Anki/docs/syncserver

Building and running Anki sync server in Docker

This is an example Dockerfile contributed by an Anki user, which shows how you can run a self-hosted sync server, similar to what AnkiWeb.net offers.

Building and running the sync server within a container has the advantage of fully isolating the build products and runtime dependencies from the rest of your system.

Requirements

• Docker

Aspect	Dockerfile	Dockerfile.distroless
Shell & Tools	✅ Includes shell and tools	❌ Minimal, no shell or tools
Debugging	✅ Easier debugging with shell and tools	❌ Harder to debug due to minimal environment
Health Checks	✅ Supports complex health checks	❌ Health checks need to be simple or directly executable
Image Size	❌ Larger image size	✅ Smaller image size
Customization	✅ Easier to customize with additional packages	❌ Limited customization options
Attack Surface	❌ Larger attack surface due to more installed packages	✅ Reduced attack surface
Libraries	✅ More libraries available	❌ Limited libraries
Start-up Time	❌ Slower start-up time due to larger image size	✅ Faster start-up time
Tool Compatibility	✅ Compatible with more tools and libraries	❌ Compatibility limitations with certain tools
Maintenance	❌ Higher maintenance due to larger image and dependencies	✅ Lower maintenance with minimal base image

Building image

To proceed with building, you must specify the Anki version you want, by replacing <version> with something like 24.11 and <Dockerfile> with the chosen Dockerfile (e.g., Dockerfile or Dockerfile.distroless)

# Execute this command from the root directory of your project
docker build -f docs/syncserver/<Dockerfile> --no-cache --build-arg ANKI_VERSION=<version> -t anki-sync-server .

Run container

Once done with build, you can proceed with running this image with the following command:

# this will create anki server
docker run -d \
    -e "SYNC_USER1=admin:admin" \
    -p 8080:8080 \
    --mount type=volume,src=anki-sync-server-data,dst=/anki_data \
    --name anki-sync-server \
    anki-sync-server

However, if you want to have multiple users, you have to use the following approach:

# this will create anki server with multiple users
docker run -d \
    -e "SYNC_USER1=admin:admin" \
    -e "SYNC_USER2=admin2:admin2" \
    -p 8080:8080 \
    --mount type=volume,src=anki-sync-server-data,dst=/anki_data \
    --name anki-sync-server \
    anki-sync-server

Moreover, you can pass additional env vars mentioned here. Note that you should not override SYNC_BASE because you risk data loss.