Quickstart¶

Start a Dinatos instance with Docker Compose. Compose runs two containers: Postgres, and the app (the API plus the web UI, served together).

You need Docker with the Compose plugin, and Git.

1. Start it¶

git clone https://github.com/bergercookie/dinatos.git
cd dinatos
cp .env.example .env

Edit .env, then:

docker compose up -d

The first run builds the image from source, which takes a few minutes. Database migrations run automatically on every start.

(just docker up does the same.)

Go to http://127.0.0.1:8000. That is the web app. The container listens on localhost only. See Security and networking to expose it.

Check health with curl http://127.0.0.1:8000/health.

Variable	Required	Meaning
`POSTGRES_PASSWORD`	Yes	Database password. The containers refuse to start without it.
`POSTGRES_USER`, `POSTGRES_DB`	No	Both default to `dinatos`.
`DINATOS_ADMIN_EMAIL`, `DINATOS_ADMIN_PASSWORD`	No	Set both to create this admin account on first start. An existing account’s password is never changed.
`DINATOS_ALLOW_REGISTRATION`	No	`false` stops self-registration. Default `true`.

Without the admin variables, the first account registered becomes the administrator. Administrators add users under Settings -> Administration.

Every other setting is in the Configuration reference.

Task	Command
Follow logs	`docker compose logs -f backend`
Stop (data is kept)	`docker compose down`
Upgrade	See Upgrades and backups

The running server documents its own API:

URL	Content
`/docs`	Swagger UI with “Try it out”. Needs a login token.
`/redoc`	Read-only reference
`/openapi.json`	Raw schema

Swagger UI loads scripts from cdn.jsdelivr.net. Without internet access its page does not render. /openapi.json still works.

Connect a client: see Clients.