Quick Start

This page gets Observer Lite running with Docker, then walks through the first login and first monitor.

Requirements

• Docker Engine 24+ or Docker Desktop
• A host port for the web UI, usually 3000
• A persistent volume for /data
• A long random SECRET_KEY

Generate a secret:

openssl rand -hex 32

Run With Docker

docker run -d \
  --name observer-lite \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  -v observer_data:/data \
  -e SECRET_KEY="$(openssl rand -hex 32)" \
  -e DATABASE_PATH="/data/observer.db" \
  -e DATABASE_URL="sqlite+aiosqlite:////data/observer.db" \
  ghcr.io/cagatayuresin/observer-lite:latest

Open http://localhost:3000.

Default credentials:

You will be asked to set a new password immediately.

Run With Docker Compose

Create docker-compose.yml:

services:
  observer-lite:
    image: ghcr.io/cagatayuresin/observer-lite:latest
    container_name: observer-lite
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    volumes:
      - observer_data:/data
    environment:
      PORT: "3000"
      SECRET_KEY: "replace-with-a-long-random-secret"
      DATABASE_PATH: "/data/observer.db"
      DATABASE_URL: "sqlite+aiosqlite:////data/observer.db"

volumes:
  observer_data:

Start it:

docker compose up -d

View logs:

docker compose logs -f observer-lite

Create Your First HTTP Monitor

1. Log in to the dashboard.
2. Open Monitors.
3. Choose Create Monitor.
4. Use these values:

Save the monitor. The scheduler will start checking it automatically.

Create a Notification Channel

1. Open Notifications.
2. Add an email or Telegram channel.
3. Use the Test action before assigning it to production monitors.
4. Assign the channel to a monitor and choose which events should notify:
   • Down
   • Recovery
   • SSL warning

Verify the Container

Check that the app responds:

curl -fsS http://localhost:3000/api/docs >/dev/null

Check the image version label:

docker image inspect ghcr.io/cagatayuresin/observer-lite:latest \

  --format '{{ index .Config.Labels "org.opencontainers.image.version" }}'

Stop and Remove

docker rm -f observer-lite

Remove the data volume only when you intentionally want to delete all persisted data:

docker volume rm observer_data