Introduction
dockmesh is an open-source container management platform for Docker hosts and fleets. It ships as a single Go binary with an embedded SvelteKit UI, talks directly to the Docker SDK, and treats the filesystem as the source of truth for stack configs.
Why dockmesh?
Section titled “Why dockmesh?”Most Docker management tools either lock critical features behind a paywall or require complex cluster setups. dockmesh takes a different approach:
- Everything included — RBAC, SSO, multi-host, scaling, migration, backups. No tiers, no feature gates.
- Single binary — Download, run, done. No external database, no Redis, no separate frontend server.
- Compose-native — Your
compose.yamlfiles live on disk. dockmesh reads them, not the other way around. - Outbound agents — Remote hosts connect to the server, not the other way. No inbound ports needed on agent hosts.
- No telemetry — Nothing leaves your network unless you explicitly configure it (SMTP, webhooks, SSO).
Architecture at a glance
Section titled “Architecture at a glance”
The dockmesh server runs on a single host and exposes an HTTP(S) UI plus a WebSocket endpoint for agents. The local Docker daemon is managed directly via the Docker SDK. Remote hosts each run a tiny agent binary that dials outbound to the server over mTLS — no inbound ports required on the remote side.
Key features
Section titled “Key features”| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Stack Management | Compose-native deploy, stop, scale, migrate |
| Multi-Host | Fan-out views, per-host metrics, agent auto-upgrade |
| Smart Scaling | Manual + auto (CPU/memory thresholds), safety checks |
| Stack Migration | Move stacks between hosts with volume transfer |
| Backup | Local, NAS (SMB), SFTP, WebDAV, S3 with age encryption |
| RBAC | Custom roles with granular permissions |
| SSO | OIDC with group mapping (Azure AD, Google, Keycloak) |
| Alerts | Metric rules, 7+ notification channels |
| Reverse Proxy | Embedded Caddy with automatic HTTPS |
| Audit Log | Tamper-proof hash chain |
License
Section titled “License”dockmesh is licensed under AGPL-3.0. You can use it freely for any purpose, modify it, run it for your team or your customers. If you fork it and host it as a service, you must publish your modifications. Contributions are welcome.