In today’s self-hosting world, Homarr stands out as a sleek and powerful dashboard application that helps you organize and access all your services in one place. Whether you're running a homelab or simply want a beautiful landing page for your tools, Homarr makes it easy.
In this post, I’ll walk you through the steps to install Homarr on a Debian/Ubuntu system using Docker and Docker Compose.
Prerequisites
Make sure Docker is installed and running on your system. If not, you can follow my earlier guide here:
Step 1: Create Directories for Homarr
Open your terminal and run:
mkdir -p docker/homarr
cd docker/homarr
This will create a dedicated folder for your Homarr configuration and compose files.
Step 2: Create the Docker Compose File
Use your favorite text editor (I'll use nano here) to create the docker-compose.yml file:
nano docker-compose.yml
Then paste the following configuration:
services:
homarr:
container_name: homarr
image: ghcr.io/homarr-labs/homarr:latest
restart: unless-stopped
volumes:
- /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock # Optional, enables Docker integration
- ./homarr/appdata:/appdata
environment:
- SECRET_ENCRYPTION_KEY=ae7c7bb97bbd5bfdb5314dfbc188d8212714e81cc1b0535583aefc507d71e7e4
ports:
- '7575:7575'
Note: You can generate your own SECRET_ENCRYPTION_KEY for production using a secure hash generator.
Step 3: Start the Container
Now, run the following command to start Homarr in detached mode:
sudo docker compose up -d
Docker will pull the latest Homarr image and spin up the container.
Step 4: Access the Dashboard
Once the container is up, open your browser and visit:
You should see the elegant Homarr interface. From here, you can begin adding your services, customizing widgets, and organizing your digital world.
