This guide provides a streamlined process for setting up and running the FlowFuse platform using Docker and Docker Compose.

The Docker Compose file deploys the following services:

FlowFuse Platform: Includes the core application, MQTT broker, and file server for storage
Database: A pre-configured database for storing platform data
Proxy Server: A pre-configured proxy server for managing HTTP traffic

For a full installation guide, including how to setup FlowFuse in a production environment, please refer to the dedicated page for running FlowFuse on Docker.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have Docker and Docker Compose (in 2.23.1 version or higher) installed on your system (either as a standalone binary or as a Docker plugin).

Step 1: Prepare your domain

FlowFuse requires a domain name to work properly — it uses subdomains to run each Node-RED instance separately, so localhost won't work here.

If you own a domain (e.g., example.com or flowfuse.example.com), create an A record pointing to your server's IP address, and another A record for the wildcard subdomain (e.g., *.example.com or *.flowfuse.example.com) pointing to the same address. That's all the setup needed.

If you don't have a domain yet and just want to try FlowFuse locally, see setting up an alternative to DNS.

Step 2: Download files

curl -L -o docker-compose.yml https://github.com/FlowFuse/docker-compose/releases/latest/download/docker-compose.yml
curl -L -o .env https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FlowFuse/docker-compose/refs/heads/main/.env.example

Step 3: Provide domain name

Edit the downloaded .env file with the editor of your choice and update the DOMAIN variable with your domain.

You can use sed to update the DOMAIN variable in the .env file:

sed -i.bak 's/^DOMAIN=.*/DOMAIN=example.com/' .env

Step 4: Start the Application

Run the following command to deploy FlowFuse:

docker compose up -d

This downloads the necessary Docker images, runs initial setup, and starts all services in detached mode.

Step 5: Complete the application Setup

Open your web browser and navigate to http://forge.<your-domain>/setup (e.g., http://forge.example.com/setup). You will be redirected to the setup page where you can create your admin account and set up your instance. For detailed information about first setup and configuration, follow this guide.