🐳 Docker Update Commander

A lightweight, self-hosted web dashboard to check and update your Docker containers. It provides a safe, modern, and user-friendly interface to manage container updates manually or automatically.

Note: This tool acts as a control center. It uses the industry-standard Watchtower engine internally to perform the actual container replacements safely and reliably.

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✨ Core Features

• Web Dashboard: Clean, high-contrast Dark Mode interface.
• Smart Automation: Background checks and selective auto-updates ("Set and Forget").
• Real-time Feedback: See exactly what's happening (Checking, Updating, Done).
• Flexible Updates: Update all containers at once, or use Select Mode to pick specific ones.
• Self-Update Support: The dashboard can update itself — it triggers last so all other containers finish first.
• Cleanup Option: Automatically remove replaced images after an update to keep your host clean.
• Production Ready: Built on Alpine Linux (~68MB) running on a robust Gunicorn WSGI server.
• Local Image Support: Smartly detects local-only images to prevent update errors.
• Sort & Control: Sort containers by name or update status. Stop running checks anytime.

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🚀 Quick Start (Docker Compose)

The easiest way to run the Update Commander.

services:
  update-commander:
    image: boingbasti/update-commander:latest
    container_name: update-commander
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "5005:5000"
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
      - ./config:/app/config
    environment:
      - TZ=Europe/Berlin

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⚙️ Configuration & Volumes

No complex environment variables needed! All logic settings are managed via the Web UI.

Type	Path / Variable	Description	Notes
Volume	/var/run/docker.sock	Docker Socket	Required to control containers
Volume	/app/config	Config Storage	Stores config.json (Settings)
Port	5000	Web Interface	Map to host (e.g. 5005:5000)
Env	TZ	Timezone	Optional (e.g. Europe/Berlin)

UI Settings (accessible via ⚙️ button)

• Check Strategy: Choose between Manual Only, On Page Load, or Background Schedule.
• Interval: Set the background check frequency (in minutes).
• Cleanup: Optionally remove the old image after each update. Images still used by other containers are kept automatically.
• Auto-Update: Enable auto-updates for All or Selected Containers (only available in Background mode).

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🛡️ How it works

1. The Brain (This Tool): The Python/Flask application connects to the Docker Socket to list containers and check for new image hashes on the registry (Docker Hub, GHCR, etc.).
2. The Muscle (Watchtower): When you trigger an update, this tool spawns a temporary, one-off containrrr/watchtower container.
3. The Execution: Watchtower pulls the new image, stops the old container, and recreates it with exact configuration (Ports, ENVs, Volumes) as before.

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⚠️ Limitations

• Docker Compose Changes: This tool updates the Image Version. If you change your docker-compose.yml structure (e.g., adding a new volume), you must redeploy the stack manually.

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📎 Links

Docker Hub: https://hub.docker.com/r/boingbasti/update-commander GitHub: https://github.com/boingbasti/docker-update-commander

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Created with ❤️ by boingbasti