Install and run InfluxDB 3 Explorer

Use Docker to install and run InfluxDB 3 Explorer.

• Quick start
• Installation methods
• Configuration options
  • Persist data across restarts
  • Pre-configure InfluxDB connections
  • Enable TLS/SSL (HTTPS)
  • Choose operational mode
• Advanced configuration
  • Environment variables
  • Volume reference
  • Port reference
• Complete examples

Quick start

Get InfluxDB 3 Explorer running in minutes:

1. Run the Explorer container:

   docker run --detach \
     --name influxdb3-explorer \
     --publish 8888:80 \
     influxdata/influxdb3-ui:1.2.0

2. Access the Explorer UI at http://localhost:8888

3. Configure your InfluxDB connection in the UI

Installation methods

Prerequisites

Install Docker or Docker Desktop if you haven’t already.

Basic setup

docker pull influxdata/influxdb3-ui:1.2.0

docker run --detach \
  --name influxdb3-explorer \
  --publish 8888:80 \
  influxdata/influxdb3-ui:1.2.0

# docker-compose.yml
version: '3.8'

services:
  explorer:
    image: influxdata/influxdb3-ui:1.2.0
    container_name: influxdb3-explorer
    ports:
      - "8888:80"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/app-root/config:ro
    restart: unless-stopped

docker-compose up -d

Production setup

For production deployments with persistence, admin mode, and automatic image updates:

docker run --detach \
  --name influxdb3-explorer \
  --pull always \
  --publish 8888:80 \
  --volume $(pwd)/db:/db:rw \
  --volume $(pwd)/config:/app-root/config:ro \
  --env SESSION_SECRET_KEY=$(openssl rand -hex 32) \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  influxdata/influxdb3-ui:1.2.0 \
  --mode=admin

# docker-compose.yml
version: '3.8'

services:
  explorer:
    image: influxdata/influxdb3-ui:1.2.0
    container_name: influxdb3-explorer
    pull_policy: always
    command: ["--mode=admin"]
    ports:
      - "8888:80"
    volumes:
      - ./db:/db:rw
      - ./config:/app-root/config:ro
      - ./ssl:/etc/nginx/ssl:ro
    environment:
      SESSION_SECRET_KEY: ${SESSION_SECRET_KEY:-changeme123456789012345678901234}
    restart: unless-stopped

SESSION_SECRET_KEY=your_32_char_hex_string_here

docker-compose up -d

Configuration options

Persist data across restarts

InfluxDB 3 Explorer stores application data in a SQLite database. To persist this data across container restarts:

1. Create a local directory:

   mkdir -m 700 ./db

2. Mount the directory when running the container:

   Docker Docker Compose

   docker run --detach \
     --name influxdb3-explorer \
     --publish 8888:80 \
     --volume $(pwd)/db:/db:rw \
     influxdata/influxdb3-ui:1.2.0

   version: '3.8'
   
   services:
     explorer:
       image: influxdata/influxdb3-ui:1.2.0
       container_name: influxdb3-explorer
       ports:
         - "8888:80"
       volumes:
         - ./db:/db:rw
       restart: unless-stopped

Pre-configure InfluxDB connections

Instead of configuring connections through the UI, you can pre-define connection settings using a config.json file. This is useful for:

• Automated deployments
• Shared team configurations
• Quick setup for known environments

1. Create a config.json file:

   mkdir -p config
   cat > config/config.json << 'EOF'
   {
     "DEFAULT_INFLUX_SERVER": "http://host.docker.internal:8181",
     "DEFAULT_INFLUX_DATABASE": "mydb",
     "DEFAULT_API_TOKEN": "your-token-here",
     "DEFAULT_SERVER_NAME": "Local InfluxDB 3"
   }
   EOF

   Customize the following properties for your InfluxDB 3 instance:

   • DEFAULT_INFLUX_SERVER: your InfluxDB 3 Core or Enterprise server URL
   • DEFAULT_INFLUX_DATABASE: the name of your InfluxDB 3 Core or Enterprise database
   • DEFAULT_API_TOKEN: your InfluxDB 3 Core or Enterprise authorization token with the necessary permissions to access your server
   • DEFAULT_SERVER_NAME: a display name (only used by Explorer) for your InfluxDB 3 Core or Enterprise server

   If connecting to a local, non-Docker instance, use host.docker.internal as your server host–for example:

   "DEFAULT_INFLUX_SERVER": "http://host.docker.internal:8181"

   host.docker.internal allows the Docker container to connect to services running on your host machine. For more information, see the Docker documentation.

2. Mount the configuration directory:

   Docker Docker Compose

   docker run --detach \
     --name influxdb3-explorer \
     --publish 8888:80 \
     --volume $(pwd)/config:/app-root/config:ro \
     influxdata/influxdb3-ui:1.2.0

   version: '3.8'
   
   services:
     explorer:
       image: influxdata/influxdb3-ui:1.2.0
       container_name: influxdb3-explorer
       ports:
         - "8888:80"
       volumes:
         - ./config:/app-root/config:ro
       restart: unless-stopped

Enable TLS/SSL (HTTPS)

To enable TLS/SSL for secure connections:

1. Create SSL directory and add certificate files:

   mkdir -m 755 ./ssl
   # Copy your certificate files to the ssl directory
   cp /path/to/server.crt ./ssl/
   cp /path/to/server.key ./ssl/

   Required files:

   • Certificate: server.crt or fullchain.pem
   • Private key: server.key

2. Run the container with SSL enabled:

   Docker Docker Compose

   docker run --detach \
     --name influxdb3-explorer \
     --publish 8888:443 \
     --volume $(pwd)/ssl:/etc/nginx/ssl:ro \
     influxdata/influxdb3-ui:1.2.0

   version: '3.8'
   
   services:
     explorer:
       image: influxdata/influxdb3-ui:1.2.0
       container_name: influxdb3-explorer
       ports:
         - "8888:443"
       volumes:
         - ./ssl:/etc/nginx/ssl:ro
       restart: unless-stopped

3. Access the Explorer UI at https://localhost:8888

Choose operational mode

InfluxDB 3 Explorer supports two operational modes:

• Query mode (default): Read-only UI for querying data
• Admin mode: Full UI with administrative capabilities

Set the mode using the --mode parameter:

# Query mode (default)
docker run --detach \
  --name influxdb3-explorer \
  --publish 8888:80 \
  influxdata/influxdb3-ui:1.2.0 \
  --mode=query

# Admin mode
docker run --detach \
  --name influxdb3-explorer \
  --publish 8888:80 \
  influxdata/influxdb3-ui:1.2.0 \
  --mode=admin

version: '3.8'

services:
  explorer:
    image: influxdata/influxdb3-ui:1.2.0
    container_name: influxdb3-explorer
    # For query mode (default), omit the command
    # For admin mode, add:
    command: ["--mode=admin"]
    ports:
      - "8888:80"
    restart: unless-stopped

Advanced configuration

Environment variables

openssl rand -hex 32

Volume reference

Port reference

Complete examples

Production setup with all features

# Create required directories
mkdir -m 700 ./db
mkdir -m 755 ./config ./ssl

# Generate session secret
export SESSION_SECRET=$(openssl rand -hex 32)

# Create configuration
cat > config/config.json << 'EOF'
{
  "DEFAULT_INFLUX_SERVER": "http://host.docker.internal:8181",
  "DEFAULT_INFLUX_DATABASE": "production",
  "DEFAULT_API_TOKEN": "your-production-token",
  "DEFAULT_SERVER_NAME": "Production InfluxDB 3"
}
EOF

# Run Explorer with all features
docker run --detach \
  --name influxdb3-explorer \
  --pull always \
  --publish 8888:443 \
  --volume $(pwd)/db:/db:rw \
  --volume $(pwd)/config:/app-root/config:ro \
  --volume $(pwd)/ssl:/etc/nginx/ssl:ro \
  --env SESSION_SECRET_KEY=$SESSION_SECRET \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  influxdata/influxdb3-ui:1.2.0 \
  --mode=admin

# docker-compose.yml
version: '3.8'

services:
  explorer:
    image: influxdata/influxdb3-ui:1.2.0
    container_name: influxdb3-explorer
    pull_policy: always
    command: ["--mode=admin"]
    ports:
      - "8888:443"
    volumes:
      - ./db:/db:rw
      - ./config:/app-root/config:ro
      - ./ssl:/etc/nginx/ssl:ro
    environment:
      SESSION_SECRET_KEY: ${SESSION_SECRET_KEY}
    restart: unless-stopped

SESSION_SECRET_KEY=your_32_char_hex_string_here

docker-compose up -d

Development setup (minimal)

docker run --rm \
  --name influxdb3-explorer-dev \
  --publish 8888:80 \
  influxdata/influxdb3-ui:1.2.0

# docker-compose.yml
version: '3.8'

services:
  explorer:
    image: influxdata/influxdb3-ui:1.2.0
    container_name: influxdb3-explorer-dev
    ports:
      - "8888:80"