---
description: Guide to running Reth using Docker, including obtaining images from GitHub or building locally, using Docker Compose.
---

# Docker

There are two ways to obtain a Reth Docker image:

1. [GitHub](#github)
2. [Building it from source](#building-the-docker-image)

Once you have obtained the Docker image, proceed to [Using the Docker
image](#using-the-docker-image).

:::note
Reth requires Docker Engine version 20.10.10 or higher due to [missing support](https://docs.docker.com/engine/release-notes/20.10/#201010) for the `clone3` syscall in previous versions.
:::

## GitHub

Reth docker images for both x86_64 and ARM64 machines are published with every release of reth on GitHub Container Registry.

You can obtain the latest image with:

```bash
docker pull ghcr.io/paradigmxyz/reth
```

Or a specific version (e.g. v0.0.1) with:

```bash
docker pull ghcr.io/paradigmxyz/reth:v0.0.1
```

You can test the image with:

```bash
docker run --rm ghcr.io/paradigmxyz/reth --version
```

If you can see the latest [Reth release](https://github.com/paradigmxyz/reth/releases) version, then you've successfully installed Reth via Docker.

## Building the Docker image

To build the image from source, navigate to the root of the repository and run:

```bash
docker build . -t reth:local
```

The build will likely take several minutes. Once it's built, test it with:

```bash
docker run reth:local --version
```

## Using the Docker image

There are two ways to use the Docker image:

1. [Using Docker](#using-plain-docker)
2. [Using Docker Compose](#using-docker-compose)

### Using Plain Docker

To run Reth with Docker, run:

```bash
docker run \
    -v rethdata:/root/.local/share/reth/mainnet \
    -d \
    -p 9001:9001 \
    -p 30303:30303 \
    -p 30303:30303/udp \
    --name reth \
    reth:local \
    node \
    --metrics 0.0.0.0:9001
```

The above command will create a container named `reth` and a named volume called `rethdata` for data persistence.
It will also expose the `30303` port (TCP and UDP) for peering with other nodes and the `9001` port for metrics.

It will use the local image `reth:local`. If you want to use the GitHub Container Registry remote image, use `ghcr.io/paradigmxyz/reth` with your preferred tag.

### Using Docker Compose

To run Reth with Docker Compose, run the following command from a shell inside the root directory of this repository:

```bash
./etc/generate-jwt.sh
docker compose -f etc/docker-compose.yml -f etc/lighthouse.yml up -d
```

:::note
If you want to run Reth with a CL that is not Lighthouse:

-   The JWT for the consensus client can be found at `etc/jwttoken/jwt.hex` in this repository, after the `etc/generate-jwt.sh` script is run
-   The Reth Engine API is accessible on `localhost:8551`
    :::

To check if Reth is running correctly, run:

```bash
docker compose -f etc/docker-compose.yml -f etc/lighthouse.yml logs -f reth
```

The default `docker-compose.yml` file will create three containers:

-   Reth
-   Prometheus
-   Grafana

The optional `lighthouse.yml` file will create two containers:

-   Lighthouse
-   [`ethereum-metrics-exporter`](https://github.com/ethpandaops/ethereum-metrics-exporter)

Grafana will be exposed on `localhost:3000` and accessible via default credentials (username and password is `admin`), with two available dashboards:

-   reth
-   Ethereum Metrics Exporter (works only if Lighthouse is also running)

## Interacting with Reth inside Docker

To interact with Reth you must first open a shell inside the Reth container by running:

```bash
docker exec -it reth bash
```

**If Reth is running with Docker Compose, replace `reth` with `reth-reth-1` in the above command**

Refer to the [CLI docs](/cli/reth) to interact with Reth once inside the Reth container.

## Run only Grafana in Docker

This allows importing existing Grafana dashboards, without running Reth in Docker.

```bash
docker compose -f etc/docker-compose.yml up -d --no-deps grafana
```

After login with `admin:admin` credentials, Prometheus should be listed under [`Grafana datasources`](http://localhost:3000/connections/datasources). Replace its `Prometheus server URL` so it points to locally running one. On Mac or Windows, use `http://host.docker.internal:9090`. On Linux, try `http://172.17.0.1:9090`.
