Install Nakama with Docker Compose #

Docker is the quickest way to download and start developing with Nakama. By using Docker you are able to:

  • Install to a pristine environment
  • Easily install and run the CockroachDB or PostgreSQL database for Nakama
  • Take snapshots, remove, and re-install Nakama without affecting your primary operating system
  • Enjoy a quick and simplified installation experience regardless of your OS

Following this guide, you will use Docker Compose to quickly and easily define all the necessary services and run your local development instance of Nakama.

Prerequisites #

Before proceeding ensure that you have installed Docker Desktop.

Linux Users
Docker Desktop is only available for Mac and Windows. You must install Docker Engine and Docker Compose individually for your distribution.

Running Nakama #

  1. Start by creating a directory where your Nakama server will sit, for example Desktop/nakama.
  2. In this folder create a docker-compose.yml file and open it using your preferred text editor.
  3. Heroic Labs provides two YML files for use: using either PostgreSQL or CockroachDB as the database.

docker-compose-postgres.yml

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version: '3'
services:
  postgres:
    container_name: postgres
    image: postgres:12.2-alpine
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_DB=nakama
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=localdb
    volumes:
      - data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    expose:
      - "8080"
      - "5432"
    ports:
      - "5432:5432"
      - "8080:8080"
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "pg_isready", "-U", "postgres", "-d", "nakama"]
      interval: 3s
      timeout: 3s
      retries: 5
  nakama:
    container_name: nakama
    image: registry.heroiclabs.com/heroiclabs/nakama:3.22.0
    entrypoint:
      - "/bin/sh"
      - "-ecx"
      - >
          /nakama/nakama migrate up --database.address postgres:localdb@postgres:5432/nakama &&
          exec /nakama/nakama --name nakama1 --database.address postgres:localdb@postgres:5432/nakama --logger.level DEBUG --session.token_expiry_sec 7200          
    restart: always
    links:
      - "postgres:db"
    depends_on:
      postgres:
        condition: service_healthy
    volumes:
      - ./:/nakama/data
    expose:
      - "7349"
      - "7350"
      - "7351"
    ports:
      - "7349:7349"
      - "7350:7350"
      - "7351:7351"
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "/nakama/nakama", "healthcheck"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5
volumes:
  data:

docker-compose-cockroach.yml

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version: '3'
services:
  cockroachdb:
    image: cockroachdb/cockroach:latest-v23.1
    command: start-single-node --insecure --store=attrs=ssd,path=/var/lib/cockroach/
    restart: "no"
    volumes:
      - data:/var/lib/cockroach
    expose:
      - "8080"
      - "26257"
    ports:
      - "26257:26257"
      - "8080:8080"
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:8080/health?ready=1"]
      interval: 3s
      timeout: 3s
      retries: 5
  nakama:
    image: registry.heroiclabs.com/heroiclabs/nakama:3.22.0
    entrypoint:
      - "/bin/sh"
      - "-ecx"
      - >
          /nakama/nakama migrate up --database.address root@cockroachdb:26257 &&
          exec /nakama/nakama --name nakama1 --database.address root@cockroachdb:26257 --logger.level DEBUG --session.token_expiry_sec 7200 --metrics.prometheus_port 9100          
    restart: "no"
    links:
      - "cockroachdb:db"
    depends_on:
      cockroachdb:
        condition: service_healthy
      prometheus:
        condition: service_started
    volumes:
      - ./:/nakama/data
    expose:
      - "7349"
      - "7350"
      - "7351"
      - "9100"
    ports:
      - "7349:7349"
      - "7350:7350"
      - "7351:7351"
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "/nakama/nakama", "healthcheck"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5
  prometheus:
    image: prom/prometheus
    entrypoint: /bin/sh -c
    command: |
      'sh -s <<EOF
        cat > ./prometheus.yml <<EON
      global:
        scrape_interval:     15s
        evaluation_interval: 15s

      scrape_configs:
        - job_name: prometheus
          static_configs:
          - targets: ['localhost:9090']

        - job_name: nakama
          metrics_path: /
          static_configs:
          - targets: ['nakama:9100']
      EON
      prometheus --config.file=./prometheus.yml
      EOF'      
    ports:
      - '9090:9090'
volumes:
  data:

Copy and paste the contents of your preferred option into your docker-compose.yml file.

Windows Users
You must edit the nakama:volumes: entry in your docker-compose.yml file so that it looks like the following: /c/Users/<username>/projects/docker:/nakama/data.
  1. Open a Terminal window and navigate to your Nakama directory. For example:
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cd desktop/nakama
  1. To pull all required images and start your application, run the following:
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docker compose up
  1. Congratulations! Your Nakama server is now up and running, available at 127.0.0.1:7350.

Nakama containers running
Nakama containers running

Use the Open in Visual Studio Code button (or that for your IDE) to edit your docker-compose.yml file directly.

Nakama Console #

You can also access the Nakama Console by navigating your browser to 127.0.0.1:7351:

Nakama console
Nakama console

When prompted to login, the default credentials are admin:password. These can be changed via configuration file or command-line flags.

Configuration File #

There are many configuration options available that you can customize for your Nakama server. You can create a YML file for all configurations you want to set, and pass that file to your Docker containers.

First you will need to make a local storage volume available to Docker:

  1. Open your docker-compose.yml file in your preferred text editor.
  2. Edit the nakama:volumes: entry to specify your desired volume. For example, to create a /data folder in our desktop/nakama directory used above, which would be available at nakama/data in the Docker container, it would look like the following:
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volumes:
  - ./data:/nakama/data
  1. Save the changed file and restart your Docker containers for the change to take effect. From your Terminal:
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docker compose restart
  1. Next, create your custom configuration file, for example my-config.yml, and place it in the /data folder that you made available to Docker, above.

my-config.yml

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name: nakama-node-1
data_dir: "./data/"

logger:
    stdout: false
    level: "warn"
    file: "/nakama/data/logfile.log"

console:
    port: 7351
    username: "my_user"
    password: "my_password"
  1. Open your docker-compose.yml file again, this time to edit the nakama:entrypoint entry to add the --config flag pointing to your configuration file. It should look like this:
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nakama:
    entrypoint:
    - "/bin/sh"
    - "-ecx"
    - >
        /nakama/nakama migrate up --database.address root@cockroachdb:26257 &&
        /nakama/nakama --config /nakama/data/my-config.yml
  1. Save the changed file and restart your Docker containers for the change to take effect. From your Terminal:
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docker compose restart

Next steps #

With your Nakama server now up and running with the desired configuration, you can get started with your preferred client SDK.

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