Docker Setup

3DPrintForge includes a Dockerfile and docker-compose.yml for easy containerization.

Quick start

Requirements: Docker Engine 20.10+ and Docker Compose v2 (docker compose version).

git clone https://github.com/skynett81/3dprintforge.git
cd 3dprintforge
cp config.example.json config.json   # edit it with your printer
docker compose up -d --build

The first build takes a few minutes (Node image + npm ci). After that:

docker compose logs -f       # follow the startup
docker compose ps            # status and health check
docker compose down          # stop the stack

Open https://localhost:3443 in the browser (HTTP on port 3000 redirects there). The certificate is self-signed on first run, so the browser warns you — that is expected.

:::tip Try it without a printer Set BAMBU_DEMO=true under environment: in docker-compose.yml to start with three simulated printers. You can click through the whole UI without hardware. :::

:::warning config.json must exist before the first start docker-compose.yml mounts ./config.json as a file. If it does not exist, Docker creates a directory with that name and the server refuses to start. Copy config.example.json first. :::

docker-compose.yml

services:
  3dprintforge:
    build: .
    container_name: 3dprintforge
    network_mode: host
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - ./config.json:/app/config.json
      - ./data:/app/data
      - ./certs:/app/certs
    environment:
      - NODE_ENV=production

:::warning network_mode: host network_mode: host is recommended so the container can reach the printer on the local network via MQTT. Without this, the MQTT connection may fail depending on the network configuration. :::

Dockerfile

FROM node:22-slim

RUN apt-get update && \
    apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends ffmpeg openssl && \
    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

WORKDIR /app

COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci --omit=dev

COPY . .

RUN mkdir -p data data/uploads data/library data/model-cache data/history-models data/toolpath-cache certs

EXPOSE 3000 3443 9001-9010

HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=5s --retries=3 \
  CMD node -e "fetch('http://localhost:3000/api/health').then(r=>{if(!r.ok&&r.status!==301)throw new Error();process.exit(0)}).catch(()=>process.exit(1))"

CMD ["node", "server/index.js"]

Volumes

Host path	Container path	Contents
./config.json	/app/config.json	Printers, ports and server settings
./data	/app/data	SQLite database (dashboard.db), uploads, library, backups
./certs	/app/certs	SSL certificates (generated automatically if the folder is empty)

:::tip Persistent data Always mount the ./data volume. Without this, all data will be lost when the container restarts. :::

Environment variables

Variable	Default	Description
NODE_ENV	production	Environment
PORT / SERVER_PORT	3000	HTTP port (overrides server.port in config.json)
LOG_LEVEL	info	Log level (debug, info, warn, error)
REQUIRE_AUTH	false	Set to true to require sign-in
BAMBU_AUTH_USERNAME	—	Username when sign-in is enabled
BAMBU_AUTH_PASSWORD	—	Password when sign-in is enabled
BAMBU_DEMO	false	Start with simulated printers

The HTTPS port is set with server.httpsPort in config.json (default 3443).

SSL certificates in Docker

Self-generated (default)

No configuration needed. The certificate is generated on first start and stored in the mounted ./certs volume.

Custom certificate

volumes:
  - ./my-cert.pem:/app/certs/cert.pem:ro
  - ./my-key.pem:/app/certs/key.pem:ro

Administration

# Start
docker compose up -d

# Stop
docker compose down

# Logs
docker compose logs -f

# Update to a new version (the image is built locally, so `git pull` fetches the code)
git pull
docker compose up -d --build

# Back up the database
cp data/dashboard.db backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).db

:::note docker compose pull does nothing here docker-compose.yml uses build: . — there is no prebuilt image to pull. Update with git pull followed by docker compose up -d --build. :::

Health status

docker inspect --format='{{.State.Health.Status}}' 3dprintforge

The container reports healthy when the server is up and responding to /api/health.