Docker Reference¶

Version: Arctyk ITSM v0.6.0+
Last Updated: January 2026

Arctyk ITSM is built using Docker Compose and you should always run the correct Docker Compose commands for all Arctyk ITSM project-level tasks.

Docker Compose can run Django commands within the project container. Running the local Django commands without Docker Compose will only affect your local development environment.

Example Usage¶

Below is an example of the differences between Docker Compose commands and local commands.

Docker Compose Commands¶

# This will apply to the container db
docker compose exec web python src/manage.py makemigrations tickets
docker compose exec web python src/manage.py migrate

Local Commands¶

# This will only apply to your local db
python src/manage.py makemigrations tickets
python src/manage.py migrate

[!tip] Remember

• Use docker compose for all project-level tasks.
• Only use local commands local dev environment.

How Compose works¶

For Arctyk ITSM, Docker Compose uses a YAML configuration file—docker-compose.yml—to define and manage all core services required for the application. This file specifies how the Django web app, PostgreSQL database, Redis message broker, Celery worker, and Celery beat scheduler are built, networked, and started together.

You configure these services in docker-compose.yml according to the Docker Compose Specification. Once defined, you can start the entire Arctyk ITSM stack with a single command using the Compose CLI:

docker compose up

Key Docker Commands¶

Start app and services¶

1. To start the Arctyk ITSM app and services, run from project root. (e.g. `arctyk/):

docker compose up

1. To start up containers but keep your terminal free add the -d flag:

docker compose up -d

Example Output:

Stop app and services¶

1. To stop and remove the running services:

docker compose down

Example Output:

Stop and Remove containers + volumes¶

1. The following command adds the -v flag to the docker compose down command.

# Stop and remove all containers + volumes
docker compose down -v

[!warning] Caution Using the -v option will stop the currently running containers and dispose of all containers and volumes. Use this command with caution as it removes the database volume and it cannot be recovered once removed.

Restart Containers¶

The most basic and quickest way to restart the web containers is to us the command below.

docker compose restart web

This command does not reload .env file, only the container services. So if you need to restart everything, you should use docker compose down and then docker compose up -d instead.

Monitor output and logs¶

To monitor the output of your running containers and debug issues, you can view the logs with:

docker compose logs

View running services¶

To list all the services along with their current status:

docker compose ps