Docker

Docker is the quickest way to run Localess on your machine for personal use or to preview features without setting up a Firebase project.

For a production deployment, use Firebase instead.

Prerequisites

Docker v24 or later
Docker Compose v2.20 or later (bundled with Docker Desktop)

Docker tags

Localess publishes the following image tags on ghcr.io/lessify/localess:

Tag	Description
`edge`	Latest commit on the `main` branch
`latest`	Latest stable release
`{{major}}.{{minor}}.{{patch}}`	Specific patch release (e.g. `1.2.3`)
`{{major}}.{{minor}}`	Latest patch for a minor version (e.g. `1.2`)
`{{major}}`	Latest release for a major version (e.g. `1`)

Docker Compose

Create a docker-compose.yml file with the following content:

services:
  localess:
    image: ghcr.io/lessify/localess:latest # replace with desired tag
    ports:
      - "4000:4000" # ui
      - "5001:5001" # functions
      - "8080:8080" # firestore
      - "9099:9099" # auth
      - "9199:9199" # storage
      - "5000:5000" # hosting
    volumes:
      - ./firebase-export:/app/firebase-export

The firebase-export volume is optional. Mount a local directory here to persist emulator data between container restarts, or to pre-load seed data exported from another Localess instance.

Start Localess

docker compose up

Once the container is running, the following services are available:

Service	Port
UI	4000
Functions	5001
Firestore	8080
Auth	9099
Storage	9199
Hosting	5000

First start

On the first run you will need to create an admin account. Navigate to the setup page:

http://localhost:4000/setup

Follow the on-screen instructions to create your first user and space.

Stop Localess

docker compose down