Installation

Install with Docker Compose

The best way to start is with Docker Compose

Pull the container image

docker pull ghcr.io/dredbaron/openmtg:latest

For ARM64 hosts (Raspberry Pi, Apple Silicon, ARM-based VPS), use the ARM64 image:

docker pull ghcr.io/dredbaron/openmtg-arm64:latest

Choose a database backend

OpenMTG supports PostgreSQL (default) or SQLite. This is a permanent, per-instance choice: it gets locked in the moment you create your admin account during first-time setup, and the app refuses to start if it later sees DATABASE_URL pointing at a different backend than what was used at setup. There is currently no tool to convert an existing instance from one backend to the other, so pick before you start using the app for real.

PostgreSQL is the better fit if you want a database you can back up/replicate with standard tooling, or if your Docker volumes live on a network filesystem (NFS/SMB) - SQLite's file locking is unreliable there. SQLite is the better fit if you'd rather not run a second container at all - useful for small, low-traffic instances (a NAS or single-board computer) where the operational simplicity of one container matters more than concurrent-write headroom.

Postgres is the default docker-compose.yml, no extra steps needed. To use SQLite instead, use docker-compose.sqlite.yml in its place throughout this guide (i.e. docker compose -f docker-compose.sqlite.yml up instead of docker compose up) - don't run both files together.

Create your .env environment file

# Only used with docker-compose.yml (PostgreSQL)
POSTGRES_DB=openmtg
POSTGRES_USER=openmtg
DB_PASSWORD=your_secure_password_here
DATA_PATH=./data

# Only used with docker-compose.sqlite.yml
SQLITE_PATH=./sqlite-data

JWT_SECRET=your_long_random_secret_here
CONFIG_PATH=./config
UPLOADS_PATH=./uploads
TRADES_PATH=./trades

Create the docker-compose.yml file

services:

  db:
    container_name: openmtg-db
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: ${POSTGRES_DB}
      POSTGRES_USER: ${POSTGRES_USER}
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
    volumes:
      - ${DATA_PATH}:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U ${POSTGRES_USER} -d ${POSTGRES_DB}"]
      interval: 5s
      retries: 5

  app:
    container_name: openmtg
    build: .
    image: ghcr.io/dredbaron/openmtg:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8080:80"
    environment:
      DATABASE_URL: postgresql://${POSTGRES_USER}:${DB_PASSWORD}@db/${POSTGRES_DB}
      JWT_SECRET: ${JWT_SECRET}
      CONFIG_PATH: /config
      UPLOADS_PATH: /data/uploads
      NOTEL: ${NOTEL}
    depends_on:
      db:
        condition: service_healthy
    volumes:
      - ${CONFIG_PATH}:/config
      - ${UPLOADS_PATH}:/data/uploads
      - ${TRADES_PATH}:/data/trades

Or, for SQLite, create docker-compose.sqlite.yml instead:

services:

  app:
    container_name: openmtg
    build: .
    image: ghcr.io/dredbaron/openmtg:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8080:80"
    environment:
      DATABASE_URL: sqlite:////data/db/openmtg.db
      JWT_SECRET: ${JWT_SECRET}
      CONFIG_PATH: /config
      UPLOADS_PATH: /data/uploads
      NOTEL: ${NOTEL}
    volumes:
      - ${CONFIG_PATH}:/config
      - ${UPLOADS_PATH}:/data/uploads
      - ${TRADES_PATH}:/data/trades
      - ${SQLITE_PATH}:/data/db

Spin up the container with Docker Compose

docker compose up

Or, if you created docker-compose.sqlite.yml instead:

docker compose -f docker-compose.sqlite.yml up

User Settings via Admin panel

Of note is the ability for any Admin to change the preferred currency of a user. Within the User Management page, each user will have a drop-down which contains all available currencies. Changes are saved immediately, and should not require a page refresh.