DokuWiki in Docker: A Private Wiki on Plain-Text Files (Compose Guide)

DokuWiki is a PHP wiki that stores every page as a plain text file on disk — no proprietary database format, no lock-in, trivially backed up by copying a folder. In Docker it runs in one container with about 25 MB of RAM at idle and a five-minute setup. This guide walks through the compose file, the first-run wizard, and the settings worth changing.

Why DokuWiki in 2026

Self-hosted wiki options fall into two camps. The heavy ones (MediaWiki, BookStack, Outline) are powerful but expect you to configure users, groups, search backends, and plugins before you write a single page. DokuWiki is the deliberate opposite: it is the original “no database, no fuss” wiki, and its defining property is still its best one — your entire wiki is a directory of text files.

If you need roles, SSO, and a polished SaaS look for a team, BookStack or Outline are the better tools. For personal notes, a household wiki, or a documentation home that must survive for a decade, DokuWiki’s plain-text core is the safer bet: any editor can open the files, and they render correctly with any markdown-capable tool if you ever leave.

Prerequisites

• Docker + Compose plugin
• A free TCP port (this guide uses 8081)

Step 1: The compose file

One important gotcha up front: the community image name on Docker Hub has moved over the years. The current official image is dokuwiki/dokuwiki, and the tag to pin is stable (the dokuwiki:dokuwiki-2024 tag you will see in older tutorials no longer pulls — we hit exactly that during testing and it cost a pull error). Use this:

mkdir -p ~/stacks/dokuwiki && cd ~/stacks/dokuwiki

services:
  dokuwiki:
    image: dokuwiki/dokuwiki:stable
    container_name: dokuwiki
    ports:
      - "8081:80"
    volumes:
      - dokuwiki_data:/dokuwiki/data
      - dokuwiki_conf:/dokuwiki/conf
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  dokuwiki_data:
  dokuwiki_conf:

Why two volumes: data holds your pages (the plain-text files) and attachments; conf holds the configuration that the first-run wizard writes. Keeping both as named volumes means an image update never touches your content, and you can back up the wiki with two docker cp calls or a bind mount if you prefer to see the files on disk.

Step 2: Start and run the wizard

docker compose up -d
docker compose ps

The official image includes a healthcheck — you will see healthy after a few seconds, which is a nice confirmation the web server is actually serving. Open http://YOUR_SERVER_IP:8081.

First visit runs the setup wizard: it asks for an admin login and password, the language, and the site title. That is the entire configuration. After the wizard, conf/ contains a local.php with those choices — which is also why the conf volume must persist across updates.

Step 3: The editor and page syntax

DokuWiki pages use its own lightweight syntax (a structured subset of markdown):

• == Heading == and === Sub-heading ===
• * bullet and # numbered
• [[namespace:page]] for internal links — creating the link also creates the page skeleton
• ---- for a horizontal rule
• Tables, code blocks (<<<code>>>), and images have short, regular forms

The namespace system is the feature to understand: pages live in namespace:page, which maps to directories on disk. A “Projects” section with “Server” and “Network” pages is simply projects:server and projects:network. You can restructure the whole wiki by moving folders — the links update because they are path-based.

Step 4: The settings worth changing

1. Authentication. The default is the internal user store, which is correct for a LAN wiki. Do not expose DokuWiki to the internet without putting it behind an auth layer (reverse proxy or Tailscale) — see the Security & Networking series.
2. Revisions and diffs. On by default, and the single best feature for notes: every save is a versioned revision you can diff and revert. Keep it on.
3. Search.

   The built-in full-text index is fine up to a few thousand pages. Beyond that, add a dedicated search backend — but most personal wikis never need it.

4. Media uploads. Allowed by default for logged-in users. Restrict who can upload if you run a multi-user household wiki.
5. Timezone and date format — trivial, but set once so revision history reads sensibly.

docker run --rm -v dokuwiki_data:/data -v dokuwiki_conf:/conf \
  -v ~/backups:/backup alpine tar czf /backup/dokuwiki-$(date +%F).tar.gz \
  --transform 's,^,dokuwiki/,' /data /conf

docker compose pull && docker compose up -d