Docker Setup

Yattee Server is a self-hosted video API server powered by yt-dlp. It extracts video streams, proxies playback, and optionally integrates with an Invidious instance to provide search, trending, channel browsing, captions, and thumbnails.

The official Docker image is published to Docker Hub as yattee/yattee-server and supports both linux/amd64 and linux/arm64 architectures.

System Requirements

• Docker (20.10 or later recommended)
• Docker Compose v2

Quick Start

Create a docker-compose.yml file:

services:
  yattee-server:
    image: yattee/yattee-server:latest
    container_name: yattee-server
    ports:
      - "8085:8085"
    volumes:
      - downloads:/downloads
      - data:/app/data
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  downloads:   # Temporary proxied video files
  data:        # Database and encryption keys

Start the server:

docker compose up -d

The server will be available at http://localhost:8085. On first launch you will be redirected to the Setup Wizard to create your admin account.

Volumes

Yattee Server uses two persistent volumes:

Volume	Container Path	Purpose
downloads	/downloads	Temporary storage for proxied video files during streaming
data	/app/data	SQLite database (yattee.db) and encryption key (.encryption_key)

Data Persistence

The data volume is critical. It contains your SQLite database and the encryption key used to protect stored credentials. If you lose this volume, you will need to re-run the setup wizard and re-enter all credentials. Back up this volume regularly.

Environment Variables

All configuration is done through environment variables. The following table lists every available option:

Variable	Default	Description
HOST	0.0.0.0	Server bind address
PORT	8085	Server port
DATA_DIR	/app/data (Docker)	Directory for database, encryption keys, and temp files
DOWNLOAD_DIR	/downloads (Docker)	Directory for proxied video downloads
CREDENTIALS_ENCRYPTION_KEY	auto-generated	Fernet key for credential encryption. Auto-generated on first run and saved to DATA_DIR/.encryption_key
CORS_ORIGINS	(empty)	Comma-separated list of allowed CORS origins
CORS_ALLOW_ALL	false	Allow all origins (development only)
CORS_ALLOW_CREDENTIALS	true	Allow credentials when specific origins are set
DEBUG	false	Enable auto-reload for development
SECURE_COOKIES	true	Require HTTPS for session cookies. Set to false only for local development without TLS
YTDLP_SKIP_TLS_VERIFY	false	Skip TLS certificate verification in yt-dlp requests

Cleaner Configuration

Instead of listing environment variables inline in docker-compose.yml, create a .env file in the same directory and reference it:

services:
  yattee-server:
    image: yattee/yattee-server:latest
    env_file: .env
    # ...

This keeps sensitive values out of your Compose file and makes it easier to manage configuration across environments.

Auto-Provisioning

You can skip the interactive setup wizard entirely by providing admin credentials and an optional Invidious URL as environment variables:

services:
  yattee-server:
    image: yattee/yattee-server:latest
    container_name: yattee-server
    ports:
      - "8085:8085"
    volumes:
      - downloads:/downloads
      - data:/app/data
    environment:
      - ADMIN_USERNAME=admin
      - ADMIN_PASSWORD=your-secure-password
      - INVIDIOUS_INSTANCE_URL=https://invidious.example.com
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  downloads:
  data:

When these variables are set, the server will automatically create the admin account and configure the Invidious proxy on first start. The INVIDIOUS_INSTANCE_URL variable is optional -- if omitted, the server will operate in yt-dlp-only mode.

note

Auto-provisioning only runs when no admin account exists yet. If the setup wizard has already been completed, these environment variables are ignored.

Building from Source

To build the Docker image locally from the source repository:

git clone https://github.com/yattee/yattee-server.git
cd yattee-server
docker compose up --build -d

This is useful for development or if you want to run the latest unreleased changes.

Updating

To update to the latest published image:

docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

The server will apply any necessary database migrations automatically on startup.

Next Steps

• Setup Wizard -- Create your admin account and configure initial settings
• Reverse Proxy -- Put Yattee Server behind nginx or Caddy for HTTPS access