Getting Started

This guide will help you set up Dockform, initialize your first project, and understand the basic structure of a Dockform-managed stack.

Installation

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the following installed:

Docker
Docker Compose
Go (if you want to build Dockform from source)
SOPS and Age (required for secrets management)

Homebrew

On macOS or Linux, you can install Dockform using Homebrew:

terminal

brew tap gcstr/dockform
brew install dockform

Precompiled binaries

Precompiled binaries for Linux, macOS, and Windows are available on the GitHub Releases page.
Download the binary for your platform, extract it, and place it somewhere in your PATH.

Initialize a Project

Dockform includes a convenience command to scaffold a new project:

dockform init

This will create a starter dockform.yml manifest file in your project directory.

Project Structure

A typical Dockform project might look like this:

my-project/
├── dockform.yml
├── app1/
│   ├── docker-compose.yml
│   └── secrets.env
├── app2/
│   ├── config/
│   │   └── config.toml
│   └── docker-compose.yml
└── app3/
    └── docker-compose.yml

Each stack (app1, app2, app3) has its own folder containing one or more Compose files and optional configuration. The dockform.yml manifest ties everything together.

Next Steps

To learn more about the manifest file and its configuration options, see The Manifest File.