Grafana in Docker. Dashboards, pinned and non-root.

Run it with Docker Compose

The image ships with a docker-compose.yml that is deliberately minimal: one service, one named volume, SQLite inside the volume, and the admin password generated on first boot.

# RemarkableCloud Grafana - standalone. SQLite; /var/lib/grafana volume; admin pw auto-generated (see logs).
name: grafana
services:
  grafana:
    image: ${GF_IMAGE:-ghcr.io/remarkablecloud/grafana:13.2.1-r1}
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports: ["${HTTP_PORT:-3000}:3000"]
    environment:
      GF_SERVER_ROOT_URL: ${ROOT_URL:-http://localhost:3000}
      GF_SERVER_DOMAIN: ${DOMAIN:-localhost}
      GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_USER: ${GF_ADMIN_USER:-admin}
      GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_PASSWORD: ${GF_ADMIN_PASSWORD:-}
      GF_USERS_ALLOW_SIGN_UP: "false"
    volumes:
      - gf-data:/var/lib/grafana
volumes:
  gf-data:

Walking through it:

• image pins the RemarkableCloud tag by default and lets you override it with GF_IMAGE for testing a newer build.
• restart: unless-stopped brings Grafana back after a host reboot or crash.
• ports publishes the container’s port 3000 on the host. In a standalone test that is http://localhost:3000. In production you leave this on an internal network and let the proxy reach 3000 directly.
• environment sets the public URL, the admin username, and turns off open sign-up. GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_PASSWORD is intentionally empty so the wrapper generates one on first boot.
• volumes keeps all state (the SQLite database and installed plugins) under /var/lib/grafana in the named gf-data volume.

Start it and read the generated admin password from the log:

docker compose up -d
docker compose logs grafana | grep '\[rc\]'

You will see a line like [rc] grafana admin 'admin' password: .... The password is printed once. Store it in your password manager, then sign in.

Behind Traefik

In production the platform runs Grafana behind Traefik, which terminates TLS. Two settings matter:

• Set GF_SERVER_ROOT_URL (and GF_SERVER_DOMAIN) to your real HTTPS hostname. Grafana uses the root URL for redirects, links in alert notifications, and OAuth callbacks, so it must match what users type in the browser.
• Point the proxy at container port 3000. The healthcheck hits http://127.0.0.1:3000/api/health inside the container.

Environment variable reference

HTTP_PORT is the host port the compose file publishes; Grafana always listens on 3000 inside the container.

Variable	Compose default	Platform value (catalog)	Notes
GF_IMAGE	ghcr.io/remarkablecloud/grafana:13.2.1-r1	pinned by catalog	Image reference; override only to test a build.
HTTP_PORT	3000	n/a (proxy reaches 3000)	Host port published by compose, mapped to container 3000.
ROOT_URL -> GF_SERVER_ROOT_URL	http://localhost:3000	https://{hostname}	Public base URL. Drives redirects, alert links, and OAuth callbacks.
DOMAIN -> GF_SERVER_DOMAIN	localhost	{hostname}	Public hostname.
GF_ADMIN_USER -> GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_USER	admin	admin	Admin username.
GF_ADMIN_PASSWORD -> GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_PASSWORD	empty	not set (generated)	Only applied on first database init. If empty then, the wrapper generates one and logs it once.
GF_USERS_ALLOW_SIGN_UP	false	false	Turns off public self-registration.

Grafana reads a large number of settings through the GF_<SECTION>_<KEY> environment convention (any value from grafana.ini). You can add SMTP, authentication, or data-source provisioning settings the same way.

Hardening notes

• Keep sign-up disabled. GF_USERS_ALLOW_SIGN_UP=false means accounts are created by an admin or through configured authentication, not by anonymous visitors.
• Set the root URL over HTTPS. Terminate TLS at the proxy and serve Grafana over HTTPS. A wrong root URL breaks redirects and OAuth logins.
• This image runs non-root (uid 472). If you switch from the named volume to a bind mount, the host directory must be owned by uid 472 (chown -R 472:472 /path/to/grafana-data), or Grafana cannot write its database. Named volumes inherit the correct ownership automatically.
• Rotate the first-run password. The generated admin password is written to the container log. Sign in, change it, and consider fronting Grafana with your own single sign-on for team access.
• Restrict data-source and plugin access. Grafana can reach any network your container can reach. Place it on a network scoped to the data sources it needs rather than a flat network with everything.

Backups

All runtime state lives in the /var/lib/grafana volume: the SQLite database (dashboards, users, data-source definitions, API keys) and installed plugins. Backing up that volume backs up the running instance. Note that file-based provisioning lives outside this volume (upstream default /etc/grafana/provisioning), so if you use it, mount and back up those files separately.

For a consistent file-level backup, stop the container so the SQLite database is not written mid-copy, archive the volume, then start it again:

docker compose stop grafana
docker run --rm -v grafana_gf-data:/data -v "$PWD":/backup alpine \
  tar czf /backup/grafana-data.tgz -C /data .
docker compose start grafana

Dashboards can also be version-controlled independently by exporting their JSON or by using file-based provisioning, which is the more portable option for disaster recovery. Test a restore into a throwaway stack before you rely on any backup.

Upgrades

Grafana applies its own database migrations at startup, so upgrading is usually a matter of moving to a newer image tag.

1. Read the changelog and the upstream release notes for the target version, watching for breaking changes and deprecations.
2. Back up the /var/lib/grafana volume first (see above). Migrations are one-way.
3. Pull the new tag, then recreate the container:

   docker compose pull
   docker compose up -d

4. Confirm the container reports healthy and check docker compose logs grafana for migration output. Verify that key plugins are still compatible.

Never downgrade after a migration has run without restoring from a pre-upgrade backup.