You’ll need Docker Engine and Docker Compose (release 1.28 or later) Follow the steps in the Mattermost Docker Setup README or follow the steps below.

Encountering issues with your Docker deployment? See the Docker deployment troubleshooting documentation for details.

1. In a terminal window, clone the repository and enter the directory.

   git clone https://github.com/mattermost/docker
   cd docker
   

2. Create your .env file by copying and adjusting the env.example file.

   cp env.example .env
   

Important

At a minimum, you must edit the DOMAIN value in the .env file to correspond to the domain for your Mattermost server.

3. Create the required directories and set their permissions.

   mkdir -p ./volumes/app/mattermost/{config,data,logs,plugins,client/plugins,bleve-indexes}
   sudo chown -R 2000:2000 ./volumes/app/mattermost
   

4. Configure TLS for NGINX (optional). If you’re not using the included NGINX reverse proxy, you can skip this step.

   If creating a new certificate and key:

   bash scripts/issue-certificate.sh -d <YOUR_MM_DOMAIN> -o ${PWD}/certs
   

   To include the certificate and key, uncomment the following lines in your .env file and ensure they point to the appropriate files.

   #CERT_PATH=./certs/etc/letsencrypt/live/${DOMAIN}/fullchain.pem
   #KEY_PATH=./certs/etc/letsencrypt/live/${DOMAIN}/privkey.pem
   

   If using a pre-existing certificate and key:

   mkdir -p ./volumes/web/cert
   cp <PATH-TO-PRE-EXISTING-CERT>.pem ./volumes/web/cert/cert.pem
   cp <PATH-TO-PRE-EXISTING-KEY>.pem ./volumes/web/cert/key-no-password.pem
   

   To include the certificate and key, ensure the following lines in your .env file points to the appropriate files.

   CERT_PATH=./volumes/web/cert/cert.pem
   KEY_PATH=./volumes/web/cert/key-no-password.pem
   

5. Configure SSO with GitLab (optional). If you want to use SSO with GitLab, and you’re using a self-signed certificate, you have to add the PKI chain for your authority. This is required to avoid the Token request failed: certificate signed by unknown authority error.

   To add the PKI chain, uncomment this line in your .env file, and ensure it points to your pki_chain.pem file:

   #GITLAB_PKI_CHAIN_PATH=<path_to_your_gitlab_pki>/pki_chain.pem
   

   Then uncomment this line in your docker-compose.yml file, and ensure it points to the same pki_chain.pem file:

   # - ${GITLAB_PKI_CHAIN_PATH}:/etc/ssl/certs/pki_chain.pem:ro
   

6. Deploy Mattermost.

   Without using the included NGINX:

   sudo docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.without-nginx.yml up -d
   

   To access your new Mattermost deployment, navigate to http://<YOUR_MM_DOMAIN>:8065/ in your browser.

   To shut down your deployment:

   sudo docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.without-nginx.yml down
   

   Using the included NGINX:

   sudo docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.nginx.yml up -d
   

   To access your new Mattermost deployment via HTTPS, navigate to https://<YOUR_MM_DOMAIN>/ in your browser.

   To shut down your deployment:

   sudo docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.nginx.yml down
   

7. Create your first Mattermost System Admin user, invite more users, and explore the Mattermost platform.