---
title: Install InfluxDB using Docker Compose
description: Use Docker Compose and secrets to install and set up InfluxDB OSS.
url: https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/v2/install/use-docker-compose/
estimated_tokens: 1552
product: InfluxDB OSS v2
version: v2
publisher: InfluxData
canonical: https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/v2/install/use-docker-compose/
date: '2025-07-15T10:51:44-05:00'
lastmod: '2025-07-15T10:51:44-05:00'
---

This page documents an earlier version of InfluxDB OSS.[InfluxDB 3 Core](/influxdb3/core/) is the latest stable version.

#### API token hashing is enabled by default in InfluxDB OSS 2.9.0

Stronger token security: tokens are stored as hashes on disk, so a
copy of the database file doesn’t expose usable tokens. Existing
tokens are hashed on first startup and the original strings can’t
be recovered afterward — **capture any plaintext tokens you still
need before you upgrade**.

For more information, see [Token hashing](/influxdb/v2/admin/tokens/#token-hashing).

Use Docker Compose to install and set up InfluxDB v2, the time series platform
purpose-built to collect, store, process and visualize metrics and events.

* [Set up using Docker Compose secrets](#set-up-using-docker-compose-secrets)
  * [Run InfluxDB CLI commands in a container](#run-influxdb-cli-commands-in-a-container)
  * [Manage files in mounted volumes](#manage-files-in-mounted-volumes)

## Set up using Docker Compose secrets

> [!Tip]
> When you use Docker Compose to create an InfluxDB container, you can use
> Compose [`secrets`](https://docs.docker.com/compose/use-secrets/) to control
> access to sensitive credentials such as username, password, and token and
> prevent leaking them in your `docker inspect` output.

The `influxdb` Docker image provides the following environment
variables to use with Compose `secrets`:

* `DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_USERNAME_FILE`: the container’s path to the file that
  contains the username for your initial [user](/influxdb/v2/admin/users/).
* `DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_PASSWORD_FILE`: the container’s path to the file that
  contains the password for your initial [user](/influxdb/v2/admin/users/).
* `DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_ADMIN_TOKEN_FILE`: the container’s path to the file that
  contains a token to use for your initial[Operator token](/influxdb/v2/admin/tokens/#operator-token).
  If you don’t specify an initial token, InfluxDB generates one for you.

Follow steps to set up and run InfluxDB using Docker Compose and `secrets`:

1. If you haven’t already, install[Docker Desktop](https://www.docker.com/get-started/) for your system.

2. Copy the following `compose.yaml` into your project directory.

   ```
   # compose.yaml
   services:
     influxdb2:
       image: influxdb:2
       ports:
         - 8086:8086
       environment:
         DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_MODE: setup
         DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_USERNAME_FILE: /run/secrets/influxdb2-admin-username
         DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_PASSWORD_FILE: /run/secrets/influxdb2-admin-password
         DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_ADMIN_TOKEN_FILE: /run/secrets/influxdb2-admin-token
         DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_ORG: docs
         DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_BUCKET: home
       secrets:
         - influxdb2-admin-username
         - influxdb2-admin-password
         - influxdb2-admin-token
       volumes:
         - type: volume
           source: influxdb2-data
           target: /var/lib/influxdb2
         - type: volume
           source: influxdb2-config
           target: /etc/influxdb2
   secrets:
     influxdb2-admin-username:
       file: ~/.env.influxdb2-admin-username
     influxdb2-admin-password:
       file: ~/.env.influxdb2-admin-password
     influxdb2-admin-token:
       file: ~/.env.influxdb2-admin-token
   volumes:
     influxdb2-data:
     influxdb2-config:
   ```

   *For more information about initialization environment variables, see the [upgrade guide](/influxdb/v2/install/upgrade/v1-to-v2/docker/).*

3. For each secret in `compose.yaml`, create a file that contains the secret
   value–for example:

   * `~/.env.influxdb2-admin-username`:

     ```
     admin
     ```

   * `~/.env.influxdb2-admin-password`:

     ```
     MyInitialAdminPassword
     ```

   * `~/.env.influxdb2-admin-token`:

     ```
     MyInitialAdminToken0==
     ```

4. To set up and run InfluxDB, enter the following command in your
   terminal:

   ```
   docker compose up influxdb2
   ```

At runtime, the `influxdb` image:

1. Mounts `secrets` files from your host filesystem to `/run/secrets/<SECRET_NAME>`in the container.

2. Assigns the environment variables to the specified files–for example:

   ```
   environment:
     DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_USERNAME_FILE: /run/secrets/influxdb2-admin-username
     DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_PASSWORD_FILE: /run/secrets/influxdb2-admin-password
     DOCKER_INFLUXDB_INIT_ADMIN_TOKEN_FILE: /run/secrets/influxdb2-admin-token
   ```

3. Retrieves the secrets from the mounted files and runs setup.

4. Starts InfluxDB.

5. Runs any custom initialization scripts mounted inside the container’s`/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/` path.

If successful, InfluxDB initializes the user, password, organization, bucket,
and *[Operator token](/influxdb/v2/admin/tokens/#operator-token)*, and then
logs to stdout. You can view the InfluxDB UI at [http://localhost:8086](http://localhost:8086).

Although Docker prevents inadvertently exposing secrets (for example, in`docker inspect` output), a
user that has access to the running container’s filesystem can view the secrets.

### Run InfluxDB CLI commands in a container

After you start a container using the `influxdb` Docker Hub image, you can[use `docker exec` with the `influx` and `influxd`CLIs](/influxdb/v2/install/?t=Docker#run-influxdb-cli-commands-in-a-container) inside the
container.

### Manage files in mounted volumes

To copy files, such as the InfluxDB server `config.yml` file, between your local
file system and a volume, use the[`docker container cp` command](https://docs.docker.com/reference/cli/docker/container/cp/).

For more InfluxDB and Docker configuration options,
see the [`influxdb` Docker Hub image](https://hub.docker.com/_/influxdb)documentation.

#### Related

* [Install InfluxDB OSS v2](/influxdb/v2/install/)
* [Upgrade from InfluxDB 1.x to 2.9 with Docker](/influxdb/v2/install/upgrade/v1-to-v2/docker/)
* [influx auth](/influxdb/v2/reference/cli/influx/auth/)
* [influx config](/influxdb/v2/reference/cli/influx/config/)
* [influx - InfluxDB command line interface](/influxdb/v2/reference/cli/influx/)
* [Manage API tokens](/influxdb/v2/admin/tokens/)

[install](/influxdb/v2/tags/install/)