There are many ways you could choose to run Node-RED under Docker. This guide describe some of the ways you can do it.
It assumes you have some basic familiarity with Docker and the Docker Command Line.
We publish three tagged versions of the container to DockerHub:
latest - uses official Node.JS v4 base image.slim - uses Alpine Linux base image.rpi - uses RPi-compatible base image.Using Alpine Linux reduces the built image size (~100MB vs ~700MB) but removes standard dependencies that are required for native module compilation. If you want to add modules with native dependencies, use the standard image or extend the slim image with the missing packages.
To run the latest container:
docker run -it -p 1880:1880 --name mynodered nodered/node-red-docker
This command will download the nodered/node-red-docker container from DockerHub
and run an instance of it with the name of mynodered and with port 1880 exposed.
In the terminal window you will see Node-RED start. Once started you can then
browse to http://{host-ip}:1880 to access the editor.
Hit Ctrl-p Ctrl-q to detach from the container. This leaves it running in the
background.
To reattach to the container:
docker attach mynodered
To stop the container:
docker stop mynodered
To start the container:
docker start mynodered
Note: your flows will be stored in the file called flows.json
within the container. This can be customised by setting the FLOWS
environment parameter:
docker run -it -p 1880:1880 -e FLOWS=my_flows.json nodered/node-red-docker
Node.js runtime arguments can be passed to the container using an environment parameter (NODE_OPTIONS). For example, to fix the heap size used by the Node.js garbage collector you would use the following command:
docker run -it -p 1880:1880 -e NODE_OPTIONS="--max_old_space_size=128" nodered/node-red-docker
The container uses the directory /data as the user configuration directory. To
add additional nodes you can open shell into the container and run the appropriate
npm install commands:
# Open a shell in the container
docker exec -it mynodered /bin/bash
# Once inside the container, npm install the nodes in /data
cd /data
npm install node-red-node-smooth
exit
# Restart the container to load the new nodes
docker stop mynodered
docker start mynodered
It is possible to mount the /data path on an external volume:
docker run -it -p 1880:1880 -v ~/node-red-data:/data --name mynodered nodered/node-red-docker
This command mounts the host’s ~/node-red-data directory as the user configuration directory inside the container.
Adding extra nodes to the container can then be accomplished by running npm install
on the host machine:
cd ~/node-red-data
npm install node-red-node-smooth
docker stop mynodered
docker start mynodered
Note: Modules with a native dependencies will be compiled on the host machine's architecture. These modules will not work inside the Node-RED container unless the architecture matches the container's base image. For native modules, it is recommended to install using a local shell or update the package.json and re-build.
The Dockerfiles for these containers are maintained here, each under its own branch.
To build your own version:
git clone https://github.com/node-red/node-red-docker.git
cd node-red-docker
# Build it with the desired tag
docker build -f <version>/Dockerfile -t mynodered:<tag> .
Creating a new Docker image, using the public Node-RED images as the base image, allows you to install extra nodes during the build process.
Create a file called Dockerfile with the content:
FROM nodered/node-red-docker
RUN npm install node-red-node-wordpos
Run the following command to build the image:
docker build -t mynodered:<tag> .
That will create a Node-RED image that includes the wordpos nodes.
Updating the base container image is as simple as
docker pull nodered/node-red-docker
docker stop mynodered
docker start mynodered
You can link containers “internally” within the Docker runtime by using the
--link option.
For example, if you have a container that provides an MQTT broker container called mybroker, you can run the Node-RED container with the link parameter to join the
two:
docker run -it -p 1880:1880 --name mynodered --link mybroker:broker nodered/node-red-docker
This will make broker a known hostname within the Node-RED container that can be
used to access the service within a flow, without having to expose it outside
of the Docker host.
[{"id":"190c0df7.e6f3f2","type":"mqtt-broker","broker":"broker","port":"1883","clientid":""},{"id":"37963300.c869cc","type":"mqtt in","name":"","topic":"test","broker":"190c0df7.e6f3f2","x":226,"y":244,"z":"f34f9922.0cb068","wires":[["802d92f9.7fd27"]]},{"id":"edad4162.1252c","type":"mqtt out","name":"","topic":"test","qos":"","retain":"","broker":"190c0df7.e6f3f2","x":453,"y":135,"z":"f34f9922.0cb068","wires":[]},{"id":"13d1cf31.ec2e31","type":"inject","name":"","topic":"","payload":"","payloadType":"date","repeat":"","crontab":"","once":false,"x":226,"y":157,"z":"f34f9922.0cb068","wires":[["edad4162.1252c"]]},{"id":"802d92f9.7fd27","type":"debug","name":"","active":true,"console":"false","complete":"false","x":441,"y":261,"z":"f34f9922.0cb068","wires":[]}]