Deploy Rclone 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 practical to run Rclone's web-based remote control GUI for managing cloud storage transfers.

Rclone is primarily a command-line tool for managing files on cloud storage. This guide deploys Rclone with its built-in web GUI (rclone rcd --rc-web-gui) for browser-based management of cloud storage backends, sync jobs, and file transfers.

Prerequisites

• A VPS with at least 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, and 10 GB storage (plus space for local sync targets)
• Dokploy installed and running on your server (installation docs)
• A domain name (e.g., rclone.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:
  rclone:
    image: rclone/rclone:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "5572:5572"
    command:
      - rcd
      - --rc-web-gui
      - --rc-addr=0.0.0.0:5572
      - --rc-user=${RCLONE_USER:-admin}
      - --rc-pass=${RCLONE_PASSWORD}
      - --rc-web-gui-no-open-browser
      - --config=/config/rclone.conf
    volumes:
      - ../files/rclone-config:/config
      - ../files/rclone-data:/data
      - ../files/rclone-logs:/logs
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "wget -qO- --user=${RCLONE_USER:-admin} --password=${RCLONE_PASSWORD} http://localhost:5572/ || exit 1"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 3

Note: Rclone's remote control daemon (rcd) exposes a web GUI for managing transfers. The --rc-user and --rc-pass flags provide HTTP basic authentication. For production use, always access this behind HTTPS via Dokploy's domain configuration.

Environment Variables

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

Variable	Purpose	Example
RCLONE_USER	Web GUI admin username	admin
RCLONE_PASSWORD	Web GUI admin password	a-strong-password

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.

Rclone cloud storage backends are configured via the rclone.conf file or through the web GUI after deployment. To pre-configure backends, create an rclone.conf file in ../files/rclone-config/ on your server before deploying. You can generate this file locally using rclone config and copy it to the server.

Volumes & Data Persistence

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

• ../files/rclone-config — Rclone configuration file with cloud storage backend credentials
• ../files/rclone-data — Local directory for sync targets and downloads
• ../files/rclone-logs — Transfer logs

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.

Domain & SSL Setup

1. In your Dokploy project, navigate to the Domains tab
2. Click Add Domain and enter your domain (e.g., rclone.yourdomain.com)
3. Set the container port to 5572
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 Rclone container. HTTPS is critical here since the web GUI handles cloud storage credentials.

Verifying the Deployment

1. In Dokploy, go to your project's Deployments tab and click Deploy
2. Watch the build logs — the rclone container should start
3. Check the Logs tab for the rclone service. Look for: Serving remote control on followed by the address
4. Open https://rclone.yourdomain.com in your browser — you should see the Rclone web GUI
5. Log in with your RCLONE_USER and RCLONE_PASSWORD credentials
6. Use the GUI to add cloud storage backends (S3, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.) and manage sync jobs

Troubleshooting

Web GUI shows blank page or 404 The web GUI assets are downloaded on first launch. Ensure the container has internet access. If it fails, check logs for download errors. The --rc-web-gui flag triggers the download of the GUI from GitHub releases.

Cannot connect to cloud storage providers OAuth-based providers (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive) require an authorization flow that's easier to complete locally. Run rclone config on your local machine, authorize the provider, then copy the generated rclone.conf to ../files/rclone-config/ on your server.

Sync jobs consuming too much bandwidth Use Rclone's bandwidth limiting flags. Add --bwlimit=10M to limit bandwidth to 10 MB/s. This can be set per-transfer in the web GUI or globally via the command line.

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 Rclone in our complete overview.

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

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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.