Docker Deployment

Deploy InnoClaw with Docker in under 2 minutes.

Prerequisites

• Docker Engine 24+ and Docker Compose v2

• At least one AI API key (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.)

Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/SpectrAI-Initiative/InnoClaw.git
cd InnoClaw
cp .env.production.example .env.production.local
# Edit .env.production.local — set at least one API key
docker compose up -d

Open http://localhost:3000.

Configuration

Environment Variables

Edit .env.production.local before starting. Key variables:

Variable	Required	Description
WORKSPACE_ROOTS	Yes	Comma-separated paths inside the container (e.g., /research)
OPENAI_API_KEY	At least one AI key	OpenAI API key
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY		Anthropic API key
DATABASE_URL	No	SQLite path (default: ./data/innoclaw.db)
LLM_PROVIDER	No	Default provider (openai, anthropic, etc.)

See .env.production.example for the full list.

Volumes

Container Path	Purpose	Compose Default
/app/data	SQLite database, HF datasets, embeddings	Named volume innoclaw-data
/research	Your workspace files	HOST_WORKSPACE_PATH env var or ./workspace

To expose multiple workspace directories, add more volume mounts in docker-compose.yml and update WORKSPACE_ROOTS accordingly:

volumes:
  - innoclaw-data:/app/data
  - /home/user/papers:/papers
  - /home/user/code:/code

WORKSPACE_ROOTS=/papers,/code

Port

Default: 3000. Change in docker-compose.yml:

ports:
  - "8080:3000"

Reverse Proxy

InnoClaw works behind any reverse proxy. Examples:

Nginx

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name innoclaw.example.com;

    ssl_certificate     /etc/ssl/certs/innoclaw.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/innoclaw.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

Caddy

innoclaw.example.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:3000
}

Caddy handles TLS automatically.

Persistent Data & Backups

All persistent state lives in the innoclaw-data volume:

• innoclaw.db — SQLite database (notebooks, chat history, settings)

• hf-datasets/ — cached HuggingFace datasets

Backup the database:

docker compose exec innoclaw cp /app/data/innoclaw.db /app/data/innoclaw.db.bak
# Or copy to host:
docker cp $(docker compose ps -q innoclaw):/app/data/innoclaw.db ./backup.db

Upgrading

git pull
docker compose build
docker compose up -d

Database migrations run automatically on container startup — no manual steps needed.

Build from Scratch

docker build -t innoclaw .
docker run -d \
  --name innoclaw \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  --env-file .env.production.local \
  -v innoclaw-data:/app/data \
  -v /path/to/your/research:/research \
  innoclaw

Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
/app/data is not writable	Ensure the Docker volume is mounted and the container user has write access
workspace root missing	Mount your host directory in docker-compose.yml and match WORKSPACE_ROOTS
no AI API key detected	Edit .env.production.local and set at least one valid API key
drizzle-kit migrate failed	Usually harmless on first run; check that /app/data is writable
Container exits immediately	Run docker compose logs innoclaw to see the startup error