Install and run InfluxDB 3 Explorer

Use Docker to install and run InfluxDB 3 Explorer.

• Run the InfluxDB 3 Explorer Docker container
• Enable TLS/SSL (HTTPS)
• Pre-configure InfluxDB connection settings
• Run in query or admin mode
  • Run in query mode
  • Run in admin mode
• Environment Variables
• Volume Reference
• Exposed Ports
  • Custom port mapping

Run the InfluxDB 3 Explorer Docker container

1. Install Docker

   If you haven’t already, install Docker or Docker Desktop.

2. Pull the InfluxDB 3 Explorer Docker image

   influxdata/influxdb3-ui:1.2.0

3. Create local directories (optional)

   InfluxDB 3 Explorer can mount the following directories on your local machine:

   Directory	Description	Permissions
   ./db	Stores InfluxDB 3 Explorer application data	700
   ./config	Stores pre-configured InfluxDB connection settings	755
   ./ssl	Stores TLS/SSL certificates (Required when using TLS/SSL)	755

   If you don’t create and mount a local ./db directory, InfluxDB 3 Explorer stores application data in the container’s file system. This data will be lost when the container is deleted.

   To create these directories with the appropriate permissions, run the following commands from your current working directory:

   mkdir -m 700 ./db
   mkdir -m 755 ./config
   mkdir -m 755 ./ssl

4. Run the InfluxDB 3 Explorer container

   Use the docker run command to start the InfluxDB 3 Explorer container. Include the following:

   • Port mappings:

     • 8888 to 80 (or 443 if using TLS/SSL)
     • 8889 to 8888

   • Mounted volumes:

     • $(pwd)/db:/db:rw
     • $(pwd)/config:/app-root/config:ro
     • $(pwd)/ssl:/etc/nginx/ssl:ro

   • Any of the available environment variables

     To persist sessions across container restarts, see the detailed instructions on setting the SESSION_SECRET_KEY environment variable.

   docker run --detach \
     --name influxdb3-explorer \
     --publish 8888:80 \
     --publish 8889:8888 \
     --volume $(pwd)/config:/app-root/config:ro \
     --volume $(pwd)/db:/db:rw \
     --volume $(pwd)/ssl:/etc/nginx/ssl:ro \
     influxdata/influxdb3-ui:1.2.0 \
     --mode=admin

5. Access the InfluxDB 3 Explorer user interface (UI) at http://localhost:8888.

Enable TLS/SSL (HTTPS)

To enable TLS/SSL, mount valid certificate and key files into the container:

1. Place your TLS/SSL certificate files your local ./ssl directory

   Required files:

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

2. When running your container, mount the SSL directory and map port 443 to port 8888

   Include the following options when running your Docker container:

   --volume $(pwd)/ssl:/etc/nginx/ssl:ro \
   --publish 8888:443

The nginx web server automatically uses certificate files when they are present in the mounted path.

Pre-configure InfluxDB connection settings

You can predefine InfluxDB connection settings using a config.json file.

1. Create a config.json file in your local ./config directory

   {
     "DEFAULT_INFLUX_SERVER": "
   INFLUXDB3_HOST
   ",
     "DEFAULT_INFLUX_DATABASE": "
   INFLUXDB_DATABASE_NAME
   ",
     "DEFAULT_API_TOKEN": "
   INFLUXDB3_AUTH_TOKEN
   ",
     "DEFAULT_SERVER_NAME": "
   INFLUXDB3_SERVER_NAME
   "
   }

   If connecting to an InfluxDB 3 Core or Enterprise instance running on localhost (outside of the container), use the internal Docker network to in your InfluxDB 3 host value–for example:

   http://host.docker.internal:8181

2. Mount the configuration directory

   Include the following option when running your Docker container:

   --volume $(pwd)/config:/app-root/config:ro

These settings will be used as defaults when the container starts.

Run in query or admin mode

InfluxDB 3 Explorer has the following operational modes:

• Query mode (default): Read-only UI and query interface
• Admin mode: Full UI and API access for administrators

You can control the operational mode using the --mode= option in your docker run command (after the image name).

Run in query mode

docker run \
  ...
  --mode=query

Run in admin mode

docker run \
  ...
  --mode=admin

If --mode is not set, the container defaults to query mode.

Environment Variables

Use the following environment variables to customize InfluxDB 3 Explorer settings in your container.

• DATABASE_URL
• SESSION_SECRET_KEY
• SSL_CERT_PATH
• SSL_KEY_PATH

DATABASE_URL

Path to SQLite DB inside container. The default is /db/sqlite.db.

docker run --detach \
  # ...
  --volume $(pwd)/db:/custom/db-path:rw \
  --env DATABASE_URL=/custom/db-path/sqlite.db \
  influxdata/influxdb3-ui:1.2.0

SESSION_SECRET_KEY

Specifies the secret key for session management. If none is provided, Explorer uses a random 32-byte hex string as the session secret key.

docker run --detach \
  # ...
  --env SESSION_SECRET_KEY=xxX0Xx000xX0XxxxX0Xx000xX0XxX00x \
  influxdata/influxdb3-ui:1.2.0

SSL_CERT_PATH

Defines the path to the SSL certificate file inside the container. Default is /etc/nginx/ssl/cert.pem.

docker run --detach \
  # ...
  --volume $(pwd)/ssl:/custom/ssl:ro \
  --env SSL_CERT_PATH=/custom/ssl/cert.pem \
  influxdata/influxdb3-ui:1.2.0

SSL_KEY_PATH

Defines the path to the SSL private key file inside the container. Default is /etc/nginx/ssl/key.pem.

docker run --detach \
  # ...
  --volume $(pwd)/ssl:/custom/ssl:ro \
  --env SSL_KEY_PATH=/custom/ssl/key.pem \
  influxdata/influxdb3-ui:1.2.0

Volume Reference

Exposed Ports

Custom port mapping

# Map ports to custom host values
--publish 8888:80 --publish 8443:443