Webtrees

Stack

Social

Webtrees is the web’s leading online collaborative genealogy application. GEDCOM files support

Configuration

Type

Compose

Platform

linux

Source

Repo

Template by xneo1·Source

Services

webtrees_db

Configuration

Image

postgres:16

Volumes

/var/lib/postgresql/data : /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/webtrees/db

Env vars

POSTGRES_DB=webtreesPOSTGRES_USER=webtreesuserPOSTGRES_PASSWORD=webtreespass

Restart

on-failure:5

Image details

Pulls: 11.2B

User: stackbrew

Created: Jun 05, 2014

Updated: 1 hour ago

Status: active

webtrees

Configuration

Image

ghcr.io/nathanvaughn/webtrees:latest

Ports

5495:80

Volumes

/var/www/webtrees/data : /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/webtrees/data

Env vars

TZ=Europe/AthensBASE_URL=https://webtrees.homelabPRETTY_URLS=trueWT_USER=xneo1WT_PASS=webtreespwdWT_NAME=Your NameWT_EMAIL=me@email.comPHP_MEMORY_LIMIT=8192MPHP_MAX_EXECUTION_TIME=3600PHP_POST_MAX_SIZE=512MPHP_UPLOAD_MAX_FILE_SIZE=512MDB_HOST=webtrees_dbDB_PORT=5432POSTGRES_USER=webtreesusrPOSTGRES_PASSWORD=webtreespwdDB_TYPE=pgsqlDB_PREFIX=wt_POSTGRES_DB=webtreesHTTPS_REDIRECT=falseHTTPS=false

Restart

on-failure:5

Image details

User: nathanvaughn

Standalone Install

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

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 Webtrees, 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:
  webtrees_db:
    image: postgres:16
    container_name: webtrees_db
    hostname: webtrees_db
    mem_limit: 1g
    cpu_shares: 768
    security_opt:
      - no-new-privileges:true
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "pg_isready", "-q", "-d", "webtrees", "-U", "webtreesusr"]
      timeout: 45s
      interval: 10s
      retries: 10
    volumes:
      - /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/webtrees/db:/var/lib/postgresql/data:rw
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: webtrees
      POSTGRES_USER: webtreesuser
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: webtreespass
    restart: on-failure:5

  webtrees:
    image: ghcr.io/nathanvaughn/webtrees:latest
    container_name: Webtrees
    hostname: webtrees
    security_opt:
      - no-new-privileges:true
    ports:
      - 5495:80
    volumes:
      - /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/webtrees/data:/var/www/webtrees/data:rw
    environment:
       TZ: Europe/Athens
       BASE_URL: https://webtrees.homelab # Input a correct url for your homelab
       PRETTY_URLS: TRUE
       WT_USER: xneo1
       WT_PASS: webtreespwd
       WT_NAME: Your Name
       WT_EMAIL: me@email.com
       PHP_MEMORY_LIMIT: 8192M
       PHP_MAX_EXECUTION_TIME: 3600
       PHP_POST_MAX_SIZE: 512M
       PHP_UPLOAD_MAX_FILE_SIZE: 512M
       DB_HOST: webtrees_db
       DB_PORT: 5432
       POSTGRES_USER: webtreesusr
       POSTGRES_PASSWORD: webtreespwd
       DB_TYPE: pgsql
       DB_PREFIX: wt_
       POSTGRES_DB: webtrees
       HTTPS_REDIRECT: False
       HTTPS: False
    restart: on-failure:5

Or deploy it directly from the source:

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

More install options in our documentation.

Container Documentation

webtrees_db Documentation

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

Serve Webtrees 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 webtrees.example.com to http://webtrees:80

Add this to your Caddyfile

webtrees.example.com {
	reverse_proxy http://webtrees:80
}

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 0.0.0.0:5495 failed: port is already allocated", something else on your server is using that port.

Find what's using it: sudo ss -tlnp | grep :5495
Stop the other service, or pick a different host port. In 5495:80 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:5495. The 0.0.0.0 link Portainer shows isn't a real address.
Give it a minute after first deploy, webtrees can take a while to initialise.
Make sure your firewall allows the port, e.g. sudo ufw allow 5495

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/webtrees/db (and the same for the other mapped folders)

Image won't pull

Test the pull directly on the host: docker pull postgres:16

"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.

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 webtrees'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

Webtrees is a Compose stack, a set of containers (2 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 2 containers that run side by side. Here's each one, with the image it runs and anything it waits for first:

webtrees_db runs postgres:16
webtrees runs ghcr.io/nathanvaughn/webtrees:latest

Ports

A port is the door the app answers on. A mapping like 5495:80 means it's reachable on port 5495 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:5495 in a browser. It opens:

5495:80, likely the web interface

Volumes

A volume is where Webtrees 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:

/var/lib/postgresql/data from /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/webtrees/db on the host
/var/www/webtrees/data from /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/webtrees/data on the host

Environment variables

Environment variables are the settings you hand over when you deploy, things like a password or a timezone. Webtrees takes 20 of them, all with defaults you can leave alone or tweak:

POSTGRES_DB, defaults to webtrees
POSTGRES_USER, defaults to webtreesusr
POSTGRES_PASSWORD, defaults to webtreespwd
TZ, defaults to Europe/Athens
BASE_URL, defaults to https://webtrees.homelab
PRETTY_URLS, defaults to true
WT_USER, defaults to xneo1
WT_PASS, defaults to webtreespwd
WT_NAME, defaults to Your Name
WT_EMAIL, defaults to me@email.com
PHP_MEMORY_LIMIT, defaults to 8192M
PHP_MAX_EXECUTION_TIME, defaults to 3600
PHP_POST_MAX_SIZE, defaults to 512M
PHP_UPLOAD_MAX_FILE_SIZE, defaults to 512M
DB_HOST, defaults to webtrees_db
DB_PORT, defaults to 5432
DB_TYPE, defaults to pgsql
DB_PREFIX, defaults to wt_
HTTPS_REDIRECT, defaults to false
HTTPS, defaults to false

Restart policy

The restart policy here is on-failure:5, so Webtrees won't come back on its own after a crash or reboot. You bring it up again whenever you're ready. 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 webtrees_db) 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 Webtrees up. Add the template list to Portainer once, then deploying Webtrees is a click rather than a wall of config.

Webtrees

Configuration

Services

webtrees_db

Configuration

Image details

webtrees

Configuration

Image details

Standalone Install

Install on Portainer

Template Import URL

Container Documentation

webtrees_db 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"

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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