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Quickstart using Docker: Medusa Server

In this document, you will learn how to make a container of Medusa's app on Docker. Docker is an open source platform for building, deploying, and managing containerized applications.

Prerequisites​

Node.js​

Medusa supports Node versions 14 and 16. You can check which version of Node you have by running the following command:

node -v
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You can install Node from the official website.

Docker Desktop​

It is assumed that you have Docker installed on your system. You can install it from Docker's website.

Create Medusa Server with Docker​

1. Clone Medusa's starter project from GitHub​

git clone https://github.com/medusajs/medusa-starter-default.git my-medusa-starter
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2. Change to the newly created project directory​

cd my-medusa-starter
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3. Rename the environment variables(.env) file​

mv .env.template .env
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4. Start your server​

Make sure the Docker Desktop app is running. Then, run the following command:

docker-compose up --build
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If you get the error ERROR: for postgres Cannot start service postgres: Ports are not available, change the ports used for PostgreSQL in docker-compose.yml to something like this:

  postgres:
    ports:
      - "5433:5433"
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Running the above command does the following:

  1. Build images for your Medusa project, a PostgreSQL database, and a Redis server
  2. Run migrations for your newly created database

Test Your Server​

Once done, your server will be accessible at http://localhost:9000.

You can test out your server using tools like Postman or by sending a cURL request:

curl -X GET localhost:9000/store/products
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Additional steps​

File Service Plugin​

To upload product images to your Medusa server, you must install and configure one of the following file service plugins:

Server Configurations​

It's important to configure your Medusa server properly and learn how environment variables are loaded.

You can learn more about configuring your server and loading environment variables in the Configure your Server documentation.

See Also​

  • Install the Next.js or Gatsby storefronts to set up your ecommerce storefront quickly.
  • Install the Medusa Admin to supercharge your ecommerce experience with easy access to configurations and features.
  • Check out the API reference to learn more about available endpoints available on your Medusa server.
  • Install plugins for features like Payment, CMS, and Notifications, among other features.