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Nextcloud Installation with Docker Compose

1/4/2026 1 min read

Welcome to our blog post about Nextcloud installation with Docker Compose! In this post, we'll show you how to easily set up Nextcloud on your server without using a proxy.

Nextcloud Installation with Docker Compose

Nextcloud is a powerful open-source software for file synchronization and sharing that gives you full control over your data.
Let's get started right away.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure the following prerequisites are met:

  • Docker is installed on your server
  • Docker Compose is installed
  • Sufficient storage space is available for Nextcloud and the data to be stored later

Setting up Nextcloud with Docker Compose

First, create an empty directory on your server and create a file named docker-compose.yml inside it.

Then insert the following content:

version: '3'  # YAML version

services:
  db:  # Database service
    image: mariadb
    command: --transaction-isolation=READ-COMMITTED --binlog-format=ROW
    restart: always
    volumes:
      - db:/var/lib/mysql
    environment:
      - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=my-secret-pw
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=nextcloud
      - MYSQL_USER=nextcloud
      - MYSQL_PASSWORD=my-secret-pw

  app:  # Nextcloud application
    image: nextcloud
    restart: always
    volumes:
      - nextcloud:/var/www/html
    environment:
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=nextcloud
      - MYSQL_USER=nextcloud
      - MYSQL_PASSWORD=my-secret-pw
      - MYSQL_HOST=db

volumes:
  db:
  nextcloud:

Explanation

This docker-compose.yml defines two services:

  • db A MariaDB database for Nextcloud

  • app The actual Nextcloud container

Be sure to adjust the passwords (my-secret-pw) to meet your security requirements.

Starting the Nextcloud container

In the terminal, navigate to the directory containing your docker-compose.yml and start the containers with:

docker-compose up -d

Docker Compose will now download the required images and start the containers. This may take a few minutes.

Setting up Nextcloud in the browser

Once the containers are running:

  1. Open a web browser
  2. Navigate to the IP address or domain name of your server (default port 80)
  3. The Nextcloud setup wizard will appear

Follow the wizard:

  • Create an admin user
  • Database type: MySQL / MariaDB
  • Database name: nextcloud
  • User: nextcloud
  • Password: the password set in the docker-compose.yml
  • Host: db

After completing the setup, your Nextcloud instance is ready to use.

Done. 🎉 Your Nextcloud is now running cleanly in Docker – without a proxy, neat and maintainable.