DriverVault/Docker/README.md

DriverVault — Docker (multi-container stack)

Three containers — PocketBase, API Server, Web App — on one compose network. This is the deployment to use unless you specifically want everything in a single image; for that see ../Docker-AIO.

Browser ─► Web App BFF (:8090) ──/api/*──► API Server (:8080) ─► PocketBase (:8070)

Only the Web App port is meant to be public. The API Server and the PocketBase admin UI are published for convenience and, in the prod file, bound to 127.0.0.1 by default.

File	Use
docker-compose.yml	builds from source in this repo — for development and local testing
docker-compose.prod.yml	pulls prebuilt images from the registry — for deployment
.env.example / .env.prod.example	copy to .env for the matching compose file
pocketbase/	the PocketBase image (official release binary on alpine)

Run it

cd Docker
cp .env.example .env        # then edit — PB_ADMIN_* have no safe defaults
docker compose up -d --build

Production, from the registry:

cp .env.prod.example .env   # then edit
docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml pull
docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d

Then: web app on http://host:8090/, the API Server's superadmin panel on http://host:8080/, PocketBase admin on http://host:8070/_/.

First boot

Both steps are idempotent, so restarts and upgrades are safe:

1. PocketBase upserts its superuser from PB_ADMIN_EMAIL / PB_ADMIN_PASSWORD. This is the only way to create the first superuser — the REST API cannot bootstrap it. The API Server then authenticates with the same credentials.
2. The API Server creates any missing collections and reconciles existing ones, then creates the first app superadmin from DRIVERVAULT_SUPERADMIN_EMAIL / _PASSWORD if no such user exists.

Leave PB_BOOTSTRAP at true, including across upgrades. A release can add collections or fields the server needs, and a stack that skipped the bootstrap never gets them. The API Server self-heals exactly one thing — app_settings, the collection holding the plugin settings, which it creates on demand because it cannot serve the plugin panel without it. Every other schema change still depends on this flag, so turn it off only for a database you know already matches the release you are running.

No manual setup-pocketbase.mjs step is needed here — the server runs the same schema reconcile itself.

Volumes

Volume	Holds
pb_data	the PocketBase SQLite database and uploaded files — everything that persists

One volume, because the API Server keeps no state on disk. Plugin enable-state and global config live in the database like the rest of the settings, so backing up pb_data backs up the whole stack. It defaults to a Docker-managed named volume; set PB_DATA to an absolute host path in the prod file for a bind mount instead. PocketBase runs as root, so a root-owned host directory is fine.

One thing does not persist: the API Server panel's Settings → PocketBase and Settings → Web App screens apply immediately but only for the life of the container. Set POCKETBASE_URL, PB_ADMIN_EMAIL / PB_ADMIN_PASSWORD, WEBAPP_URL and CORS_ALLOW_ORIGINS in .env to change them permanently — in this stack the compose environment wins over anything the panel writes.

Charger control (OCPP)

Chargers in own/proxy mode dial in to /ocpp/{serial}, authenticating with a per-charger control token in an OCPP Basic-auth header. Two ports answer that path: the API Server's own, and the Web App's, whose BFF proxies /ocpp/ through. The second one matters because it is the address the panel hands out — the endpoint is derived from the host the panel itself was reached on, which is the Web App, unless OCPP_PUBLIC_URL says otherwise.

A plaintext ws:// puts the control token on the wire in the clear, so OCPP_REQUIRE_TLS defaults to true and non-TLS connections are rejected. OCPP_REQUIRE_TLS=false is for a trusted network you own end to end.

With a public hostname and TLS

docker-compose.tls.yml adds Caddy in front of the stack: one hostname, a certificate issued on first boot, and everything behind it spoken to over the compose network. Browsers and chargers arrive at the same name.

# in .env
DV_DOMAIN=drivervault.example.com
DV_ACME_EMAIL=you@example.com

docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml -f docker-compose.tls.yml up -d

The overlay sets the rest for you: OCPP_PUBLIC_URL=wss://$DV_DOMAIN, OCPP_REQUIRE_TLS=true, CORS_ALLOW_ORIGINS=https://$DV_DOMAIN, and TRUST_FORWARDED_PROTO=true on the Web App so the BFF passes Caddy's X-Forwarded-Proto to the API Server instead of overwriting it with its own plaintext hop. Point the charger's OCPP backend at the endpoint the panel then shows, with the control token as its authorization key.

Two things the overlay cannot arrange: DV_DOMAIN must resolve to the host from the internet with ports 80 and 443 reaching it (Caddy needs :80 for the ACME challenge), and the charger must be able to resolve that name too — behind NAT that usually means hairpin NAT or a split-DNS entry pointing it at the LAN address.

Using a proxy you already run instead? Terminate TLS there, forward to the Web App port, and set the same four variables by hand — the X-Forwarded-Proto one included, or chargers will be rejected as insecure.

Notes

• docker-compose.yml builds the API Server and Web App from ../API Server and ../Web App, so run it from this directory with the repo checked out.
• The Web App's Vue bundle is built with an empty VITE_API_BASE, so the browser uses same-origin /api and the BFF proxies it — no CORS in play.
• CORS_ALLOW_ORIGINS therefore only matters if a browser calls the API Server directly. Native mobile apps are not subject to CORS at all.