Deploy Memos 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 effortless to run Memos as your self-hosted note-taking and journaling tool.

This guide walks you through deploying Memos with persistent data storage and automatic HTTPS. Memos is a lightweight, privacy-first memo hub that uses an embedded SQLite database — no external database required.

Prerequisites

• A VPS with at least 1 vCPU, 512 MB RAM, and 5 GB storage
• Dokploy installed and running on your server (installation docs)
• A domain name (e.g., memos.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:
  memos:
    image: neosmemo/memos:stable
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "5230:5230"
    environment:
      - TZ=${TZ:-UTC}
    volumes:
      - ../files/memos-data:/var/opt/memos
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "wget -qO- http://localhost:5230/healthz || exit 1"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 3

Note: Memos is deliberately simple — a single container with an embedded SQLite database. No separate database service is needed, making it one of the easiest apps to deploy and maintain.

Environment Variables

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

Variable	Purpose	Example
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. Memos requires minimal configuration — most settings are managed through the web UI after deployment.

Volumes & Data Persistence

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

• ../files/memos-data — SQLite database, uploaded assets (images, files), and application data

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 because Dokploy may clean them during redeployment.

If you need S3 backup support, consider using named Docker volumes instead. Named volumes can be backed up with Dokploy's built-in backup features. The SQLite database file is located at /var/opt/memos/memos_prod.db inside the container.

Domain & SSL Setup

1. In your Dokploy project, navigate to the Domains tab
2. Click Add Domain and enter your domain (e.g., memos.yourdomain.com)
3. Set the container port to 5230
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 Memos container.

Verifying the Deployment

1. In Dokploy, go to your project's Deployments tab and click Deploy
2. Watch the build logs — the memos container should start quickly
3. Check the Logs tab for the memos service. Look for: the server started message
4. Open https://memos.yourdomain.com in your browser — you should see the Memos registration page
5. Create your admin account — the first user to register becomes the administrator

Troubleshooting

Memos container won't start Check the logs for permission errors on the data directory. Ensure ../files/memos-data exists and is writable. From your server shell: mkdir -p ../files/memos-data && chmod 777 ../files/memos-data.

Images not displaying after upload Uploaded images are stored in ../files/memos-data/assets/. Verify the volume mount is correct and the directory has sufficient disk space. Large image uploads may time out if Dokploy's proxy body size limit is too low.

Cannot register new users After the first user registers, new registrations may be disabled by default. The admin can enable open registration in Settings > System > Allow User Registration, or manually create user accounts.

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 Memos in our complete overview.

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

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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.