Librechat container keeps on restarting

[renz-dev]

I followed the Installation Steps here: https://www.librechat.ai/docs/local/docker

It's all vanilla, I didn't change any setting and ran docker compose up -d.

However, the librechat container seems to be restarting on a loop. Looking at the Docker desktop for Librechat, I can see the logs with the same error:

> [email protected] backend

> cross-env NODE_ENV=production node api/server/index.js


node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:643

      throw e;

      ^


Error: Cannot find module '/app/node_modules/@librechat/api/dist/index.js'

    at createEsmNotFoundErr (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1249:15)

    at finalizeEsmResolution (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1237:15)

    at resolveExports (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:636:14)

    at Module._findPath (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:716:31)

    at Module._resolveFilename (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1198:27)

    at Module._resolveFilename (/app/node_modules/module-alias/index.js:49:29)

    at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1043:27)

    at Module.require (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1298:19)

    at require (node:internal/modules/helpers:182:18)

    at Object.<anonymous> (/app/api/server/index.js:11:23) {

  code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND',

  path: '/app/node_modules/@librechat/api/package.json'

}


Node.js v20.19.4

[ForceConstant]

My librechat died with same issue, due to auto-updating the image to librechat-dev:6fc9abd4ad6800531e226627f31b66a3138ddfae. I had to revert to librechat-dev:32081245dad803561dd61dbe607d98fc276d9032 and it is working again.

[danny-avila]

The latest tag, librechat-dev:6fc9abd4ad6800531e226627f31b66a3138ddfae, is working fine on my end, I can even see the file referenced in the error:

Are you building your own docker image? Try updating like this, in any case:
https://www.librechat.ai/docs/local/docker#update-librechat

[renz-dev]

Hey @danny-avila
I appreciate your reply. What I did is a fresh install following the steps in that page.

Now, I tried doing the "Update LibreChat" based on the link you provided but now both mongodb and librechat is looping.

For Librechat, the error is still the same and for mongodb it's:

find: '/data/db/._storage.bson': Operation not permitted

find: '/data/db/._collection-0-760781050396606429.wt': Operation not permitted

find: '/data/db/._collection-2-760781050396606429.wt': Operation not permitted

find: '/data/db/._index-3-760781050396606429.wt': Operation not permitted

find: '/data/db/._collection-4-760781050396606429.wt': Operation not permitted

find: '/data/db/._index-5-760781050396606429.wt': Operation not permitted

find: '/data/db/._index-6-760781050396606429.wt': Operation not permitted

find: '/data/db/._diagnostic.data': Operation not permitted

find: '/data/db/._WiredTiger.turtle': Operation not permitted

chown: cannot access '/data/db/journal/._WiredTigerLog.0000000002': Operation not permitted

chown: cannot access '/data/db/journal/._WiredTigerPreplog.0000000001': Operation not permitted

chown: cannot access '/data/db/diagnostic.data/._metrics.2025-07-31T07-25-59Z-00000': Operation not permitted

chown: cannot access '/data/db/diagnostic.data/._metrics.2025-07-31T07-42-55Z-00000': Operation not permitted

chown: cannot access '/data/db/._mongod.lock': Operation not permitted

chown: cannot access '/data/db/._WiredTiger.lock': Operation not permitted

chown: cannot access '/data/db/._WiredTiger': Operation not permitted

chown: cannot access '/data/db/._WiredTiger.wt': Operation not permitted

chown: cannot access '/data/db/._WiredTigerHS.wt': Operation not permitted

chown: cannot access '/data/db/._journal': Operation not permitted

chown: cannot access '/data/db/._sizeStorer.wt': Operation not permitted

chown: cannot access '/data/db/.__mdb_catalog.wt': Operation not permitted

chown: cannot access '/data/db/._index-1-760781050396606429.wt': Operation not permitted

chown: cannot access '/data/db/._storage.bson': Operation not permitted

chown: cannot access '/data/db/._collection-0-760781050396606429.wt': Operation not permitted

chown: cannot access '/data/db/._collection-2-760781050396606429.wt': Operation not permitted

chown: cannot access '/data/db/._index-3-760781050396606429.wt': Operation not permitted

chown: cannot access '/data/db/._collection-4-760781050396606429.wt': Operation not permitted

chown: cannot access '/data/db/._index-5-760781050396606429.wt': Operation not permitted

chown: cannot access '/data/db/._index-6-760781050396606429.wt': Operation not permitted

chown: cannot access '/data/db/._diagnostic.data': Operation not permitted

chown: cannot access '/data/db/._WiredTiger.turtle': Operation not permitted

[danny-avila]

try docker compose down then start your containers again, do you see the same issue?

[renz-dev]

try docker compose down then start your containers again, do you see the same issue?

Yes, I've been doing this as well. I just did it just now and ran docker compose up -d but still the same issue.

--
A few more things that I've tried.

I tried removing the images and new folders that was created when I first ran compose up and deleted the volumes in docker.

And I'm back to square one.

--
I'm thinking if it's just my docker desktop or it's because I'm on a macbook m4 but I tried looking into the files based on the screenshot you've shared and this is the only ones I see:

Weirdly enough when I click on the "Restart" button it moves back and forth in just a quick seconds from the one in the screenshot above to I think more other folders but then ultimately ends up with those 2 folders.

[khfung]

me too, i just upgraded it using docker compose pull

[khfung]

when i sudo docker tag 795b5394cb17 ghcr.io/danny-avila/librechat-dev:latest
I used the old image, it works again

[arichardsmith]

I'm seeing the same issue with librechat-dev:6fc9abd4ad6800531e226627f31b66a3138ddfae. I'm not running it through docker desktop and can't shell into the latest container as it's restarting. But, comparing the filesystem from docker export LibreChat against both latest (librechat-dev:6fc9abd4ad6800531e226627f31b66a3138ddfae) and librechat-dev:32081245dad803561dd61dbe607d98fc276d9032 shows the dist folder is missing in latest:

# 6fc9abd4ad6800531e226627f31b66a3138ddfae (latest)
$ ls app/node_modules/@librechat/api 
 api
 ├─ babel.config.cjs
 ├─ jest.config.mjs
 ├─ node_modules
 ├─ package.json
 ├─ rollup.config.js
 ├─ src
 ├─ tsconfig-paths-bootstrap.mjs
 ├─ tsconfig.json
 └─ tsconfig.spec.json

# 32081245dad803561dd61dbe607d98fc276d9032
$ ls app/node_modules/@librechat/api 
 api
 ├─ babel.config.cjs
 ├─ dist
 ├─ jest.config.mjs
 ├─ node_modules
 ├─ package.json
 ├─ rollup.config.js
 ├─ src
 ├─ tsconfig-paths-bootstrap.mjs
 ├─ tsconfig.json
 └─ tsconfig.spec.json

I am running LibreChat on a Raspberry PI, so it's the arm64 build incase that helps.
Here's the layers:

$ docker inspect ghcr.io/danny-avila/librechat-dev:latest --format "{{.RootFS}}"
{layers [
sha256:0b83d017db6efafadf6b3f18d087d2ce1d67d8f0e927dc7254b0ad088074cd3a
sha256:0d791a36a057f28c6172ec4cb465562c6aa8e54662dfa02609e369c059ae7f80
sha256:3c2c9afb9907c6d4ee514f68f2c9bf8639fc9bc2bd790322c996eabf09a04822
sha256:b6a3d61a78520daf9c416bdac8a7cf594e11f0a92921e96cc14355c8d16ccd7a
sha256:db8cd66a716c7011ace82a1ec471d8cc4dd746fd2e68b8a6c8b35cfc29110b7d
sha256:fdc455e135dc4a296fe54672c7f3dd45f129430f05abe26aac4cef794acbf474
sha256:d138584593700dedbcad23d48dbe924e205a9d5ee8e7b3c8dc2bdb6c58065aa9
sha256:5f70bf18a086007016e948b04aed3b82103a36bea41755b6cddfaf10ace3c6ef
sha256:a38225bd7a1ba0451946bd1e66259381fd93c41f143f0782ae7acfe5d2b0db40
sha256:5f70bf18a086007016e948b04aed3b82103a36bea41755b6cddfaf10ace3c6ef
sha256:fcad59fb487ff90bf857b28ef18b675c30b97b5bab49f9b704418ac5a9b1a75d
sha256:0a76dd2bb7a6d0a716b9acfd32e0ca9be5143ca112a09042045c84eff13a97c2
sha256:5f70bf18a086007016e948b04aed3b82103a36bea41755b6cddfaf10ace3c6ef
]}

[arichardsmith]

I think it is an issue just with the arm64 build. I created a container for each platform and exported the filesystem. The amd64 one does have the dist folder, while the arm64 one doesn't.

[chrisranderson]

I'm on an M3 Macbook. After I cloned, I adjusted LibreChat/docker-compose.yml to use image: ghcr.io/danny-avila/librechat-dev:32081245dad803561dd61dbe607d98fc276d9032, and that got it working for me.

[renz-dev]

Indeed this works same as @ForceConstant suggestion.

---

I went on a slightly different route. I duplicate docker-compose.override.yml.example -> docker-compose.override.yml and then added:

services:
  api:
    image: ghcr.io/danny-avila/librechat-dev:32081245dad803561dd61dbe607d98fc276d9032