Docker and any server

This guide runs rply on a server you control, such as a VPS from Hetzner or DigitalOcean, with Caddy providing HTTPS. You need Docker, a domain pointing at the server, and ports 80 and 443 open.

1. Build the image

git clone https://github.com/joshuaKnauber/rply
cd rply
docker build -t rply .

2. Run the container

docker run -d --name rply --restart always \
  -p 127.0.0.1:8080:8080 \
  -v rply-data:/data \
  -e RPLY_URL=https://rply.example.com \
  rply

• -v rply-data:/data keeps the database and files in a Docker volume across restarts and upgrades.
• Binding to 127.0.0.1 keeps the plain-HTTP port private; Caddy serves the public side.

Check it’s up:

curl http://localhost:8080/health

{"ok":true}

3. Add HTTPS with Caddy

Install Caddy, then run:

caddy reverse-proxy --from rply.example.com --to localhost:8080

For a permanent setup, put this in /etc/caddy/Caddyfile and reload Caddy:

Caddyfile

rply.example.com {
  reverse_proxy localhost:8080
}

Caddy gets a certificate automatically. Open https://rply.example.com and create the first account.

Docker Compose

The same setup as a Compose file, including Caddy:

compose.yaml

services:
  rply:
    build: https://github.com/joshuaKnauber/rply.git
    restart: always
    environment:
      RPLY_URL: https://rply.example.com
    volumes:
      - rply-data:/data

  caddy:
    image: caddy:2
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    command: caddy reverse-proxy --from rply.example.com --to rply:8080
    volumes:
      - caddy-data:/data

volumes:
  rply-data:
  caddy-data:

docker compose up -d

Running it locally

To try rply on your laptop, skip Caddy and open http://localhost:8080:

docker run -d --name rply -p 8080:8080 -v rply-data:/data rply

Only your computer can reach it, so your phone won’t get notifications. Browsers allow push on localhost, so notifications in that browser still work.

Next steps

• Configuration lists every environment variable.
• Upgrades and backups covers updating and restoring.