Docker Deployment Guide

Important project boundary

The CLI archive contains the generated admin-panel/, api-backend/, and landing-page/ folders. It never includes or publishes the source-repository docker/infra, docker/proxy, or docs directories. Those paths are BowlerKit operator tooling, not customer deliverables. Do not copy them into a customer project; provide equivalent customer-managed database, Redis, network, and reverse-proxy infrastructure instead.

Guest projects do not need this guide.

Customer-managed infrastructure

The generated Compose files expect external shared and web networks. Create and secure those networks with your infrastructure provider or deployment system, then attach PostgreSQL, Redis, Laravel, and the optional Go service according to your environment. The source-repository docker/infra and docker/proxy files are not a supported customer package.

Account services

Provision a database/user with your infrastructure tooling, then configure the generated Account project:

cd admin-panel
cp .env.example .env.production
# Set DB_*, REDIS_*, APP_URL, mail, Firebase, and RevenueCat values.
docker compose up -d --build

The admin-panel compose services are named backend, queue, and scheduler. It is not a docs or admin-panel service stack.

The Go service is optional:

cd ../api-backend
cp .env.example .env.production
# Match Laravel's shared DB/Redis settings.
docker compose up -d --build

Its production compose file expects external web and shared networks and exposes the service internally as api-backend:8080.

Documentation site

The BowlerKit documentation site is maintained separately and is not included in a customer archive. Customer projects do not need to deploy docs/ or its Compose file.

Reverse-proxy contract

If your deployment uses a reverse proxy, route Laravel-owned paths to the Laravel backend service and keep /api/v1/app/* on Laravel compatibility mode by default:

To use Go performance mode, deploy the Go service on web and change the /api/v1/app/* upstream to api-backend:8080 only after parity validation. Keep auth issuance, uploads, webhooks, and destructive account routes on Laravel.

Useful commands

# Inspect a Compose project
docker compose ps
docker compose logs -f backend
docker compose logs -f api-backend

# Run Laravel migrations in the backend container
docker compose exec backend php artisan migrate

Run each command from the directory whose compose file owns the service. Never run migrate:fresh against production, and do not delete named volumes unless you intend to destroy application/database state.