Dokku website screenshot

Dokku

Dokku is an open-source Docker-powered self-hosted Platform-as-a-Service that helps you build and manage the lifecycle of applications from initial push to scaling out. Often described as "the smallest PaaS implementation you've ever seen" and a self-hosted mini-Heroku, Dokku turns a single Linux host (or a multi-host scheduler such as K3s or Nomad) into a git-push deployment target that builds applications from Heroku-compatible buildpacks, Cloud Native Buildpacks, Nixpacks, Railpack, Dockerfiles, or pre-built Docker images. Dokku is MIT licensed, written primarily in Bash, and maintained by the Dokku organization on GitHub since 2013. It ships an extensive plugin ecosystem covering data stores (Postgres, MySQL, MariaDB, Redis, MongoDB, RabbitMQ, Elasticsearch, ClickHouse, Meilisearch, Typesense), TLS via Let's Encrypt, HTTP basic auth, maintenance mode, redirects, schedulers for Docker, K3s and Nomad, multiple HTTP proxies (Nginx, HAProxy, Caddy, Traefik, OpenResty), CI integrations, and an official GitHub Action. Dokku's primary interface is the `dokku` CLI invoked over SSH; there is no first-party public HTTP REST API in core (the historical `dokku-api` Ruby wrapper is archived and unmaintained).

Dokku is profiled on the APIs.io network. Tagged areas include PaaS, Self-Hosted, Docker, Containers, and Buildpacks.

Dokku’s developer surface includes documentation, getting-started guide, engineering blog, GitHub presence, release notes, and 16 more developer resources.

13.8/100 minimal ▬ flat Agent 0/100 human only Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-07-27 · rubric v0.5
0 APIs
PaaSSelf-HostedDockerContainersBuildpacksDeploymentDevOpsHeroku AlternativeOpen SourceGit Push DeployKubernetesNomadK3sCLIPlugins

Kin Score

Kin Score Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-07-27 · rubric v0.5
Composite quality — 13.8/100 · minimal
Contract Quality 0.0 / 25
Developer Ergonomics 4.3 / 20
Commercial Clarity 0.0 / 20
Operational Transparency 2.7 / 13
Governance 0.0 / 12
Discoverability 6.8 / 10
Agent readiness — 0/100 · human only
Machine-Readable Contract 0 / 18
Agentic Access Contract 0 / 15
MCP Server 0 / 12
Machine-Readable Auth 0 / 10
Idempotency 0 / 9
Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8
Request/Response Examples 0 / 7
Rate-Limit Signaling 0 / 7
Typed Event Surface 0 / 6
Agent Skills 0 / 5
Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4
Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3
Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. This rating is computed from github.com/api-evangelist/dokku: open an issue to ask a question, or submit a pull request to add artifacts. Want it done for you? Prioritized profiling — $2,500 →

Security Posture 1

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.

Dokku Domain Security

TLSv1.3 · HSTS

SECURITY

Resources

Get Started 2

Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call

Documentation 1

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Build 4

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

Access & Security 1

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

Learn 1

Tutorials, courses, talks, and written guidance

Operate 4

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

Commercial 1

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

Company 3

The organization behind the API

Other 4

Properties that don't map to a standard resource type

Source (apis.yml)

apis.yml Raw ↑
aid: dokku
name: Dokku
description: Dokku is an open-source Docker-powered self-hosted Platform-as-a-Service that helps you build and manage the
  lifecycle of applications from initial push to scaling out. Often described as "the smallest PaaS implementation you've
  ever seen" and a self-hosted mini-Heroku, Dokku turns a single Linux host (or a multi-host scheduler such as K3s or Nomad)
  into a git-push deployment target that builds applications from Heroku-compatible buildpacks, Cloud Native Buildpacks, Nixpacks,
  Railpack, Dockerfiles, or pre-built Docker images. Dokku is MIT licensed, written primarily in Bash, and maintained by the
  Dokku organization on GitHub since 2013. It ships an extensive plugin ecosystem covering data stores (Postgres, MySQL, MariaDB,
  Redis, MongoDB, RabbitMQ, Elasticsearch, ClickHouse, Meilisearch, Typesense), TLS via Let's Encrypt, HTTP basic auth, maintenance
  mode, redirects, schedulers for Docker, K3s and Nomad, multiple HTTP proxies (Nginx, HAProxy, Caddy, Traefik, OpenResty),
  CI integrations, and an official GitHub Action. Dokku's primary interface is the `dokku` CLI invoked over SSH; there is
  no first-party public HTTP REST API in core (the historical `dokku-api` Ruby wrapper is archived and unmaintained).
type: Index
accessModel:
  pricing: unknown
  onboarding: unknown
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Unknown
  confidence: low
  source: []
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
position: Producer
access: 3rd-Party
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/dokku.png
kind: opensource
tags:
- PaaS
- Self-Hosted
- Docker
- Containers
- Buildpacks
- Deployment
- DevOps
- Heroku Alternative
- Open Source
- Git Push Deploy
- Kubernetes
- Nomad
- K3s
- CLI
- Plugins
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/dokku/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
created: '2026-05-25'
modified: '2026-05-25'
specificationVersion: '0.20'
apis: []
common:
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/dokku-domain-security.yml
- type: Website
  url: https://dokku.com
- type: Documentation
  url: https://dokku.com/docs/
- type: GettingStarted
  url: https://dokku.com/docs/getting-started/installation/
- type: Tutorials
  url: https://dokku.com/tutorials/
- type: Blog
  url: https://dokku.com/blog/
- type: GitHub
  url: https://github.com/dokku/dokku
- type: GitHubOrganization
  url: https://github.com/dokku/
- type: ReleaseNotes
  url: https://github.com/dokku/dokku/releases
- type: License
  url: https://github.com/dokku/dokku/blob/master/LICENSE
- type: Sponsorship
  url: https://github.com/sponsors/dokku
- type: Pro
  url: https://pro.dokku.com/
- type: GitHubAction
  url: https://github.com/dokku/github-action
- type: AnsibleModules
  url: https://github.com/dokku/ansible-dokku
- type: GitLabCI
  url: https://github.com/dokku/gitlab-ci
- type: HomebrewTap
  url: https://github.com/dokku/homebrew-repo
- type: AzureQuickstart
  url: https://github.com/dokku/azure-quickstart-templates
- type: Discord
  url: https://discord.gg/YQjANGMZ
- type: Slack
  url: https://slack.dokku.com/
- type: Forums
  url: https://github.com/dokku/dokku/discussions
- type: Twitter
  url: https://twitter.com/dokku
integrations:
- name: Docker
- name: Heroku Buildpacks
- name: Cloud Native Buildpacks
- name: Nixpacks
- name: Railpack
- name: Dockerfile
- name: Lambda (lambda-builder)
- name: K3s
- name: Nomad
- name: Nginx
- name: HAProxy
- name: Caddy
- name: Traefik
- name: OpenResty
- name: Let's Encrypt
- name: PostgreSQL (dokku-postgres)
- name: MySQL (dokku-mysql)
- name: MariaDB (dokku-mariadb)
- name: Redis (dokku-redis)
- name: MongoDB (dokku-mongo)
- name: Memcached (dokku-memcached)
- name: RabbitMQ (dokku-rabbitmq)
- name: Elasticsearch (dokku-elasticsearch)
- name: CouchDB (dokku-couchdb)
- name: RethinkDB (dokku-rethinkdb)
- name: ClickHouse (dokku-clickhouse)
- name: Meilisearch (dokku-meilisearch)
- name: Typesense (dokku-typesense)
- name: Solr (dokku-solr)
- name: NATS (dokku-nats)
- name: Pushpin (dokku-pushpin)
- name: Graphite/Grafana/StatsD (dokku-graphite)
- name: GitHub Actions
- name: GitLab CI
- name: CircleCI (dokku-orb)
- name: Ansible
- name: DigitalOcean
- name: AWS
- name: Azure
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com