How to Install Dokku Mini-PaaS

By Admin · Mar 1, 2026 · Updated Apr 23, 2026 · 32 views · 2 min read

What Is Dokku?

Dokku is the smallest PaaS implementation, powered by Docker. It gives you a Heroku-like experience on your own Breeze -- deploy apps with git push, manage SSL certificates, link databases, and configure environment variables, all from the command line.

Prerequisites

A Breeze with at least 1 GB RAM running Ubuntu 22.04
A domain name pointed to your Breeze
Root access

Install Dokku

wget -NP . https://dokku.com/bootstrap.sh
sudo DOKKU_TAG=v0.34.8 bash bootstrap.sh

After installation, visit http://your-breeze-ip in a browser to complete web setup: add your SSH public key and set the global domain.

Create and Deploy an App

# On the Breeze
dokku apps:create myapp
dokku domains:set myapp myapp.yourdomain.com

From your local development machine, add the Dokku remote and push:

git remote add dokku dokku@your-breeze-ip:myapp
git push dokku main

Dokku detects the language via buildpacks and deploys automatically.

Add a Database

sudo dokku plugin:install https://github.com/dokku/dokku-postgres.git
dokku postgres:create mydb
dokku postgres:link mydb myapp

The DATABASE_URL environment variable is injected into your app automatically.

Enable SSL

sudo dokku plugin:install https://github.com/dokku/dokku-letsencrypt.git
dokku letsencrypt:set myapp email admin@yourdomain.com
dokku letsencrypt:enable myapp

Useful Commands

dokku logs myapp --tail         # Stream application logs
dokku ps:scale myapp web=2      # Scale to 2 web processes
dokku config:set myapp KEY=val  # Set environment variables