turnstone/docs/docker.md

Docker Deployment

Docker Compose stack for running the full turnstone platform or the simulator.

Quick Start

# Copy and edit environment config
cp .env.example .env

# Full stack (needs an LLM API on the host)
docker compose up

# Simulator only (no LLM needed)
docker compose --profile sim up redis console sim

Console dashboard: http://localhost:8090

See also: Deployment diagram

Services

Service	Port	Profile	Description
redis	6379	default	Message broker, pub/sub, node registry
server	8080	default	Web UI + chat workstreams + LLM
bridge	—	default	Redis-to-HTTP bridge (multi-node routing)
console	8090	default	Cluster dashboard
channel	—	production	Channel gateway (Discord, Slack, etc.)
sim	—	sim	Multi-node cluster simulator

Profiles

Default (no flag) — starts redis, server, bridge, console. Requires an OpenAI-compatible LLM API running on the host (default: http://localhost:8000/v1).

docker compose up

Production — adds PostgreSQL and the channel gateway. Requires POSTGRES_PASSWORD and (for Discord) TURNSTONE_DISCORD_TOKEN:

docker compose --profile production up

Sim — adds the simulator. Can run alongside the full stack or standalone with just Redis and the console:

# Sim + console (no LLM needed)
docker compose --profile sim up redis console sim

# Everything including sim
docker compose --profile sim up

Configuration

All configuration is via environment variables in .env (copy from .env.example):

LLM Backend

Variable	Default	Description
LLM_BASE_URL	http://host.docker.internal:8000/v1	OpenAI-compatible API URL
OPENAI_API_KEY	dummy	API key (dummy for local servers)
TAVILY_API_KEY	—	Web search API key (only needed for local/vLLM models; Anthropic and OpenAI search models use native search)

Redis

Variable	Default	Description
REDIS_PASSWORD	—	Redis auth password (empty = no auth)
REDIS_PORT	6379	Host port mapping

Server

Variable	Default	Description
SERVER_PORT	8080	Host port mapping
SKIP_PERMISSIONS	—	Set to any value to auto-approve all tools

Console

Variable	Default	Description
CONSOLE_PORT	8090	Host port mapping
CONSOLE_POLL_INTERVAL	10	Node polling interval (seconds)

Auth

Variable	Default	Description
TURNSTONE_AUTH_ENABLED	—	Set to 1 to require authentication
TURNSTONE_AUTH_TOKEN	—	Config-file token for server/bridge/console (backward compat, works alongside JWT)
TURNSTONE_JWT_SECRET	—	Secret key for signing JWTs (required when using user identity / JWT auth)

Database

Variable	Default	Description
TURNSTONE_DB_BACKEND	sqlite	Storage backend: sqlite or postgresql
TURNSTONE_DB_URL	—	Database URL (e.g. postgresql://user:pass@db:5432/turnstone). For SQLite, defaults to /data/.turnstone.db

The database stores workstream history, user accounts, and API tokens. When using JWT auth, a database backend is required for user storage.

First-time setup: After deploying with auth enabled, create an initial admin user by running turnstone-admin create-user inside the container:

docker compose exec server turnstone-admin create-user --username admin --name "Admin"

You will be prompted to set a password. Use it to log in via the UI or SDK, then create additional users through the admin API. Pass --token --scopes read,write,approve to also generate an initial API token.

Channel Gateway

Variable	Default	Description
TURNSTONE_DISCORD_TOKEN	—	Discord bot token (required to enable Discord adapter)
TURNSTONE_DISCORD_GUILD	0	Restrict to a single Discord guild (0 = all guilds)

The channel service runs in the production profile. When TURNSTONE_DISCORD_TOKEN is set, the Discord adapter connects to the Discord Gateway and routes messages through Redis MQ to the bridge and server. See Channel Integrations for full setup instructions including Discord application creation and user account linking.

Simulator

Variable	Default	Description
SIM_NODES	100	Number of simulated nodes
SIM_SCENARIO	steady	Scenario: steady, burst, node_failure, directed, lifecycle
SIM_DURATION	60	Duration in seconds
SIM_MPS	5.0	Messages per second (steady scenario)
SIM_LOG_LEVEL	INFO	Log verbosity
SIM_SEED	—	Random seed for reproducibility
SIM_METRICS_FILE	—	Write JSON report to file

Scaling

Scale to multiple server/bridge pairs:

docker compose up --scale server=3 --scale bridge=3

Each bridge auto-generates a unique node ID from its container hostname. When scaling server, remove the host port mapping (or use a reverse proxy) to avoid port conflicts.

Volumes

Volume	Mount	Purpose
redis-data	/data	Redis persistence
turnstone-data	/data	SQLite database (.turnstone.db)

Building

The image uses a multi-stage Dockerfile:

# Build all services
docker compose build

# Rebuild without cache
docker compose build --no-cache

All entry points are installed in a single image: turnstone-server, turnstone-bridge, turnstone-console, turnstone-channel, turnstone-admin, turnstone-sim, turnstone-eval.

Cleanup

# Stop and remove containers
docker compose down

# Stop, remove containers and volumes
docker compose down -v