Docker (recommended)

Docker is a tool that runs applications in isolated containers. Instead of installing Wavelog and a database directly on your server, Docker manages both for you — packaged, portable and easy to update. It is our recommended installation method, as it reduces maintenance effort and makes future updates straightforward.

This guide sets up two containers:

wavelog-db — the MariaDB database that stores all your QSOs and settings
wavelog-main — the Wavelog web application itself

Both containers are defined in a single docker-compose.yml file and started with one command. Your data is stored in Docker volumes, so it survives container restarts and updates.

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure Docker is installed on your machine. You can verify this with:

docker --version
docker compose version

If either command is not found, install them first:

Docker Engine (Linux) or Docker Desktop (Windows/macOS)
Docker Compose is included in Docker Desktop and available as a plugin for Linux

Step 1 — Create the compose file

Create a new folder for Wavelog and save the following as docker-compose.yml inside it:

mkdir ~/wavelog && cd ~/wavelog

services:
  wavelog-db:
    image: mariadb:11.8
    container_name: wavelog-db
    environment:
      MARIADB_RANDOM_ROOT_PASSWORD: yes
      MARIADB_DATABASE: wavelog
      MARIADB_USER: wavelog
      MARIADB_PASSWORD: wavelog # <- Insert a strong password here
    volumes:
      - wavelog-dbdata:/var/lib/mysql
    restart: unless-stopped

  wavelog-main:
    container_name: wavelog-main
    image: ghcr.io/wavelog/wavelog:latest
    depends_on:
      - wavelog-db
    environment:
      CI_ENV: docker
    volumes:
      - wavelog-config:/var/www/html/application/config/docker
      - wavelog-uploads:/var/www/html/uploads
      - wavelog-userdata:/var/www/html/userdata
    ports:
      - "8086:80"
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  wavelog-dbdata:
  wavelog-uploads:
  wavelog-userdata:
  wavelog-config:

Change the password

Replace wavelog in MARIADB_PASSWORD with a strong password before starting the stack. You will need it during setup. MariaDB configures itself at the first start with this password. Therefore it has to be set before you start the container.

Step 2 — Start the stack

Run the following command from the folder where your docker-compose.yml is located:

docker compose up -d

The -d flag runs the containers in the background. Docker will download the images on first run, which may take a minute. Once complete, check that both containers are running:

docker ps -a

You should see wavelog-db and wavelog-main listed with status Up.

Step 3 — Run the installer

Open your browser and navigate to this URL:

Reverse Proxy in place?

If you have an reverse proxy in place you might want to directly call the final URL since Wavelog will configure itself to the URL you are calling the installer. Although it can be changed later you have save the extra work and call the final URL diretcly.

http://[your-server-ip]:8086/install

Go through the installer. Everything important is explained there. Make sure you read the stuff and understand.

Info

The DB Hostname is wavelog-db — the name of the database container in your stack, not localhost.

Reaching the last step in the installer click Install. Wavelog will create its database tables and redirect you to the login page. This process can take a few minutes on slow systems!

Reverse proxy

By default, Wavelog is accessible on port 8086. If you want to serve it on a proper domain (e.g. wavelog.example.com) you need a reverse proxy. Here is a minimal nginx configuration:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name wavelog.example.com;

    location / {
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8086;
    }

    error_page 500 502 503 504 /50x.html;
    location = /50x.html {
        root /usr/share/nginx/html;
    }
}

Tip

It is strongly recommended to serve Wavelog over HTTPS. See webserver configuration for a full example with SSL.

Next steps

Tweaking config.php

Check out the configuration guide to find out how to tweak config.php for your needs. In a docker setup you will find the config file after the installation in the wavelog-config volume. You can edit it there. A restart of the wavelog-main container is not required, changes are applied immediately.

This file must not exist before the installation, otherwise the installer will not run. During the installation, it is copied to the right place and can be edited there. If you want to reset the installation, see the guide here: Resetting the installation.

Debugging

If something is not working, check the container logs first:

# Stream live logs from the Wavelog container
docker logs --follow wavelog-main

For more detail, raise the log_threshold value in config.php (see above). Application logs are then written to /var/www/html/application/logs inside the container.

Cronjobs

The cron manager is enabled by default in the Docker image. Jobs can be managed in the web UI under Admin → Cron Manager — no manual crontab setup required.