Akaunting with Docker

Docker runtime and Compose configuration maintained by LibreCodeCoop for running Akaunting with PHP-FPM and Nginx.

The repository publishes reusable PHP and Nginx runtime images to GHCR. The Akaunting application itself remains in ./volumes/akaunting, so application data and source are independent from the runtime image lifecycle.

Requirements

• Docker Engine
• Docker Compose v2 (docker compose)

Quick start

Clone this repository and start the base Akaunting stack:

docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

The base stack contains Akaunting, Nginx, and MySQL. OpenBao is not an Akaunting dependency and is not started unless the environment explicitly opts into the optional OpenBao configuration.

For local development helpers such as Mailpit, Dufs, and Composer/npm caches:

cp docker-compose.override.example.yml docker-compose.override.yml
docker compose up -d

docker-compose.override.yml is intentionally ignored by Git, so each environment can customize its local deployment without modifying the repository.

Akaunting is installed into volumes/akaunting on the first start.

The runtime compatibility line is controlled by RUNTIME_VERSION. Akaunting 3 currently uses runtime line 3:

ghcr.io/librecodecoop/akaunting-docker-php:3
ghcr.io/librecodecoop/akaunting-docker-nginx:3

The exact Akaunting release used for a new installation is controlled separately by AKAUNTING_VERSION.

Application version

The default application version is declared in docker-compose.yml:

AKAUNTING_VERSION=${AKAUNTING_VERSION:-3.2.4}

Renovate monitors upstream Akaunting releases and proposes updates to this value.

Changing AKAUNTING_VERSION does not automatically upgrade an existing installation when the container restarts. This is intentional: upgrades are explicit operations.

To update an existing installation after reviewing and merging an Akaunting version update:

bash scripts/update-akaunting.sh

The update command checks out the selected Akaunting tag, applies the repository patch, refreshes Composer and frontend dependencies, runs Akaunting's update command and database migrations, and clears optimized caches.

If the patch no longer applies to a new upstream release, the update stops instead of continuing with a partially patched installation.

Local Compose override

The repository intentionally does not version docker-compose.override.yml.

Use the tracked example as a starting point:

cp docker-compose.override.example.yml docker-compose.override.yml

Then edit docker-compose.override.yml for the local environment. Since Docker Compose loads this file automatically, no extra -f arguments are needed.

Typical local customizations include:

• external reverse-proxy networks;
• an external MySQL service;
• local domain names;
• host port mappings;
• Mailpit and Dufs settings;
• deployment-specific environment variables.

The tracked docker-compose.override.example.yml is intentionally OpenBao-free.

Optional OpenBao setup

OpenBao is used by LibreCode-managed NFS-e deployments, but it is not part of the base Akaunting runtime. An optional persistent configuration is provided in docker-compose.openbao.example.yml.

For an environment that needs it:

cp docker-compose.openbao.example.yml docker-compose.override.yml

Then follow the OpenBao setup guide. The optional stack uses persistent PebbleDB storage and Static Key Auto Unseal, so a normal container or host restart does not require manually entering unseal shares.

A root-level .env is optional and is used by Docker Compose to override variable defaults.

Akaunting keeps its own application environment file at:

volumes/akaunting/.env

Building the runtime locally

The default Compose file consumes published GHCR images and intentionally does not contain build: entries.

To test local runtime changes, build the images using the same names expected by Compose:

docker build \
  -t ghcr.io/librecodecoop/akaunting-docker-php:3 \
  .docker/php

docker build \
  --build-arg NGINX_CONF=http \
  -t ghcr.io/librecodecoop/akaunting-docker-nginx:3 \
  .docker/nginx

docker compose up -d

Database

The base stack stores MySQL data in:

volumes/mysql/data

SQL files placed in:

volumes/mysql/dump

are made available to the MySQL image through /docker-entrypoint-initdb.d.

The MySQL port is not published on the host by default. If direct host access is required for development, expose it in docker-compose.override.yml.

To use an external database, override DB_HOST, credentials and networks as needed and disable the akaunting.mysql service in the local deployment configuration.

Application patch

patches/akaunting-modifications.patch contains the patch distributed with this repository. Deployment-specific patches belong in volumes/patches/, which is ignored by Git and mounted read-only into the PHP container.

Patches are applied in two stages:

1. committed patches/*.patch files;
2. private deployment patches from volumes/patches/*.patch.

Both are applied automatically during first setup and explicit upgrades. Files under volumes/patches/ are persistent local deployment state and are never versioned because the entire volumes/ tree is ignored by Git. Removing a local patch file does not reverse a patch that is already present in the persistent Akaunting checkout; run bash scripts/update-akaunting.sh for the selected version to reset the upstream checkout and apply the current patch set again.

Do not manually git pull the Akaunting master branch inside volumes/akaunting. The installation is intentionally tied to the release selected by AKAUNTING_VERSION.

Dependency updates

Dependency maintenance is split deliberately:

• Renovate updates only AKAUNTING_VERSION;
• Dependabot updates Docker Compose images, Dockerfile images and GitHub Actions.

Docker base images are pinned by immutable digest while retaining a readable tag. Dependabot can update the tag/digest pair when a supported update is available.

PHP stays on the Akaunting-supported 8.3 line unless compatibility is intentionally reviewed. Node.js stays on the upstream-supported Node 20 line.

Continuous integration

Pull requests run two kinds of validation:

1. runtime image builds;
2. an integration smoke test that:
   • validates Compose and scripts;
   • builds the branch PHP and Nginx images;
   • installs the selected Akaunting release;
   • verifies that the patch applies;
   • starts the stack and checks the HTTP endpoint.

This is especially important for automated Akaunting and dependency update pull requests.

Troubleshooting

Inspect the effective Compose configuration:

docker compose config

Inspect container state and logs:

docker compose ps
docker compose logs