Docker Compose

The repository's compose.yml is the whole stack; the installer only writes .env. Setting up without it:

git clone https://github.com/Jacob-Stokes/monica-server-stack.git
cd monica-server-stack
cp .env.example .env

Fill in .env:

Setting
APP_KEY	base64: followed by openssl rand -base64 32
DB_PASSWORD	openssl rand -hex 24
MCP_BEARER_TOKEN	openssl rand -hex 32: what MCP clients send
MONICA_EMAIL, MONICA_PASSWORD	The first account (password 8+ characters)
MONICA_NAME, MONICA_CURRENCY, TZ	Optional: the account's name, currency and timezone
APP_URL	The URL people open Monica at; Monica builds its links from it

Then:

docker compose up -d

The setup container creates the account and the MCP server's API token on the first start. docker compose logs monica-setup shows what it did. Once the account exists, MONICA_PASSWORD can be cleared from .env.

The rest of .env (HTTPS, email, the rate limit, OAuth) is described in the file itself and in HTTPS and Connecting AI tools.

From another compose project

To run the stack from a compose file somewhere else, include it:

include:
  - path: /opt/monica-server-stack/compose.yml
    env_file: /opt/monica-server-stack/.env

Local changes

Changes for one server (an extra network, another port, labels) go in compose.override.yml next to compose.yml: Compose merges it automatically, git ignores it, and monica-stack update leaves it alone. For example, to put the MCP server on a network shared with other containers:

services:
  monica-mcp:
    networks: [default, shared]

networks:
  shared:
    external: true

Monica settings that compose.yml doesn't pass go in monica.env next to it (see Monica's .env.example); it's optional, and git ignores it.

The monica-stack command works with an install set up this way, too: ./monica-stack status, or ./monica-stack link to put it on the PATH.