🐳 LightDockerWebUI

A lightweight, elegant web interface for Docker container management

---

🎯 Overview

LightDockerWebUI is a clean, fast, and simple web-based Docker management tool designed for home servers, development environments, and small deployments. No complex setup — just run and manage your containers from any browser.

✨ Features

📊 Dashboard Real-time container status Quick status indicators (running, stopped, paused) Port mappings with clickable links Container images and names at a glance	🎮 Container Control Start / Stop / Restart containers Delete containers with confirmation Bulk actions on selected containers Instant feedback with flash messages
📝 Live Logs Real-time log streaming Auto-scroll with manual override Timestamp display Search and filter logs	💻 Web Terminal Interactive shell access: Full server SSH terminal (via Terminal under Configuration) Interactive container shell (full PTY via xterm.js) accessible from Containers → Terminal
🌐 Multi-Server Support Connect to multiple Docker hosts Easy server switching via dropdown Local socket or remote TCP Persistent server configuration	📱 Responsive Design Mobile-friendly interface Tablet optimized Touch-friendly controls Works on any screen size

---

Screenshot

Dashboard — View and manage all containers

---

🚀 Quick Start

Get up and running in 30 seconds:

docker run -d --restart unless-stopped \
 -p 8008:8008 --name=DockerManager \
 -v $(pwd)/instance:/app/instance \
 ftsiadimos/lightdockerwebui:latest

Then open http://localhost:8008 in your browser. That's it! 🎉

---

📦 Installation Options

🐳 Docker (Recommended)

# Pull and run
docker pull ftsiadimos/lightdockerwebui:latest

docker run -d --restart unless-stopped \
-p 8008:8008 \
--name=DockerManager \
-v $(pwd)/instance:/app/instance \
ftsiadimos/lightdockerwebui:latest

📄 Docker Compose

# docker-compose.yml
version: '3.8'

services:
  DockerManager:
    image: ftsiadimos/lightdockerwebui:latest
    container_name: DockerManager
    ports:
      - "8008:8008"
    volumes:
      - ./instance:/app/instance
    restart: unless-stopped

docker-compose up -d

🐍 From Source (Development)

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/ftsiadimos/lightdockerwebui.git
cd lightdockerwebui

# Create virtual environment
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run application
flask run --host=0.0.0.0 --port=8008

---

⚙️ Configuration

Connecting to Docker Hosts

LightDockerWebUI supports multiple Docker servers. Configure them through the web UI:

1. Click Config in the navigation bar
2. Add servers with a display name and connection details:
   • Local: Leave host empty to use /var/run/docker.sock
   • Remote: Enter IP/hostname and port (default: 2375 or 2376)
3. Select the active server from the dropdown

Server Terminal (SSH)

• A full interactive server terminal is available via the Terminal menu (under Configuration)
• Container terminals are full PTY shells (using xterm.js) available from the Containers page; the legacy limited command terminal has been removed

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
`FLASK_DEBUG`	`0`	Enable debug mode (development only)
`SECRET_KEY`	(random)	Flask secret key for sessions
`SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI`	`sqlite:///serverinfo.db`	Database connection string

Exposing Remote Docker Daemon

To manage containers on a remote host, enable TCP on the Docker daemon:

# Create systemd override
sudo mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system/docker.service.d
sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/docker.service.d/override.conf << EOF
[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=/usr/bin/dockerd -H fd:// -H tcp://0.0.0.0:2375
EOF

# Reload and restart
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart docker

⚠️ Security Warning: Use TLS (port 2376) for production. Unencrypted connections should only be used on trusted networks.

---

🏗️ Project Structure

lightdockerwebui/
├── app/
│   ├── __init__.py          # Flask application factory
│   ├── main.py              # Routes, WebSocket handlers
│   ├── models.py            # SQLAlchemy models (DockerServer)
│   ├── forms.py             # WTForms (AddServer, SelectServer)
│   ├── static/              # CSS, JavaScript, images
│   └── templates/           # Jinja2 HTML templates
├── config.py                # Flask configuration classes
├── start.py                 # Application entry point
├── requirements.txt         # Python dependencies
├── Dockerfile               # Container build file
└── docker-compose.yml       # Compose configuration

---

🛠️ Development

# Clone and setup
git clone https://github.com/ftsiadimos/lightdockerwebui.git
cd lightdockerwebui
python -m venv venv && source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run with hot reload
export FLASK_DEBUG=1
flask run --host=0.0.0.0 --port=8008

Production deployment tips ⚙️

For production use we recommend running Gunicorn with the threaded worker class and a higher timeout to avoid workers being killed during occasional slow operations. Example command:

# Example Gunicorn command (used in Dockerfile / docker-compose)
/usr/local/bin/gunicorn -b :8008 -k gthread --workers 3 --threads 4 --timeout 120 start:app

Also ensure the Docker Python SDK is available in the environment where the app runs (needed to talk to Docker):

pip install docker

Tech Stack

• Backend: Flask 3.x, Flask-SQLAlchemy, Flask-Sock
• Frontend: Bootstrap 5.3, DataTables, jQuery
• Database: SQLite (persistent server configuration)
• Container: Docker SDK for Python

---

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Here's how:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: `git checkout -b feature/awesome-feature`
3. Commit changes: `git commit -m 'Add awesome feature'`
4. Push to branch: `git push origin feature/awesome-feature`
5. Open a Pull Request

---

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License — see LICENSE for details.

---

💬 Support & Links

🐛 Report Bug • 💡 Request Feature • 🐳 Docker Hub

⭐ Star this repo if you find it useful! ⭐

---

Made with ❤️ by Fotis Tsiadimos