: /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
EOF

sudo apt update
sudo apt install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

Setup firewall

sudo ufw allow ssh
sudo ufw allow http
sudo ufw allow https

sudo ufw --force enable

Setup containers

Create a new folder in the location of your choice (e.g. ~/wiki, replace in the commands below if different).

Generate a random DB secret:

cd ~/wiki
openssl rand -base64 32 > .db-secret

Create a new file named compose.yaml (under the same folder) with the following contents:

Important

Replace [email protected] and SuperSecret123 in the code below with your email address and a temporary password that you'll change on first login.

compose.yaml

services:
  db:
    image: postgres:18
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: wiki
      POSTGRES_USER: wiki
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD_FILE: /etc/wiki/.db-secret
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - db-data:/var/lib/postgresql
      - ./.db-secret:/etc/wiki/.db-secret:ro

  wiki:
    image: ghcr.io/requarks/wiki:3.0.0-beta
    depends_on:
      - db
    environment:
      ADMIN_EMAIL: [email protected]
      ADMIN_PASS: SuperSecret123
      DB_HOST: db
      DB_NAME: wiki
      DB_USER: wiki
      DB_PASS_FILE: /etc/wiki/.db-secret
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - ./.db-secret:/etc/wiki/.db-secret:ro
    ports:
      - "80:3000"

volumes:
  db-data:

Start the containers
```
sudo docker compose up -d
```

Access your wiki

On your browser, navigate to your server IP / domain name (e.g. http://your-server-ip/).

Note

It can take a few minutes for the containers to download and initialize. Wait a few minutes and try again if the site doesn't load.

(Optional) Add HTTPS Support

By default, your wiki is accessible over unencrypted HTTP. This section adds automatic HTTPS using Caddy, a web server that obtains and renews free SSL certificates from Let's Encrypt for you.

Important

You need a domain name (e.g. wiki.example.com) with a DNS A record pointing to your server's public IP address.

Verify that your domain resolves to your server. From your local machine, run:
```
ping wiki.example.com
```
The IP shown must match your server's public IP. If it doesn't, wait a few minutes for DNS changes to propagate and try again. The ping doesn't need to succeed (it might not) but it should show the correct IP.
Create a new file named Caddyfile (under the same folder as compose.yaml) with the following contents:

Important

Replace wiki.example.com with your domain name and [email protected] with your email address. Let's Encrypt uses this address to notify you of any certificate issues.
Do NOT modify anything on the reverse_proxy line (line 6).
Caddyfile
```
{
    email user@example.com
}

wiki.example.com {
    reverse_proxy wiki:3000
}
```

Edit your compose.yaml file to match the following:

Warning

Note that the ports section was removed from the wiki service. Caddy now handles all incoming traffic, so the wiki container must no longer claim port 80 for itself.

compose.yaml

services:
  db:
    image: postgres:18
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: wiki
      POSTGRES_USER: wiki
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD_FILE: /etc/wiki/.db-secret
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - db-data:/var/lib/postgresql
      - ./.db-secret:/etc/wiki/.db-secret:ro

  wiki:
    image: ghcr.io/requarks/wiki:3.0.0-beta
    depends_on:
      - db
    environment:
      ADMIN_EMAIL: [email protected]
      ADMIN_PASS: SuperSecret123
      DB_HOST: db
      DB_NAME: wiki
      DB_USER: wiki
      DB_PASS_FILE: /etc/wiki/.db-secret
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - ./.db-secret:/etc/wiki/.db-secret:ro

  caddy:
    image: caddy:2
    depends_on:
      - wiki
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - ./Caddyfile:/etc/caddy/Caddyfile:ro
      - caddy-data:/data
      - caddy-config:/config

volumes:
  db-data:
  caddy-data:
  caddy-config:

Apply the changes:
```
cd ~/wiki
sudo docker compose up -d
```

Your wiki is now available at https://wiki.example.com/. Visitors using http:// are redirected to https:// automatically.

Tip

Certificates renew automatically in the background, roughly a month before they expire. There is nothing to schedule or maintain.

Troubleshooting

If the site doesn't load over HTTPS, check what Caddy is doing:

sudo docker compose logs caddy

Common causes:

DNS isn't pointing at your server yet. Re-run the ping check from step 1.
Port 80 is unreachable from the internet. Let's Encrypt must reach your server on port 80 to validate the domain. Confirm your firewall allows it (sudo ufw status) and that your hosting provider isn't blocking it.
Too many failed attempts. Let's Encrypt applies rate limits per domain. If you hit one, wait an hour before retrying.

Install on Host

Tip

It's highly recommended to use containers, even if you're not familiar with Docker. See the Guided Ubuntu Install section for an easy, no docker knowledge required, guide to install Wiki.js on a Ubuntu machine.

Coming soon | Not available during beta phase

Install using Cloud Images

Coming soon | Not available during beta phase

Status

This image is officially maintained by the Wiki.js team.

See the Wiki.js page on PikaPods

Status

Only the 2.x image available at the moment.

This image is maintained by PikaPods.

Install using Containers

Tags

Environment Variables

Example

Docker Compose

User Mode

Requirements

Install dependencies

Setup containers

Access your wiki

(Optional) Add HTTPS Support

Troubleshooting

Install on Host

Install using Cloud Images