Docker Deployment - Temporal Server

This guide covers deploying Temporal Server using Docker, from local development setups to production-ready containerized deployments.

Quick Start

The fastest way to get Temporal running locally:

brew install temporal
temporal server start-dev

This starts a server with in-memory SQLite storage suitable for development.

Docker Image

Temporal provides official Docker images:

docker pull temporalio/server:latest

Image Details

The server image is based on Alpine Linux and includes:

temporal-server binary in /usr/local/bin/
Entrypoint script at /etc/temporal/entrypoint.sh
Non-root user temporal (UID 1000, GID 1000)

Docker Compose Setup

Development Environment

For local development with all dependencies:

Create docker-compose.yml

docker-compose.yml

services:
  mysql:
    image: mysql:8.0.29-oracle
    container_name: temporal-mysql
    ports:
      - "3306:3306"
    environment:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: root
    volumes:
      - ./mysql-init:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d
    networks:
      - temporal-network
  
  elasticsearch:
    image: elasticsearch:7.10.1
    container_name: temporal-elasticsearch
    ports:
      - "9200:9200"
    environment:
      - discovery.type=single-node
      - ES_JAVA_OPTS=-Xms100m -Xmx100m
    networks:
      - temporal-network
  
  temporal:
    image: temporalio/server:latest
    container_name: temporal-server
    depends_on:
      - mysql
    ports:
      - "7233:7233"
      - "7243:7243"
      - "8000:8000"
    environment:
      - DB=mysql8
      - MYSQL_SEEDS=mysql
      - MYSQL_USER=temporal
      - MYSQL_PWD=temporal
      - ENABLE_ES=false
      - DYNAMIC_CONFIG_FILE_PATH=/etc/temporal/config/dynamicconfig/docker.yaml
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/temporal/config
    networks:
      - temporal-network
  
  temporal-ui:
    image: temporalio/ui:latest
    container_name: temporal-ui
    depends_on:
      - temporal
    ports:
      - "8233:8080"
    environment:
      - TEMPORAL_ADDRESS=temporal:7233
    networks:
      - temporal-network

networks:
  temporal-network:
    driver: bridge

Create MySQL initialization script

mysql-init/init.sql

CREATE USER 'temporal'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'temporal';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'temporal'@'%';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Start services

docker-compose up -d

Initialize database schema

# Create databases
docker exec temporal-server temporal-sql-tool \
  --ep mysql --port 3306 \
  --user temporal --password temporal \
  --db temporal --plugin mysql8 create

docker exec temporal-server temporal-sql-tool \
  --ep mysql --port 3306 \
  --user temporal --password temporal \
  --db temporal_visibility --plugin mysql8 create

# Setup schema
docker exec temporal-server temporal-sql-tool \
  --ep mysql --port 3306 \
  --user temporal --password temporal \
  --db temporal --plugin mysql8 \
  setup-schema -v 0.0

docker exec temporal-server temporal-sql-tool \
  --ep mysql --port 3306 \
  --user temporal --password temporal \
  --db temporal --plugin mysql8 \
  update-schema --schema-name mysql/v8/temporal

# Repeat for visibility
docker exec temporal-server temporal-sql-tool \
  --ep mysql --port 3306 \
  --user temporal --password temporal \
  --db temporal_visibility --plugin mysql8 \
  setup-schema -v 0.0

docker exec temporal-server temporal-sql-tool \
  --ep mysql --port 3306 \
  --user temporal --password temporal \
  --db temporal_visibility --plugin mysql8 \
  update-schema --schema-name mysql/v8/visibility

Access the UI

Open http://localhost:8233 to access Temporal Web UI.

Environment Variables

The Docker image supports configuration via environment variables:

Database Configuration

MySQL
PostgreSQL
Cassandra

DB=mysql8
MYSQL_SEEDS=mysql-host
MYSQL_USER=temporal
MYSQL_PWD=temporal
DB_PORT=3306
DBNAME=temporal
VISIBILITY_DBNAME=temporal_visibility

# Connection pool
SQL_MAX_CONNS=20
SQL_MAX_IDLE_CONNS=20
SQL_MAX_CONN_TIME=1h

# TLS (optional)
SQL_TLS_ENABLED=false
SQL_CA=/path/to/ca.pem
SQL_CERT=/path/to/cert.pem
SQL_CERT_KEY=/path/to/key.pem

DB=postgres12
POSTGRES_SEEDS=postgres-host
POSTGRES_USER=temporal
POSTGRES_PWD=temporal
DB_PORT=5432
DBNAME=temporal
VISIBILITY_DBNAME=temporal_visibility

# Connection pool
SQL_MAX_CONNS=20
SQL_MAX_IDLE_CONNS=20
SQL_MAX_CONN_TIME=1h

DB=cassandra
CASSANDRA_SEEDS=cassandra-host
CASSANDRA_PORT=9042
KEYSPACE=temporal
CASSANDRA_USER=cassandra
CASSANDRA_PASSWORD=cassandra

# Connection pool
CASSANDRA_MAX_CONNS=20

# TLS (optional)
CASSANDRA_TLS_ENABLED=false
CASSANDRA_CA=/path/to/ca.pem

Elasticsearch Configuration

ENABLE_ES=true
ES_VERSION=v7
ES_SCHEME=http
ES_SEEDS=elasticsearch-host
ES_PORT=9200
ES_USER=elastic
ES_PWD=changeme
ES_VIS_INDEX=temporal_visibility_v1_dev

Service Configuration

# History shards
NUM_HISTORY_SHARDS=4

# Service ports
FRONTEND_GRPC_PORT=7233
FRONTEND_HTTP_PORT=7243
FRONTEND_MEMBERSHIP_PORT=6933

HISTORY_GRPC_PORT=7234
HISTORY_MEMBERSHIP_PORT=6934

MATCHING_GRPC_PORT=7235
MATCHING_MEMBERSHIP_PORT=6935

WORKER_GRPC_PORT=7239
WORKER_MEMBERSHIP_PORT=6939

# Bind address
BIND_ON_IP=0.0.0.0
TEMPORAL_BROADCAST_ADDRESS=

Logging and Metrics

# Logging
LOG_LEVEL=info

# Prometheus metrics
PROMETHEUS_ENDPOINT=0.0.0.0:8000
PROMETHEUS_TIMER_TYPE=histogram

# Or StatsD metrics
STATSD_ENDPOINT=statsd-host:8125

# Profiling
PPROF_PORT=7936

TLS Configuration

# Internode TLS
TEMPORAL_TLS_REQUIRE_CLIENT_AUTH=true
TEMPORAL_TLS_SERVER_CERT=/certs/server-cert.pem
TEMPORAL_TLS_SERVER_KEY=/certs/server-key.pem
TEMPORAL_TLS_SERVER_CA_CERT=/certs/ca-cert.pem
TEMPORAL_TLS_INTERNODE_SERVER_NAME=temporal-server

# Frontend TLS
TEMPORAL_TLS_FRONTEND_CERT=/certs/frontend-cert.pem
TEMPORAL_TLS_FRONTEND_KEY=/certs/frontend-key.pem
TEMPORAL_TLS_CLIENT1_CA_CERT=/certs/client-ca-cert.pem
TEMPORAL_TLS_FRONTEND_SERVER_NAME=temporal-frontend

Production Deployment

Multi-Container Setup

For production, run separate containers for each service:

services:
  temporal-frontend:
    image: temporalio/server:latest
    command:
      - /usr/local/bin/temporal-server
      - start
      - --service
      - frontend
    environment:
      - SERVICES=frontend
    deploy:
      replicas: 2
      resources:
        limits:
          cpus: '2'
          memory: 4G
    networks:
      - temporal-network
  
  temporal-history:
    image: temporalio/server:latest
    command:
      - /usr/local/bin/temporal-server
      - start
      - --service
      - history
    environment:
      - SERVICES=history
      - NUM_HISTORY_SHARDS=512
    deploy:
      replicas: 3
      resources:
        limits:
          cpus: '4'
          memory: 8G
    networks:
      - temporal-network
  
  temporal-matching:
    image: temporalio/server:latest
    command:
      - /usr/local/bin/temporal-server
      - start
      - --service
      - matching
    environment:
      - SERVICES=matching
    deploy:
      replicas: 2
      resources:
        limits:
          cpus: '2'
          memory: 4G
    networks:
      - temporal-network
  
  temporal-worker:
    image: temporalio/server:latest
    command:
      - /usr/local/bin/temporal-server
      - start
      - --service
      - worker
    environment:
      - SERVICES=worker
    deploy:
      replicas: 1
      resources:
        limits:
          cpus: '2'
          memory: 4G
    networks:
      - temporal-network

networks:
  temporal-network:
    driver: overlay

Health Checks

Add health checks to your containers:

healthcheck:
  test: ["CMD", "/usr/local/bin/temporal-server", "health"]
  interval: 30s
  timeout: 10s
  retries: 3
  start_period: 40s

Volume Mounts

Mount configuration and TLS certificates:

volumes:
  - ./config/production.yaml:/etc/temporal/config/config.yaml:ro
  - ./certs:/etc/temporal/certs:ro
  - ./dynamicconfig:/etc/temporal/config/dynamicconfig:ro

Dockerfile Reference

The official Temporal Server Dockerfile:

ARG ALPINE_TAG=3.23.3
FROM alpine:${ALPINE_TAG}

ARG TARGETARCH

RUN apk add --no-cache \
    ca-certificates \
    tzdata && addgroup -g 1000 temporal && \
    adduser -u 1000 -G temporal -D temporal

COPY --chmod=755 ./build/${TARGETARCH}/temporal-server /usr/local/bin/
COPY --chmod=755 ./scripts/sh/entrypoint.sh /etc/temporal/entrypoint.sh

WORKDIR /etc/temporal
USER temporal

CMD [ "/etc/temporal/entrypoint.sh" ]

Entrypoint Script

#!/bin/sh
set -eu -o pipefail

# Resolve hostname to IP address if not already set
: "${BIND_ON_IP:=$(getent hosts "$(hostname)" | awk '{print $1;}')}" 
export BIND_ON_IP

# Set broadcast address for wildcard binds
if [ "${BIND_ON_IP}" = "0.0.0.0" ] || [ "${BIND_ON_IP}" = "::0" ]; then
    : "${TEMPORAL_BROADCAST_ADDRESS:=$(getent hosts "$(hostname)" | awk '{print $1;}')}" 
    export TEMPORAL_BROADCAST_ADDRESS
fi

exec temporal-server start

Common Issues

Database connection errors

Symptoms: Container fails to start with database connection errorsSolutions:

Ensure database is running and accessible
Verify network connectivity between containers
Check database credentials in environment variables
Initialize schema using temporal-sql-tool or temporal-cassandra-tool

Port conflicts

Symptoms: “Address already in use” errorsSolutions:

Check for other services using the same ports
Modify port mappings in docker-compose.yml
Use environment variables to change default ports

Insufficient resources

Symptoms: Container OOM killed or high CPU usageSolutions:

Increase Docker memory limits
Reduce NUM_HISTORY_SHARDS for development
Lower database connection pool sizes
Scale services horizontally

For Kubernetes deployments, see the official Temporal Helm charts.

Documentation Index

​Quick Start

​Docker Image

​Image Details

​Docker Compose Setup

​Development Environment

​Access the UI

​Environment Variables

​Database Configuration

​Elasticsearch Configuration

​Service Configuration

​Logging and Metrics

​TLS Configuration

​Production Deployment

​Multi-Container Setup

​Health Checks

​Volume Mounts

​Dockerfile Reference

​Entrypoint Script

​Common Issues

Quick Start

Docker Image

Image Details

Docker Compose Setup

Development Environment

Access the UI

Environment Variables

Database Configuration

Elasticsearch Configuration

Service Configuration

Logging and Metrics

TLS Configuration

Production Deployment

Multi-Container Setup

Health Checks

Volume Mounts

Dockerfile Reference

Entrypoint Script

Common Issues