🚀 Single Container Deployment

Overview

Single container deployment serves both the LibrePhotos API and frontend from one unified container. Choose between internal database (SQLite) or external PostgreSQL.

🐋 Option 1: All-in-One (SQLite Database)

Best for: Simple home servers, quick testing, first-time users

Quick Start

1. Create directories for data

   mkdir -p /home/yourusername/librephotos/{db,protected_media,logs}

2. Start LibrePhotos

   sudo docker run -d \
     --name librephotos \
     --restart unless-stopped \
     -p 3000:8001 \
     -v /home/yourusername/librephotos/db:/db \
     -v /home/yourusername/librephotos/protected_media:/protected_media \
     -v /home/yourusername/librephotos/logs:/logs \
     -v /path/to/your/photos:/data \
     -e SERVE_FRONTEND=true \
     -e DB_BACKEND=sqlite \
     reallibrephotos/librephotos-unified:latest

3. Access: http://localhost:3000

Notes:

• Secret key: Optional - if not provided, one will be generated and saved to /logs/secret_key.txt
• Database: SQLite file will be created automatically in the /db directory
• Photos: Mount your photo directory as read-only if preferred: -v /path/to/photos:/data:ro

🗄️ Option 2: External PostgreSQL Database

Best for: Cloud deployments, existing PostgreSQL, production setups

1. PostgreSQL Setup

Existing PostgreSQL:

CREATE DATABASE librephotos;
CREATE USER librephotos_user WITH PASSWORD 'your_secure_password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE librephotos TO librephotos_user;

New PostgreSQL container:

sudo docker run -d \
  --name librephotos-db \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 5432:5432 \
  -e POSTGRES_DB=librephotos \
  -e POSTGRES_USER=librephotos_user \
  -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=your_secure_password \
  -v /home/yourusername/postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data \
  postgres:17

2. LibrePhotos Container

sudo docker run -d \
  --name librephotos \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 3000:8001 \
  -v /home/yourusername/librephotos/protected_media:/protected_media \
  -v /home/yourusername/librephotos/logs:/logs \
  -v /path/to/your/photos:/data \
  -e SERVE_FRONTEND=true \
  -e DB_BACKEND=postgresql \
  -e DB_NAME=librephotos \
  -e DB_USER=librephotos_user \
  -e DB_PASS=your_secure_password \
  -e DB_HOST=localhost \
  -e DB_PORT=5432 \
  reallibrephotos/librephotos-unified:latest

Next: First Steps to configure photo scanning and features.