Deploy Jellyfin with Dokploy

Dokploy is an open-source server management platform that simplifies deploying Docker Compose applications on your VPS. It handles reverse proxy configuration, SSL certificates, and deployment management — making it straightforward to run Jellyfin as your personal media streaming server.

This guide walks you through deploying Jellyfin with persistent media library storage, optional hardware transcoding, and automatic HTTPS.

Prerequisites

• A VPS with at least 2 vCPUs, 2 GB RAM, and 20 GB storage (plus space for your media library)
• Dokploy installed and running on your server (installation docs)
• A domain name (e.g., media.yourdomain.com) with DNS A record pointing to your server's IP

Docker Compose Configuration

Create a new Compose project in Dokploy and paste the following configuration:

version: "3.8"

services:
  jellyfin:
    image: jellyfin/jellyfin:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8096:8096"
    environment:
      - JELLYFIN_PublishedServerUrl=https://${JELLYFIN_DOMAIN}
      - TZ=${TZ:-UTC}
    volumes:
      - ../files/jellyfin-config:/config
      - ../files/jellyfin-cache:/cache
      - ../files/jellyfin-media:/media
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "curl -f http://localhost:8096/health || exit 1"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 3

Note: For hardware transcoding (Intel Quick Sync, NVIDIA, or VA-API), you need to pass through the GPU device. Add devices: ["/dev/dri:/dev/dri"] under the jellyfin service for Intel/AMD VA-API. NVIDIA GPUs require the NVIDIA Container Toolkit and runtime: nvidia instead. Hardware transcoding requires Dokploy to run on bare metal or a VM with GPU passthrough.

Environment Variables

Set these in Dokploy's Environment tab for your compose project:

Variable	Purpose	Example
JELLYFIN_DOMAIN	Your Jellyfin domain name	media.yourdomain.com
TZ	Server timezone	America/New_York

In Dokploy, environment variables are set via the Environment editor in the project settings. Do not create a .env file manually — Dokploy manages this for you. The JELLYFIN_PublishedServerUrl helps Jellyfin generate correct URLs for client apps and API responses.

Volumes & Data Persistence

This setup uses Dokploy's ../files convention for bind-mounted volumes:

• ../files/jellyfin-config — Jellyfin configuration, database, metadata, and user accounts
• ../files/jellyfin-cache — Transcoding cache and image cache
• ../files/jellyfin-media — Your media library (movies, TV shows, music). You can add subdirectories like movies/, shows/, music/

The ../files path is relative to the compose file inside Dokploy's project directory. This ensures your data persists across redeployments. Avoid using absolute paths (e.g., /opt/jellyfin) because Dokploy may clean them during redeployment.

If you need S3 backup support, consider using named Docker volumes instead for config and cache. Media files are typically too large for S3 backup and are better managed with a dedicated backup strategy.

Domain & SSL Setup

1. In your Dokploy project, navigate to the Domains tab
2. Click Add Domain and enter your domain (e.g., media.yourdomain.com)
3. Set the container port to 8096
4. Enable HTTPS — Dokploy automatically provisions a Let's Encrypt SSL certificate
5. Save and wait for the certificate to be issued (usually under a minute)

Dokploy's built-in Traefik reverse proxy handles TLS termination and routes traffic to your Jellyfin container. HTTPS is recommended for secure access from mobile and TV apps.

Verifying the Deployment

1. In Dokploy, go to your project's Deployments tab and click Deploy
2. Watch the build logs — the jellyfin container should start
3. Check the Logs tab for the jellyfin service. Look for: Startup complete
4. Open https://media.yourdomain.com in your browser — you should see the Jellyfin setup wizard
5. Create your admin account, add your media libraries pointing to /media/movies, /media/shows, etc.
6. Install Jellyfin client apps on your devices and connect using your server URL

Troubleshooting

Jellyfin shows empty library after adding media After adding media files to ../files/jellyfin-media/, you need to trigger a library scan from the Jellyfin dashboard under Administration > Libraries. Jellyfin does not automatically detect new files unless scheduled scanning is enabled.

Transcoding is slow or fails Without hardware transcoding, Jellyfin uses CPU-based software transcoding which is resource-intensive. For smoother playback, either enable hardware transcoding with GPU passthrough or set clients to use "Direct Play" mode which streams the original file without transcoding.

Permission errors on media files Jellyfin runs as a non-root user inside the container. Ensure the ../files/jellyfin-media directory and its contents are readable by the container. From your server shell: chmod -R 755 ../files/jellyfin-media.

SSL certificate not issuing Ensure your domain's DNS A record points to your server's IP and has propagated. Dokploy uses Let's Encrypt HTTP-01 challenges, so port 80 must be accessible. Check Traefik logs in Dokploy for certificate-related errors.

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Learn more about Jellyfin in our complete overview.

Need a VPS? Hostinger VPS starts at $4.99/mo — perfect for running Jellyfin.

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For more on Docker Compose deployments in Dokploy, see the Dokploy Docker Compose documentation.

App data sourced from selfh.st open-source directory.