Cannot run on Docker rootless

[reda-alaoui]

Describe the bug
I am unable to start label studio in a doker rootless environment.

To Reproduce
In a linux docker rootless environment, run:

docker run -it -p 8080:8080 -v $(pwd)/mydata:/label-studio/data docker.cosium.dev/heartexlabs/label-studio:1.22.0

Expected behavior

It should not fail.

Actual behavior

It fails with:

=> Database and media directory: /label-studio/data
=> Static URL is set to: /static/
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/label-studio/.venv/bin/label-studio", line 3, in <module>
    from label_studio.server import main
  File "/label-studio/label_studio/server.py", line 23, in <module>
    from label_studio.core.argparser import parse_input_args
  File "/label-studio/label_studio/core/argparser.py", line 5, in <module>
    from .settings.base import EXPORT_DIR
  File "/label-studio/label_studio/core/settings/base.py", line 496, in <module>
    os.makedirs(MEDIA_ROOT, exist_ok=True)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "<frozen os>", line 228, in makedirs
PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/label-studio/data/media'

Environment (please complete the following information):

• OS: Linux *** 6.8.0-90-generic 91-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Tue Nov 18 14:14:30 UTC 2025 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
• Label Studio Version 1.22.0

[reda-alaoui]

Changing the run command to:

docker run -it -p 8080:8080 -v $(pwd):/label-studio/data docker.cosium.dev/heartexlabs/label-studio:1.22.0

fixes the issue.

Please notice the difference only resides in the volume mapping:

• before: $(pwd)/mydata:/label-studio/data
• after: $(pwd):/label-studio/data

Maybe this deserves a documentation change for Docker rootless and Podman users?

[heidi-humansignal]

Hello,

Thank you for contacting Label Studio and for the feedback . we will act accordingly!
Please let us know if you have more questions or in need of further assistance. We are happy to support!

Best Regards!

Comment by Oussama Assili
Workflow Run

[raphaelmerx]

Ran into the same issue, found it's documented in https://github.com/HumanSignal/label-studio/blob/develop/docs/source/guide/install_troubleshoot.md#permissionerror-errno-13-permission-denied-label-studiodatamedia

Fix:

rm -rf mydata
mkdir mydata
sudo chown :0 mydata

Then re-run the Docker command