DockFlare/dockflare/app/templates/docs/en/Email-Docker-Deployment.md

Docker Deployment (Email Profile)

The DockFlare Email Suite consists of two additional microservices: the Mail Manager and the Webmail PWA. These services are optional and are managed using Docker Compose profiles.

Enabling the Email Profile

To start DockFlare with email support, you must include the email profile when running your Docker Compose commands.

Starting the containers

docker compose --profile email up -d

Stopping the containers

If you run docker compose down, it will stop all services including email. To restart with email again, remember to include the profile:

docker compose --profile email up -d

Docker Compose Configuration

The email services are already included in the default docker-compose.yml. The relevant sections are:

  dockflare-mail-manager:
    image: alplat/dockflare-mail-manager:stable
    container_name: dockflare-mail-manager
    restart: unless-stopped
    profiles: ["email"]
    environment:
      - DOCKFLARE_MASTER_URL=http://dockflare:5000
      - MAIL_DATA_PATH=/data
    volumes:
      - mail_data:/data
    depends_on:
      dockflare:
        condition: service_started
    networks:
      - cloudflare-net
      - dockflare-internal

  dockflare-webmail:
    image: alplat/dockflare-webmail:stable
    container_name: dockflare-webmail
    restart: unless-stopped
    profiles: ["email"]
    environment:
      - DOCKFLARE_MASTER_URL=https://dockflare.TLD  # replace with your domain
    labels:
      - dockflare.enable=true
      - dockflare.hostname=mail.dockflare.TLD  # replace with your domain
      - dockflare.service=http://dockflare-webmail:80
    depends_on:
      dockflare-mail-manager:
        condition: service_started
    networks:
      - cloudflare-net
      - dockflare-internal

volumes:
  mail_data:

Important: Before starting the email profile, update the two placeholder values in the dockflare-webmail service:

• DOCKFLARE_MASTER_URL — the public HTTPS URL of your DockFlare Master (e.g. https://dockflare.example.com)
• dockflare.hostname label — the subdomain where Webmail will be accessible (e.g. mail.example.com)

Service Breakdown

Service	Description	Port
dockflare-mail-manager	The backend engine that processes MIME, manages SQLite, and handles webhooks.	Internal only
dockflare-webmail	The Vue-based frontend application for users.	80 (Internal)

Persistent Volumes

The Email Suite introduces a new volume: mail_data.

• Location: /data inside the mail-manager container.
• Contents:
  • /data/db/mail.db: The SQLite database containing all message metadata and search indices.
  • /data/attachments/: The filesystem storage for all email attachments.
• Importance: Never delete this volume unless you want to permanently erase all stored emails. Ensure this volume is included in your host-level backup strategy.

Verification

Once the containers are started, check their status in the DockFlare Master UI under the Email navigation item. You should see a green "Running" status for both services in the Container Status card.