bitnami/mastodon

Verified Publisher

By VMware

Updated 4 days ago

Bitnami container image for Mastodon

Image
Artifact
Content Management System
Security

100K+

Bitnami package for Mastodon

What is Mastodon?

Mastodon is self-hosted social network server based on ActivityPub. Written in Ruby, features real-time updates, multimedia attachments and no vendor lock-in.

Overview of Mastodon Trademarks: This software listing is packaged by Bitnami. The respective trademarks mentioned in the offering are owned by the respective companies, and use of them does not imply any affiliation or endorsement.

TL;DR

docker run -it --name mastodon bitnami/mastodon

Why use Bitnami Images?

  • Bitnami closely tracks upstream source changes and promptly publishes new versions of this image using our automated systems.
  • With Bitnami images the latest bug fixes and features are available as soon as possible.
  • Bitnami containers, virtual machines and cloud images use the same components and configuration approach - making it easy to switch between formats based on your project needs.
  • All our images are based on minideb -a minimalist Debian based container image that gives you a small base container image and the familiarity of a leading Linux distribution- or scratch -an explicitly empty image-.
  • All Bitnami images available in Docker Hub are signed with Notation. Check this post to know how to verify the integrity of the images.
  • Bitnami container images are released on a regular basis with the latest distribution packages available.

Looking to use Mastodon in production? Try VMware Tanzu Application Catalog, the commercial edition of the Bitnami catalog.

Only latest stable branch maintained in the free Bitnami catalog

Starting December 10th 2024, only the latest stable branch of any container will receive updates in the free Bitnami catalog. To access up-to-date releases for all upstream-supported branches, consider upgrading to Bitnami Premium. Previous versions already released will not be deleted. They are still available to pull from DockerHub.

Please check the Bitnami Premium page in our partner Arrow Electronics for more information.

Supported tags and respective Dockerfile links

Learn more about the Bitnami tagging policy and the difference between rolling tags and immutable tags in our documentation page.

You can see the equivalence between the different tags by taking a look at the tags-info.yaml file present in the branch folder, i.e bitnami/ASSET/BRANCH/DISTRO/tags-info.yaml.

Subscribe to project updates by watching the bitnami/containers GitHub repo.

Get this image

The recommended way to get the Bitnami Mastodon Docker Image is to pull the prebuilt image from the Docker Hub Registry.

docker pull bitnami/mastodon:latest

To use a specific version, you can pull a versioned tag. You can view the list of available versions in the Docker Hub Registry.

docker pull bitnami/mastodon:[TAG]

If you wish, you can also build the image yourself by cloning the repository, changing to the directory containing the Dockerfile and executing the docker build command. Remember to replace the APP, VERSION and OPERATING-SYSTEM path placeholders in the example command below with the correct values.

git clone https://github.com/bitnami/containers.git
cd bitnami/APP/VERSION/OPERATING-SYSTEM
docker build -t bitnami/APP:latest .

Maintenance

Upgrade this image

Bitnami provides up-to-date versions of Mastodon, including security patches, soon after they are made upstream. We recommend that you follow these steps to upgrade your container.

Step 1: Get the updated image

docker pull bitnami/mastodon:latest

or if you're using Docker Compose, update the value of the image property to bitnami/mastodon:latest.

Step 2: Remove the currently running container

docker rm -v mastodon

or using Docker Compose:

docker-compose rm -v mastodon

Step 3: Run the new image

Re-create your container from the new image.

docker run --name mastodon bitnami/mastodon:latest

or using Docker Compose:

docker-compose up mastodon

Configuration

Environment variables

Customizable environment variables

NameDescriptionDefault Value
MASTODON_MODEMastodon service to run (can be web, streaming or sidekiq).web
ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORDAllow an empty password.no
MASTODON_CREATE_ADMINCreate admin for Mastodon.true
MASTODON_ADMIN_USERNAMEMastodon admin username.user
MASTODON_ADMIN_PASSWORDMastodon admin password.bitnami1
MASTODON_ADMIN_EMAILMastodon admin email.user@bitnami.org
MASTODON_ALLOW_ALL_DOMAINSAllow accessing Mastodon with any domain.true
MASTODON_SECRET_KEY_BASEMastodon secret key base.bitnami123
MASTODON_OTP_SECRETMastodon OTP secret.bitnami123
MASTODON_HTTPS_ENABLEDEnable HTTPS in Mastodon.false
MASTODON_ASSETS_PRECOMPILERun rake assets:precompile on startup.true
MASTODON_WEB_DOMAINMastodon web domain (for generating links).127.0.0.1
MASTODON_WEB_HOSTMastodon web host (for the streaming and sidekiq services to access).mastodon
MASTODON_WEB_PORT_NUMBERMastodon web port.3000
MASTODON_STREAMING_PORT_NUMBERMastodon streaming port.4000
MASTODON_AUTHORIZED_FETCHUse secure mode.false
MASTODON_LIMITED_FEDERATION_MODEUse an allow-list for federating with other servers.false
MASTODON_STREAMING_API_BASE_URLMastodon public api base url.ws://localhost:${MASTODON_STREAMING_PORT_NUMBER}
RAILS_SERVE_STATIC_FILESHave puma server the static files in the public/ foldertrue
MASTODON_BIND_ADDRESSAddress to listen for interfaces0.0.0.0
MASTODON_DATA_TO_PERSISTData to persist from installations.$MASTODON_ASSETS_DIR $MASTODON_SYSTEM_DIR
MASTODON_MIGRATE_DATABASERun rake db:migrate job.true
MASTODON_DATABASE_HOSTDatabase server host.postgresql
MASTODON_DATABASE_PORT_NUMBERDatabase server port.5432
MASTODON_DATABASE_NAMEDatabase name.bitnami_mastodon
MASTODON_DATABASE_USERNAMEDatabase user name.bn_mastodon
MASTODON_DATABASE_PASSWORDDatabase user password.nil
MASTODON_DATABASE_POOLNumber of DB pool processes.5
MASTODON_REDIS_HOSTRedis server host.redis
MASTODON_REDIS_PORT_NUMBERRedis server port.6379
MASTODON_REDIS_PASSWORDRedis user password.nil
MASTODON_ELASTICSEARCH_ENABLEDEnable Elasticsearch.true
MASTODON_MIGRATE_ELASTICSEARCHRun rake chewy:upgrade on startup.true
MASTODON_ELASTICSEARCH_HOSTElasticsearch server host.elasticsearch
MASTODON_ELASTICSEARCH_PORT_NUMBERElasticsearch server port.9200
MASTODON_ELASTICSEARCH_USERElasticsearch user.elastic
MASTODON_ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORDElasticsearch user password.nil
MASTODON_S3_ENABLEDEnable S3false
MASTODON_S3_BUCKETS3 Bucket for storing databitnami_mastodon
MASTODON_S3_HOSTNAMES3 endpointminio
MASTODON_S3_PROTOCOLS3 protocol (can be https or http)http
MASTODON_S3_PORT_NUMBERS3 port9000
MASTODON_S3_ALIAS_HOSTS3 route for uploaded files (for generating links in Mastodon)localhost:${MASTODON_S3_PORT_NUMBER}
MASTODON_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEYAWS secret access keynil
MASTODON_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_IDAWS access key idnil
MASTODON_S3_REGIONS3 regionus-east-1
MASTODON_S3_ENDPOINTS3 endpoint${MASTODON_S3_PROTOCOL}://${MASTODON_S3_HOSTNAME}:${MASTODON_S3_PORT_NUMBER}
MASTODON_STARTUP_ATTEMPTSStartup check attempts.40

Read-only environment variables

NameDescriptionValue
MASTODON_BASE_DIRMastodon installation directory.${BITNAMI_ROOT_DIR}/mastodon
MASTODON_VOLUME_DIRMastodon volume directory./bitnami/mastodon
MASTODON_ASSETS_DIRMastodon public assets directory.${MASTODON_BASE_DIR}/public/assets
MASTODON_SYSTEM_DIRMastodon public system directory.${MASTODON_BASE_DIR}/public/system
MASTODON_TMP_DIRMastodon tmp directory.${MASTODON_BASE_DIR}/tmp
MASTODON_LOGS_DIRMastodon logs directory.${MASTODON_BASE_DIR}/log
NODE_ENVNode.js environment modeproduction
RAILS_ENVRails environment modeproduction
MASTODON_DAEMON_USERMastodon daemon system user.mastodon
MASTODON_DAEMON_GROUPMastodon daemon system group.mastodon

When you start the Mastodon image, you can adjust the configuration of the instance by passing one or more environment variables either on the docker-compose file or on the docker run command line. Please note that some variables are only considered when the container is started for the first time. If you want to add a new environment variable:

  • For docker-compose add the variable name and value under the application section in the docker-compose.yml file present in this repository:

    mastodon-api:
      ...
      environment:
        - MASTODON_ADMIN_PASSWORD=my_password
      ...
    
  • For manual execution add a --env option with each variable and value:

    $ docker run -d --name mastodon-api -p 80:8080 -p 443:8443 \
      --env MASTODON_ADMIN_PASSWORD=my_password \
      --env MASTODON_MODE=backend \
      --network mastodon-tier \
      --volume /path/to/mastodon-persistence:/bitnami \
      bitnami/mastodon:latest
    

This container is fully compatible with the upstream Mastodon environment variables. Check the official Mastodon documentation page for more information.

In addition to the official environment variables, the Bitnami Mastodon image adds the following extra environment variables:

Run mode

Mastodon supports three running modes:

  • Web: The Mastodon web frontend. It is the essential functional element of Mastodon.
  • Streaming: Necessary for performing real-time interactions inside Mastodon.
  • Sidekiq: Performs background operations like sending emails.

The running mode is defined via the MASTODON_MODE environment variable. The possible values are web, streaming and sidekiq.

Connect Mastodon container to an existing database

The Bitnami Mastodon container supports connecting the Mastodon application to an external database. This would be an example of using an external database for Mastodon.

  • Modify the docker-compose.yml file present in this repository:

       mastodon:
         ...
         environment:
    -      - DB_HOST=postgresql
    +      - DB_HOST=postgresql_host
           - DB_PORT=5432
           - DB_NAME=mastodon_db
           - DB_USER=mastodon_user
    +      - DB_PASS=mastodon_password
         ...
    
  • For manual execution:

    $ docker run -d --name mastodon\
      -p 8080:8080 -p 8443:8443 \
      --network mastodon-network \
      --env DB_HOST=postgresql_host \
      --env DB_PORT=5432 \
      --env DB_NAME=mastodon_db \
      --env DB_USER=mastodon_user \
      --env DB_PASS=mastodon_password \
      --volume mastodon_data:/bitnami/mastodon \
      bitnami/mastodon:latest
    

Logging

The Bitnami Mastodon Docker image sends the container logs to stdout. To view the logs:

docker logs mastodon

Or using Docker Compose:

docker-compose logs mastodon

You can configure the containers logging driver using the --log-driver option if you wish to consume the container logs differently. In the default configuration docker uses the json-file driver.

Using docker-compose.yaml

Please be aware this file has not undergone internal testing. Consequently, we advise its use exclusively for development or testing purposes. For production-ready deployments, we highly recommend utilizing its associated Bitnami Helm chart.

If you detect any issue in the docker-compose.yaml file, feel free to report it or contribute with a fix by following our Contributing Guidelines.

Contributing

We'd love for you to contribute to this Docker image. You can request new features by creating an issue or submitting a pull request with your contribution.

Issues

If you encountered a problem running this container, you can file an issue. For us to provide better support, be sure to fill the issue template.

License

Copyright © 2025 Broadcom. The term "Broadcom" refers to Broadcom Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

Docker Pull Command

docker pull bitnami/mastodon
Bitnami