First Deployment¶

You've tried Kamerplanter in the Quick Start and now want to run it permanently? This guide shows you how to set up Kamerplanter on your own server — for example on a Raspberry Pi, NAS, or home server.

Difference from Quick Start¶

In the Quick Start, you built Kamerplanter from source code (docker compose up). For permanent operation, you use pre-built images instead — this is faster, uses less storage, and you don't need the source code on the server.

Prerequisites¶

• A server with Docker and Docker Compose (see Installation)
• At least 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended)
• Stable network connection for downloading images

1. Download project files¶

You only need two files from the repository — not the entire source code:

# Create directory
mkdir -p ~/kamerplanter && cd ~/kamerplanter

# Download the two required files
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nolte/kamerplanter/main/docker-compose.release.yml
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nolte/kamerplanter/main/.env.example

2. Create configuration¶

cp .env.example .env

Open the .env file and set secure passwords:

# Generate secure passwords: openssl rand -base64 24
ARANGO_ROOT_PASSWORD=insert-secure-password-here
ARANGODB_PASSWORD=insert-secure-password-here

# Defaults — change only if needed
ARANGODB_DATABASE=kamerplanter
ARANGODB_USERNAME=root
REDIS_URL=redis://valkey:6379/0
DEBUG=false
REQUIRE_EMAIL_VERIFICATION=false
CORS_ORIGINS=["http://localhost:8080"]

3. Set the version¶

The file docker-compose.release.yml contains __VERSION__ as a placeholder. Replace it with the desired version:

# Example: set version 1.0.0
sed -i 's/__VERSION__/1.0.0/g' docker-compose.release.yml

4. Start¶

docker compose -f docker-compose.release.yml up -d

Check the status:

docker compose -f docker-compose.release.yml ps

All services should show as running or healthy after 30–60 seconds.

5. Test access¶

Open in your browser:

• Kamerplanter: http://your-server:8080
• API documentation: http://your-server:8000/api/v1/docs

Replace your-server with the IP address or hostname of your server. If you're working on the server itself, localhost works.

Automatic restart¶

The release configuration already includes restart: unless-stopped for all services. This means:

• After a server crash or reboot, Docker restarts the services automatically
• Services you deliberately stop with docker compose stop stay stopped

To ensure Docker itself starts after a reboot:

sudo systemctl enable docker

Performing updates¶

To update Kamerplanter to a new version:

cd ~/kamerplanter

# 1. Update version in the Compose file
sed -i 's/old-version/new-version/g' docker-compose.release.yml

# 2. Pull new images and restart services
docker compose -f docker-compose.release.yml pull
docker compose -f docker-compose.release.yml up -d

# 3. Clean up old, unused images (optional)
docker image prune -f

Backups¶

Kamerplanter's data lives in two Docker volumes:

• arangodb_data — All plants, locations, tasks, and configurations
• valkey_data — Cache and task queue (not critical, rebuilt automatically)

Create a backup¶

# Back up ArangoDB data
docker compose -f docker-compose.release.yml exec arangodb \
  arangodump --server.password "$ARANGO_ROOT_PASSWORD" \
  --output-directory /tmp/backup --overwrite true

# Copy backup from the container
docker compose -f docker-compose.release.yml cp \
  arangodb:/tmp/backup ./backup-$(date +%Y%m%d)

Restore a backup¶

# Copy backup into the container
docker compose -f docker-compose.release.yml cp \
  ./backup-20260317 arangodb:/tmp/backup

# Restore data
docker compose -f docker-compose.release.yml exec arangodb \
  arangorestore --server.password "$ARANGO_ROOT_PASSWORD" \
  --input-directory /tmp/backup --overwrite true

Accessing from other devices¶

By default, Kamerplanter is only accessible from the server itself. To access it from your smartphone, tablet, or other computers on your home network:

1. Find your server's IP address:

   hostname -I
   

2. On the other device, open a browser and go to http://<IP-address>:8080

3. Update the CORS setting in .env so the API accepts requests from the new address:

   .env

   CORS_ORIGINS=["http://localhost:8080","http://192.168.1.100:8080"]
   

4. Restart the services after the change:

   docker compose -f docker-compose.release.yml up -d
   

Next steps¶

• Onboarding Wizard — Set up your first plants
• User Guide — All features in detail
• Kubernetes Deployment — For professional environments with high availability

Troubleshooting¶