Tooljet

Stack

Development Low Code No Code

Tooljet is an Open-source low-code application development platform for building and deploying business applications.

Configuration

Type

Compose

Platform

linux

Source

Repo

Template by xneo1·Source

Services

tooljet-plugins

Configuration

Image

tooljet-plugins:development

Command

npm run --prefix plugins start

Volumes

/app/plugins : /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/plugins

Build

[object Object]

tooljet-client

Configuration

Image

tooljet-client:development

Command

npm run --prefix frontend start

Ports

8082:8082

Volumes

/app/frontend : /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/app/plugins : /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/plugins/portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/app/frontend/node_modules/

Env vars

WEBPACKER_DEV_SERVER_HOST=0.0.0.0NODE_ENV=developmentSERVE_CLIENT=false

Build

[object Object]

tooljet-server

Configuration

Image

tooljet-server:development

Command

npm run --prefix server start:dev

Ports

3000:3000

Volumes

/app/server : /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/server/app/plugins : /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/server/plugins/portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/server/app/server/node_modules//app/.env : /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/server/.env/app/.env.test : /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/server/.env.test

Env vars

SERVE_CLIENT=falseFORCE_COLOR=1

Build

[object Object]

tooljet-postgrest

Configuration

Image

postgrest/postgrest:v10.1.1.20221215

Ports

7001:3000

Image details

Pulls: 54.8M

User: postgrest

Created: Feb 19, 2016

Updated: 2 days ago

Status: active

tooljet-postgres

Configuration

Image

postgres:13

Ports

5432:5432

Volumes

/data/postgres : /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/postgres

Env vars

POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postgres

Restart

always

Image details

Pulls: 11.2B

User: stackbrew

Created: Jun 05, 2014

Updated: 1 hour ago

Status: active

Standalone Install

Select an install method, to see config/commands for deploying Tooljet

Installation method

Docker Run

Docker Compose

Install on Portainer

Import all app templates into your Portainer instance, for easy 1-click deploys

Ensure both Docker and Portainer are installed, and up-to-date
Log into your Portainer web UI
Under Settings → App Templates, paste the below URL
Head to Home → App Templates, and the list of apps will show up
Select Tooljet, fill in any config options, and hit Deploy

Template Import URL

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Lissy93/portainer-templates/main/templates.json

Show Me

Original stackfile

The compose file this template deploys, straight from its repo:

services:
  tooljet-plugins:
    build:
      context: ./
      dockerfile: ./docker/plugins.Dockerfile.dev
    image: tooljet-plugins:development
    platform: linux/x86_64
    volumes:
      - /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/plugins:/app/plugins
    command: npm run --prefix plugins start

  tooljet-client:
    build:
      context: ./
      dockerfile: ./docker/client.Dockerfile.dev
    image: tooljet-client:development
    platform: linux/x86_64
    volumes:
      - /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet:/app/frontend:delegated
      - /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/plugins:/app/plugins
      - /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/app/frontend/node_modules/
    ports:
      - 8082:8082
    environment:
      - WEBPACKER_DEV_SERVER_HOST=0.0.0.0
      - NODE_ENV=development
      - SERVE_CLIENT=false
    command: npm run --prefix frontend start

  tooljet-server:
    build:
      context: ./
      dockerfile: ./docker/server.Dockerfile.dev
    image: tooljet-server:development
    platform: linux/x86_64
    depends_on:
      - tooljet-postgres
    volumes:
      - /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/server:/app/server:delegated
      - /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/server/plugins:/app/plugins
      - /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/server/app/server/node_modules/
      - /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/server/.env:/app/.env
      - /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/server/.env.test:/app/.env.test
    ports:
      - 3000:3000
    environment:
      - SERVE_CLIENT=false
      - FORCE_COLOR=1
    command: npm run --prefix server start:dev

  tooljet-postgrest:
    image: postgrest/postgrest:v10.1.1.20221215
    ports:
      - "7001:3000"
    env_file:
      - /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/server/.env
    depends_on:
      - tooljet-postgres

  tooljet-postgres:
    image: postgres:13
    restart: always
    ports:
      - 5432:5432
    volumes:
      - /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/postgres:/data/postgres
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postgres

Or deploy it directly from the source:

git clone https://github.com/xneo1/portainer_templates
cd portainer_templates
docker compose -f Template/Stack/tooljet.yml up -d

More install options in our documentation.

Container Documentation

tooljet-postgrest Documentation

REST API for any Postgres database

tooljet-postgres Documentation

The PostgreSQL object-relational database system provides reliability and data integrity.

Serve Tooljet on your own domain behind Caddy, Nginx or Traefik. Fill in your domain and copy the result. It's a starting point, some apps need their own base URL or extra headers set too.

Proxy Domain App port Upstream

Proxying tooljet.example.com to http://tooljet-server:3000

Add this to your Caddyfile

tooljet.example.com {
	reverse_proxy http://tooljet-server:3000
}

Check the logs first

Nine times out of ten the logs tell you exactly what went wrong.

In Portainer, go to Containers, click the container, then Logs. Or run docker logs <container>
Exit codes help too: 137 means killed, usually out of memory. 126 or 127 means the command inside the image is broken.

Port already in use

If deployment fails with "Bind for 0.0.0.0:8082 failed: port is already allocated", something else on your server is using that port.

Find what's using it: sudo ss -tlnp | grep :8082
Stop the other service, or pick a different host port. In 8082:8082 only the left number is yours to change, the right one belongs to the app.

Running but the page won't load

The container is up but nothing appears in your browser.

Use your server's real IP: http://your-server-ip:3000. The 0.0.0.0 link Portainer shows isn't a real address.
Give it a minute after first deploy, tooljet can take a while to initialise.
Make sure your firewall allows the port, e.g. sudo ufw allow 3000

Permission denied on volumes

If the logs show "permission denied", the app can't write to its data folder on the host.

Fix the ownership: sudo chown -R 1000:1000 /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/plugins (and the same for the other mapped folders)

Image won't pull

Test the pull directly on the host: docker pull tooljet-plugins:development

"manifest unknown" means the tag no longer exists.
"toomanyrequests" is the Docker Hub rate limit. Log in with docker login to raise it.
"no space left on device" means a full disk. Reclaim space with docker system prune

"exec format error"

This means the image was built for a different CPU architecture than your server.

Check yours with uname -m: x86_64 is amd64, aarch64 is arm64. Raspberry Pi and other ARM boards are the usual culprits.

Container keeps restarting

The always restart policy relaunches the app after every crash, so the real error can scroll past.

Check the logs right after a restart, the last few lines before it died are the useful ones.
Get the exit code with docker inspect <container> --format '{{.State.ExitCode}}'
Still stuck? Redeploy once with the restart policy set to no so the failure stays visible.

Stack won't deploy

Compose stacks fail fast on small mistakes, and Portainer shows the reason just above the editor.

YAML only accepts spaces for indentation, a single tab breaks the whole file.

Raise an issue

Found something which isn't working as it should? Here's how to report it.

Bug within the app: Open an issue within tooljet's repo
Template not working: Open an issue on xneo1/portainer_templates
This website not working: Open an issue on lissy93/portainer-templates

A Compose stack

Tooljet is a Compose stack, a set of containers (5 of them) defined in one file and brought up together by Portainer, then started and stopped as a single app.

The services

This stack is built from 5 containers that run side by side. Here's each one, with the image it runs and anything it waits for first:

tooljet-plugins runs tooljet-plugins:development
tooljet-client runs tooljet-client:development
tooljet-server runs tooljet-server:development, starts after tooljet-postgres
tooljet-postgrest runs postgrest/postgrest:v10.1.1.20221215, starts after tooljet-postgres
tooljet-postgres runs postgres:13

Ports

A port is the door the app answers on. A mapping like 8082:8082 means it's reachable on port 8082 of your server, where the left number is yours to change and the right one belongs to the app. Once it's running, open http://your-server-ip:3000 in a browser. It opens:

8082:8082
3000:3000, likely the web interface
7001:3000, likely the web interface
5432:5432

Volumes

A volume is where Tooljet keeps its files so they survive an update or a restart. Without one, anything it saves would sit inside the container and vanish the moment it's recreated. This template mounts:

/app/plugins from /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/plugins on the host
/app/frontend from /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet on the host
/portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/app/frontend/node_modules/ as a volume Docker manages for you
/app/server from /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/server on the host
/app/plugins from /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/server/plugins on the host
/portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/server/app/server/node_modules/ as a volume Docker manages for you
/app/.env from /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/server/.env on the host
/app/.env.test from /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/server/.env.test on the host
/data/postgres from /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/tooljet/postgres on the host

Environment variables

Environment variables are the settings you hand over when you deploy, things like a password or a timezone. Tooljet takes 5 of them, all with defaults you can leave alone or tweak:

WEBPACKER_DEV_SERVER_HOST, defaults to 0.0.0.0
NODE_ENV, defaults to development
SERVE_CLIENT, defaults to false
FORCE_COLOR, defaults to 1
POSTGRES_PASSWORD, defaults to postgres

Restart policy

The restart policy here is always, so Docker brings Tooljet back up after a crash and again when the server reboots. Good for anything you want running around the clock. You can change this on the deploy screen. The choices are no (never restart), on-failure (only after a crash), unless-stopped (restart unless you stop it), and always (bring it back no matter what).

Networking

Portainer puts these services on one shared private network, so they can find each other by name (like tooljet-plugins) while only the ports above are open to you.

Platform

The platform is linux, the kind of system the container is built to run on. Docker and Portainer handle this on a normal Linux server.

Portainer app templates

Zooming out, this whole page comes from a Portainer app template: a short recipe telling Portainer how to set Tooljet up. Add the template list to Portainer once, then deploying Tooljet is a click rather than a wall of config.

Tooljet

Configuration

Services

tooljet-plugins

Configuration

tooljet-client

Configuration

tooljet-server

Configuration

tooljet-postgrest

Configuration

Image details

tooljet-postgres

Configuration

Image details

Standalone Install

Install on Portainer

Template Import URL

Container Documentation

tooljet-postgrest Documentation

tooljet-postgres Documentation

Proxy configurator

Troubleshooting

Check the logs first

Port already in use

Running but the page won't load

Permission denied on volumes

Image won't pull

"exec format error"

Container keeps restarting

Stack won't deploy

Raise an issue

Config glossary

A Compose stack

The services

Ports

Volumes

Environment variables

Restart policy

Networking

Platform

Portainer app templates

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