The Rowboat web platform uses Docker Compose for simplified deployment and orchestration of all required services.
Prerequisites
Before deploying, ensure you have:
- Docker Engine 20.10+
- Docker Compose v3.8+
- At least 4GB RAM available
- 10GB free disk space
Quick Start
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/rowboatlabs/rowboat.git
cd rowboat
Configure environment variables
Copy the example environment file and edit it:At minimum, set your OpenAI API key:OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-your-api-key-here
Start the services
Launch the core platform:This starts:
- Rowboat web application (port 3000)
- MongoDB (port 27017)
- Redis (port 6379)
- Jobs worker (background)
Access the platform
Open your browser to:The platform is now ready to use! Docker Compose Configuration
Core Services
The default docker-compose.yml includes these services:
rowboat:
build:
context: ./apps/rowboat
dockerfile: Dockerfile
ports:
- "${PORT:-3000}:3000"
environment:
- OPENAI_API_KEY=${OPENAI_API_KEY}
- MONGODB_CONNECTION_STRING=mongodb://mongo:27017/rowboat
- REDIS_URL=redis://redis:6379
restart: unless-stopped
volumes:
- uploads:/app/uploads
Optional Services
Some services are disabled by default and require profiles to enable.
Enable RAG Features
To use RAG with Qdrant vector database:
Update .env file
USE_RAG=true
QDRANT_URL=http://qdrant:6333
QDRANT_API_KEY=your-qdrant-api-key
Start Qdrant service
docker-compose --profile qdrant up -d
Setup Qdrant collections
docker-compose --profile setup_qdrant run --rm setup_qdrant
Start RAG worker
docker-compose --profile rag-worker up -d
The RAG worker requires either a local upload directory or S3 credentials. See Configuration for details. Enable Documentation Site
docker-compose --profile docs up -d
http://localhost:8000
Data Persistence
The platform uses Docker volumes and bind mounts for data persistence:
| Data Type | Location | Description |
|---|
| MongoDB | ./data/mongo | Database files |
| Qdrant | ./data/qdrant | Vector embeddings |
| Uploads | ./data/uploads | User-uploaded files |
Make sure to backup these directories regularly. Deleting them will result in data loss.
Production Deployment
For production environments, consider these additional steps:
1. Use Environment-Specific Config
Create separate .env.production file:
NODE_ENV=production
PORT=3000
# Use strong secrets
AUTH0_SECRET=$(openssl rand -hex 32)
CHAT_WIDGET_SESSION_JWT_SECRET=$(openssl rand -hex 32)
# Enable auth
USE_AUTH=true
AUTH0_ISSUER_BASE_URL=https://your-tenant.auth0.com
AUTH0_CLIENT_ID=your-client-id
AUTH0_CLIENT_SECRET=your-client-secret
- SSL/TLS termination
- Load balancing
- Rate limiting
- Custom domain routing
Example Nginx config:
server {
listen 443 ssl http2;
server_name rowboat.yourdomain.com;
ssl_certificate /path/to/cert.pem;
ssl_certificate_key /path/to/key.pem;
location / {
proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
proxy_http_version 1.1;
proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
}
}
3. Set Resource Limits
Add resource constraints to docker-compose.yml:
rowboat:
# ... existing config
deploy:
resources:
limits:
cpus: '2'
memory: 2G
reservations:
cpus: '1'
memory: 1G
4. Enable Monitoring
Add health checks:
rowboat:
# ... existing config
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:3000/api/health"]
interval: 30s
timeout: 10s
retries: 3
start_period: 40s
Updating
To update to the latest version:
# Pull latest code
git pull origin main
# Rebuild containers
docker-compose build --no-cache
# Restart services
docker-compose up -d
Troubleshooting
Service Won’t Start
Check logs:
docker-compose logs rowboat
Database Connection Issues
Verify MongoDB is running:
docker-compose ps mongo
docker-compose logs mongo
Out of Memory
Increase Docker memory limit in Docker Desktop settings or add swap space on Linux.
Port Already in Use
Change the port in .env:
Then restart:
docker-compose down
docker-compose up -d
Next Steps
Configuration
Learn about all available environment variables and feature flags