Docker

Overview

Attractor uses two Docker images published to the GitHub Container Registry:

ghcr.io/coreydaley/attractor-base — A base image built on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble) containing the Java 21 JRE and all system tools (graphviz, git, python3, ruby, nodejs, golang-go, rustc, and more). It is only rebuilt when Dockerfile.base changes between releases, keeping release builds fast.
ghcr.io/coreydaley/attractor — The server image. Built on every release by copying the pre-built JAR on top of attractor-base. On a typical release where only the code changes, this step completes in ~2 minutes instead of ~8.

SQLite data is stored in a mounted volume so it persists across container restarts.

Quick Start

# Pull the latest release
docker pull ghcr.io/coreydaley/attractor:latest

# Run with a local data volume (SQLite persisted to ./data/attractor.db)
docker run --rm -p 7070:7070 -v "$(pwd)/data:/app/data" ghcr.io/coreydaley/attractor:latest

Open http://localhost:7070 once the container is running.

Image Tags

Each release publishes the following tags for the server image (ghcr.io/coreydaley/attractor):

Tag	Example	Notes
`latest`	`latest`	Most recent release
`<major>.<minor>.<patch>`	`1.2.3`	Exact release — recommended for production
`<major>.<minor>`	`1.2`	Latest patch in this minor series
`<major>`	`1`	Latest release in this major series

The base image (ghcr.io/coreydaley/attractor-base) is tagged the same way, but only on releases where Dockerfile.base has changed. The server image always uses attractor-base:latest.

Building Locally

make docker-build-base   # build the base image (attractor-base:local)
make docker-build        # build the server image (attractor:local); builds base if not present
make docker-run          # run attractor:local, auto-loads .env if present

make docker-build checks for attractor-base:local and only rebuilds it when it is missing, so a plain make docker-build is safe to run repeatedly.

Or directly with Docker:

# Build base first (only needed once, or when Dockerfile.base changes)
docker build -f Dockerfile.base -t attractor-base:local -t ghcr.io/coreydaley/attractor-base:latest .

# Build server image
docker build -f Dockerfile -t attractor:local .

docker run --rm -p 7070:7070 -v "$(pwd)/data:/app/data" attractor:local

Passing API Keys

LLM provider API keys are passed as environment variables at run time — they are never baked into the image.

Using a .env file (recommended)

cp .env.example .env
# edit .env and fill in your keys
make docker-run       # automatically passes --env-file .env when .env exists

Or with Docker directly:

docker run --rm -p 7070:7070 \
  -v "$(pwd)/data:/app/data" \
  --env-file .env \
  ghcr.io/coreydaley/attractor:latest

Inline -e flags

docker run --rm -p 7070:7070 \
  -v "$(pwd)/data:/app/data" \
  -e ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-... \
  ghcr.io/coreydaley/attractor:latest

Environment Variables

LLM Provider API Keys

Variable	Description
`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`	API key for Anthropic Claude (Direct API mode)
`OPENAI_API_KEY`	API key for OpenAI GPT (Direct API mode)
`GEMINI_API_KEY`	API key for Google Gemini (Direct API mode)
`GOOGLE_API_KEY`	Alternative to `GEMINI_API_KEY`

Custom OpenAI-Compatible API

These env vars bootstrap the custom provider settings on first start. Values saved through the Settings UI take precedence on subsequent starts.

Variable	Default	Description
`ATTRACTOR_CUSTOM_API_ENABLED`	`false`	Set to `true` to enable the custom provider
`ATTRACTOR_CUSTOM_API_HOST`	`http://localhost`	Base URL of the OpenAI-compatible endpoint
`ATTRACTOR_CUSTOM_API_PORT`	`11434`	Port number (leave blank to omit from URL)
`ATTRACTOR_CUSTOM_API_KEY`	—	API key (optional — Ollama does not require one)
`ATTRACTOR_CUSTOM_API_MODEL`	`llama3.2`	Model name to use for requests

Ollama tip: If running Ollama as a separate container on the same Docker network, set ATTRACTOR_CUSTOM_API_HOST to the Ollama service name (e.g. http://ollama) rather than localhost.

Database

By default the container uses SQLite at /app/data/attractor.db (set via ATTRACTOR_DB_NAME). To use MySQL or PostgreSQL instead, set the following variables:

Variable	Default	Description
`ATTRACTOR_DB_TYPE`	`sqlite`	`sqlite`, `mysql`, or `postgresql`
`ATTRACTOR_DB_HOST`	`localhost`	Database server hostname
`ATTRACTOR_DB_PORT`	—	Database port (defaults by type)
`ATTRACTOR_DB_NAME`	`attractor`	Database name (or SQLite file path)
`ATTRACTOR_DB_USER`	—	Database username
`ATTRACTOR_DB_PASSWORD`	—	Database password
`ATTRACTOR_DB_URL`	—	Full JDBC URL — overrides all individual `ATTRACTOR_DB_*` vars

Volumes

Path	Description
`/app/data`	SQLite database and any other persistent data. Mount this to preserve state across restarts.

Ports

Port	Description
`7070`	Web UI and REST API. Map with `-p <host-port>:7070`.

Docker Compose Example

services:
  attractor:
    image: ghcr.io/coreydaley/attractor:latest
    ports:
      - "7070:7070"
    volumes:
      - attractor-data:/app/data
    environment:
      ANTHROPIC_API_KEY: ${ANTHROPIC_API_KEY}
      OPENAI_API_KEY: ${OPENAI_API_KEY}

volumes:
  attractor-data:

With Ollama on the same network:

services:
  attractor:
    image: ghcr.io/coreydaley/attractor:latest
    ports:
      - "7070:7070"
    volumes:
      - attractor-data:/app/data
    environment:
      ATTRACTOR_CUSTOM_API_ENABLED: "true"
      ATTRACTOR_CUSTOM_API_HOST: "http://ollama"
      ATTRACTOR_CUSTOM_API_PORT: "11434"
      ATTRACTOR_CUSTOM_API_MODEL: "llama3.2"
    depends_on:
      - ollama

  ollama:
    image: ollama/ollama:latest
    volumes:
      - ollama-data:/root/.ollama

volumes:
  attractor-data:
  ollama-data: