Docker Reference

Run Flowfile with Docker using pre-built images from Docker Hub.

Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/edwardvaneechoud/Flowfile.git
cd Flowfile
docker compose up -d

Access at http://localhost:8080. The setup wizard will guide you through master key configuration.

Setup Wizard

Docker Images

Image	Description
`edwardvaneechoud/flowfile-frontend`	Web UI
`edwardvaneechoud/flowfile-core`	API server
`edwardvaneechoud/flowfile-worker`	Data processing
`edwardvaneechoud/flowfile-kernel-base`	Python-script kernel (base)
`edwardvaneechoud/flowfile-kernel-ml`	Python-script kernel with sklearn / xgboost / lightgbm / statsmodels

Application images (flowfile-frontend, flowfile-core, flowfile-worker) share the project version (latest, 0.9.3, sha-...). The kernel images carry their own version (currently 0.3.0) so the kernel runtime can evolve independently of the rest of the application.

docker-compose.yml

services:
  flowfile-frontend:
    image: edwardvaneechoud/flowfile-frontend:latest
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    networks:
      - flowfile-network
    depends_on:
      - flowfile-core
      - flowfile-worker

  flowfile-core:
    image: edwardvaneechoud/flowfile-core:latest
    ports:
      - "63578:63578"
    environment:
      - FLOWFILE_MODE=docker
      - FLOWFILE_ADMIN_USER=${FLOWFILE_ADMIN_USER:-admin}
      - FLOWFILE_ADMIN_PASSWORD=${FLOWFILE_ADMIN_PASSWORD:-changeme}
      - JWT_SECRET_KEY=${JWT_SECRET_KEY}
      - FLOWFILE_MASTER_KEY=${FLOWFILE_MASTER_KEY:-}
      - FLOWFILE_SCHEDULER_ENABLED=true
      - WORKER_HOST=flowfile-worker
    volumes:
      - ./flowfile_data:/app/user_data
      - ./saved_flows:/app/flowfile_core/saved_flows
      - flowfile-storage:/app/internal_storage
    networks:
      - flowfile-network

  flowfile-worker:
    image: edwardvaneechoud/flowfile-worker:latest
    ports:
      - "63579:63579"
    environment:
      - FLOWFILE_MODE=docker
      - CORE_HOST=flowfile-core
      - FLOWFILE_MASTER_KEY=${FLOWFILE_MASTER_KEY:-}
    volumes:
      - ./flowfile_data:/app/user_data
      - flowfile-storage:/app/internal_storage
    networks:
      - flowfile-network

networks:
  flowfile-network:

volumes:
  flowfile-storage:

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default
`FLOWFILE_MODE`	Set to `docker` for multi-user auth	`docker`
`FLOWFILE_ADMIN_USER`	Admin username	`admin`
`FLOWFILE_ADMIN_PASSWORD`	Admin password	`changeme`
`JWT_SECRET_KEY`	Token signing secret	Required
`FLOWFILE_MASTER_KEY`	Encryption key for secrets	Via setup wizard
`FLOWFILE_SCHEDULER_ENABLED`	Auto-start the flow scheduler	`false`
`FLOWFILE_ENABLE_PROJECTS`	Enable git project tracking (admin-only in docker; the `/project` router 404s when off). Accepts `true`/`1`/`yes`/`on`.	`true` in the bundled compose files
`WORKER_HOST`	Worker hostname	`flowfile-worker`
`CORE_HOST`	Core hostname	`flowfile-core`
`FLOWFILE_KERNEL_IMAGE`	Kernel image to launch for Python-script nodes	`edwardvaneechoud/flowfile-kernel-base:0.3.0`

Git project tracking

When FLOWFILE_ENABLE_PROJECTS is on, Flowfile can mirror your flows, connections and schedules into a versioned, secret-free git folder. In docker it is administrator-only, and each user's projects are confined to their own /app/user_data/projects/<owner_id> area, so tenants stay isolated. Turn it off with FLOWFILE_ENABLE_PROJECTS=false.

.env Example

FLOWFILE_ADMIN_USER=admin
FLOWFILE_ADMIN_PASSWORD=YourSecurePassword123!
JWT_SECRET_KEY=generate-with-openssl-rand-hex-32
FLOWFILE_MASTER_KEY=generated-from-setup-wizard

Volumes

Path	Purpose
`./flowfile_data`	User data
`./saved_flows`	Flow definitions
`flowfile-storage`	Internal storage

Commands

docker compose up -d      # Start
docker compose down       # Stop
docker compose pull       # Update images
docker compose logs -f    # View logs

Health Checks

Service	Endpoint
Core	`http://localhost:63578/health`
Worker	`http://localhost:63579/health`
Frontend	`http://localhost:8080`

Python Script (Kernel) Nodes

Python-script nodes run inside short-lived kernel containers spawned by flowfile-core via the host Docker socket. To enable them, mount the Docker socket into flowfile-core and pull the kernel image you want to use.

1. Pull the kernel image

docker pull edwardvaneechoud/flowfile-kernel-base:0.3.0
# Or, for ML workloads (sklearn, xgboost, lightgbm, statsmodels pre-baked):
docker pull edwardvaneechoud/flowfile-kernel-ml:0.3.0

2. Mount the Docker socket and set the image

In your docker-compose.yml, on the flowfile-core service:

flowfile-core:
  # ... existing config ...
  environment:
    # ... existing env vars ...
    - FLOWFILE_KERNEL_IMAGE=${FLOWFILE_KERNEL_IMAGE:-edwardvaneechoud/flowfile-kernel-base:0.3.0}
  volumes:
    - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
    # ... existing volumes ...

Switch flavours by setting FLOWFILE_KERNEL_IMAGE (no rebuild required), e.g.:

export FLOWFILE_KERNEL_IMAGE=edwardvaneechoud/flowfile-kernel-ml:0.3.0
docker compose up -d

Adding Extra Packages

When you create a kernel from the UI, packages listed in the Extra Python packages field are baked into a per-kernel Docker image at creation time (a FROM <flavour> + RUN pip install layer pinned against the flavour's constraints file). Creation takes ~30 s; subsequent kernel starts reuse the image and boot in seconds. The derived image is removed automatically when you delete the kernel.

If you instead run the kernel container directly (no flowfile-core orchestration), the legacy KERNEL_PACKAGES env var still works as a runtime install — it is overridden to empty when launched by core.

File Manager

Docker mode only.

The File Manager provides a web-based interface for uploading and downloading data files when running Flowfile in Docker (where users cannot browse the host filesystem).

File Manager

The File Manager showing uploaded files

Supported Formats

CSV, Parquet, Excel (.xlsx), JSON, TSV, TXT

File Size Limit

Maximum 500 MB per file.

Usage

Click the File Manager icon in the left sidebar
Click Upload to add a file
Uploaded files appear in the file list and can be used in Read Data input nodes
Click the delete icon to remove a file

Access

The File Manager is only available when FLOWFILE_MODE=docker is set.