Running Oduflow in Docker

• Running Oduflow in Docker
  • Build
  • Run
    • Minimal example
    • With .env file
    • Full example with all typical options
  • Volume Mounts
  • Networking
  • Initialization
  • Environment Variables
  • Docker Compose
  • Security Notes
  • Privileged Mode and fuse-overlayfs

Oduflow can run as a Docker container. Since it manages other Docker containers (Odoo environments, PostgreSQL, etc.), it uses the Docker-out-of-Docker pattern — the host's Docker socket is mounted into the container.

Build

docker build -t oduflow .

Run

Minimal example

docker run -d \
  --name oduflow \
  -p 8000:8000 \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  -v oduflow_data:/srv/oduflow_data_1 \
  oduflow

With .env file

docker run -d \
  --name oduflow \
  --env-file .env \
  -p 8000:8000 \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  -v oduflow_data:/srv/oduflow_data_1 \
  oduflow

Full example with all typical options

docker run -d \
  --name oduflow \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  --env-file .env \
  -p 8000:8000 \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  -v oduflow_data:/srv/oduflow_data_1 \
  -v /etc/oduflow:/etc/oduflow \
  oduflow

Volume Mounts

Mount	Purpose
/var/run/docker.sock	Required. Gives Oduflow access to the host Docker daemon to manage Odoo containers, PostgreSQL, Traefik, etc.
/srv/oduflow_data_1	Oduflow data directory (ODUFLOW_HOME). Contains workspaces, templates, port registry. Use a named volume or a host path to persist data across container restarts.
/etc/oduflow	License key storage. Mount if you have a commercial license.

Networking

The Oduflow container must be on the same Docker network as the containers it creates. The simplest approach is to connect it to oduflow-net after initialization:

# 1. Start Oduflow
docker run -d --name oduflow -p 8000:8000 \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  -v oduflow_data:/srv/oduflow_data_1 \
  oduflow

# 2. Initialize shared infrastructure (creates oduflow-net, PostgreSQL, etc.)
docker exec oduflow oduflow init

# 3. Connect Oduflow to the shared network
docker network connect oduflow-net oduflow

# 4. Initialize instance directories
docker exec oduflow oduflow init-instance

Alternatively, start with --network oduflow-net if the network already exists.

Initialization

On first run, you need to initialize the shared infrastructure and instance:

# Create shared Docker network, PostgreSQL container
docker exec oduflow oduflow init

# Connect to the shared network
docker network connect oduflow-net oduflow

# Create instance directories (workspaces, templates)
docker exec oduflow oduflow init-instance

To set up a template database:

# From scratch (clean Odoo with specified modules)
docker exec oduflow oduflow init-template --odoo-image odoo:17.0 --modules base,web,contacts

# Or import from a running Odoo instance
docker exec oduflow oduflow call import_template_from_odoo https://my-odoo.example.com master_password

Environment Variables

All environment variables from .env.example are supported. Key ones for Docker:

Variable	Default	Description
ODUFLOW_TRANSPORT	http	Transport mode: http or stdio
ODUFLOW_HOST	0.0.0.0	Bind address
ODUFLOW_PORT	8000	HTTP port
ODUFLOW_AUTH_TOKEN	(empty)	Bearer token for MCP auth (empty = disabled)
ODUFLOW_HOME	/srv/oduflow_data_1	Data directory
EXTERNAL_HOST	localhost	Hostname used in generated URLs

Docker Compose

services:
  oduflow:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "8000:8000"
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
      - oduflow_data:/srv/oduflow_data_1
      - oduflow_license:/etc/oduflow
    env_file: .env
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  oduflow_data:
  oduflow_license:

After docker compose up -d, run initialization:

docker compose exec oduflow oduflow init
docker network connect oduflow-net oduflow-oduflow-1
docker compose exec oduflow oduflow init-instance

Security Notes

• Mounting the Docker socket gives the container full control over the host Docker daemon. This is equivalent to root access on the host. Only run Oduflow in trusted environments.
• Set ODUFLOW_AUTH_TOKEN to protect the MCP endpoint.
• Set ODUFLOW_UI_PASSWORD to protect the Web UI.

Privileged Mode and fuse-overlayfs

Oduflow uses fuse-overlayfs for efficient filestore sharing when templates exceed ODUFLOW_OVERLAY_THRESHOLD_MB (default: 50 MB). This requires the /dev/fuse device inside the container.

If your templates are small (under the threshold), Oduflow falls back to simple file copy and no special privileges are needed.

For large templates, run with the fuse device:

docker run -d \
  --name oduflow \
  --device /dev/fuse \
  --cap-add SYS_ADMIN \
  -p 8000:8000 \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  -v oduflow_data:/srv/oduflow_data_1 \
  oduflow

Alternatively, raise the threshold to avoid overlayfs entirely:

ODUFLOW_OVERLAY_THRESHOLD_MB=999999

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