Deploy Odoo with Docker

This skill provides a complete, production-ready Docker setup for Odoo, including PostgreSQL, persistent file storage, environment variable configuration, and an optional Nginx reverse proxy with SSL. It covers both development and production configurations.

Use this skill when spinning up a local Odoo development environment with Docker, deploying Odoo to a VPS or cloud server (AWS, DigitalOcean, etc.), troubleshooting Odoo container startup failures or database connection errors, or adding a reverse proxy with SSL to an existing Odoo Docker setup.

Do NOT use this skill for Odoo.sh cloud-managed hosting, which has a completely different deployment model. Avoid this approach if you need horizontal scaling with multiple Odoo containers behind a load balancer, as that requires shared filestore (NFS or S3-compatible storage) not covered here.

Mention the skill and describe your deployment scenario. The skill provides docker-compose.yml and odoo.conf configurations ready to run. Describe your container error and get a diagnosis with a fix.

Here's a production-ready docker-compose.yml:

services:
  db:
    image: postgres:15
    restart: always
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: odoo
      POSTGRES_USER: odoo
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
    volumes:
      - postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    networks:
      - odoo-net

  odoo:
    image: odoo:17.0
    restart: always
    depends_on:
      db:
        condition: service_healthy
    ports:
      - "8069:8069"
      - "8072:8072"
    environment:
      HOST: db
      USER: odoo
      PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
    volumes:
      - odoo-web-data:/var/lib/odoo
      - ./addons:/mnt/extra-addons
      - ./odoo.conf:/etc/odoo/odoo.conf
    networks:
      - odoo-net

volumes:
  postgres-data:
  odoo-web-data:

networks:
  odoo-net:

Common operational commands:

# Start all services in background
docker compose up -d

# Stream Odoo logs in real time
docker compose logs -f odoo

# Restart Odoo only (not DB - avoids data risk)
docker compose restart odoo

# Stop all services
docker compose down

# Backup the database to a local SQL dump
docker compose exec db pg_dump -U odoo odoo > backup_$(date +%Y%m%d).sql

# Update a custom module without restarting the server
docker compose exec odoo odoo -d odoo --update my_module --stop-after-init

Store all secrets in a .env file and reference them with ${VAR} - never hardcode passwords in docker-compose.yml. Use depends_on: condition: service_healthy with a PostgreSQL healthcheck to prevent Odoo starting before the DB is ready. Put Nginx in front of Odoo for SSL termination (Let's Encrypt / Certbot) - never expose Odoo directly on port 80/443. Set workers = (CPU cores × 2) + 1 in odoo.conf - workers = 0 uses single-threaded mode and blocks all users.

Never expose port 5432 (PostgreSQL) to the public internet - keep it on the internal Docker network only. Always pin to a specific patch-level tag (e.g., odoo:17.0) instead of using latest or 17 Docker image tags in production. Avoid mounting odoo.conf and relying on it for secrets in CI/CD - use Docker secrets or environment variables instead.

This skill covers self-hosted Docker deployments. Odoo.sh cloud-managed hosting has a completely different deployment model. Horizontal scaling with multiple Odoo containers behind a load balancer requires shared filestore (NFS or S3-compatible storage) not covered here. Does not include an Nginx configuration template - consult the official Odoo Nginx docs for the full reverse proxy config. The addons_path inside the Docker image may change with new base image versions - always verify after upgrading the Odoo image.