Docker Setup

The Discord Exporter Bot includes a production-ready Dockerfile for containerized deployment. This guide covers building, running, and configuring the bot with Docker.

Dockerfile Overview

The bot uses a lightweight Python 3.11 slim image with Git support for GitHub integration:

Dockerfile

FROM python:3.11-slim

# Install git (required for GitHub sync)
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y git && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

# Set working directory
WORKDIR /app

# Install dependencies
COPY requirements.txt .
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt

# Copy bot code
COPY bot.py .

# Create directories
RUN mkdir -p /app/exports /app/digests

# Run the bot
CMD ["python", "-u", "bot.py"]

Key Features:

Based on python:3.11-slim for minimal image size
Includes git for GitHub digest synchronization
Creates /app/exports and /app/digests directories
Uses unbuffered Python output (-u) for real-time logs
No entrypoint script - runs bot.py directly

Building the Image

Prepare your workspace

Ensure you have all required files:

.
├── bot.py
├── requirements.txt
├── Dockerfile
└── .env

Build the image

docker build -t discord-exporter-bot .

Build output:

[+] Building 45.2s (11/11) FINISHED
=> [1/6] FROM python:3.11-slim
=> [2/6] RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y git
=> [3/6] WORKDIR /app
=> [4/6] COPY requirements.txt .
=> [5/6] RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
=> [6/6] COPY bot.py .
=> exporting to image

Verify the image

docker images | grep discord-exporter-bot

Expected output:

discord-exporter-bot   latest   abc123def456   2 minutes ago   245MB

Running the Container

Basic Usage

Minimal setup for message exports only:

docker run -d \
  --name discord-bot \
  --env-file .env \
  discord-exporter-bot

With Volume Mounts

Recommended for persistent storage of exports and digests:

docker run -d \
  --name discord-bot \
  --env-file .env \
  -v $(pwd)/exports:/app/exports \
  -v $(pwd)/digests:/app/digests \
  discord-exporter-bot

Volume Mapping:

/app/exports → Local JSON export files
/app/digests → Local Markdown digest files

Full Production Setup

With all features enabled and persistent volumes:

docker run -d \
  --name discord-bot \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  --env-file .env \
  -v $(pwd)/exports:/app/exports \
  -v $(pwd)/digests:/app/digests \
  -v $(pwd)/data:/app/data \
  discord-exporter-bot

Additional options:

--restart unless-stopped → Auto-restart on failure
-v $(pwd)/data:/app/data → For DOKPLOY_VOLUME_PATH=/app/data

Docker Compose

For easier management and configuration:

version: '3.8'

services:
  discord-bot:
    build: .
    container_name: discord-exporter-bot
    restart: unless-stopped
    env_file:
      - .env
    volumes:
      - ./exports:/app/exports
      - ./digests:/app/digests

Usage:

Start the bot

docker-compose up -d

View logs

docker-compose logs -f discord-bot

Stop the bot

docker-compose down

Rebuild after changes

docker-compose up -d --build

Environment Variables in Docker

You can pass environment variables to the container in multiple ways:

Method 1: Using .env file (Recommended)

docker run -d --env-file .env discord-exporter-bot

Your .env file:

DISCORD_TOKEN=MTIzNDU2Nzg5MDEyMzQ1Njc4OQ.GhIjKl.xxx
GUILD_ID=123456789012345678
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-api03-xxx
DOKPLOY_VOLUME_PATH=/app/data
GITHUB_REPO_URL=https://github.com/user/repo.git
GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_xxx

Method 2: Individual -e flags

docker run -d \
  -e DISCORD_TOKEN="MTIzNDU2Nzg5MDEyMzQ1Njc4OQ.GhIjKl.xxx" \
  -e GUILD_ID="123456789012345678" \
  -e ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-api03-xxx" \
  discord-exporter-bot

Method 3: Docker Compose with env_file

services:
  discord-bot:
    env_file:
      - .env
    environment:
      - DOKPLOY_VOLUME_PATH=/app/data

Volume Mounting Explained

The bot creates files in specific directories that you’ll want to persist:

Exports Directory (`/app/exports`)

Created by: !export command and perform_export() function (bot.py:238) File format: discord_export_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS_ET.json Example:

{
  "guild_name": "My Team Server",
  "export_time_eastern": "2026-03-04T15:30:00-05:00",
  "time_range_hours": 24,
  "channels": {
    "general": {
      "channel_id": "123456789",
      "messages": [...]
    }
  }
}

Docker mount:

-v $(pwd)/exports:/app/exports

Digests Directory (`/app/digests`)

Created by: !digest command and scheduled task (bot.py:379-399) File format: YYYY-MM-DD - Team Digest.md Example:

---
date: 2026-03-04
type: daily-digest
tags: [team, standup, daily]
---

# Team Digest - 2026-03-04

**📊 Activity Summary**
- 42 messages across 3 channels
- 5 active team members

Docker mount:

-v $(pwd)/digests:/app/digests

Data Volume (Optional)

For DOKPLOY_VOLUME_PATH or custom persistent storage:

-v $(pwd)/data:/app/data

Set in your .env:

DOKPLOY_VOLUME_PATH=/app/data

The bot will save digests to /app/data/Daily Digests/ (bot.py:334-338).

Container Management

View Logs

# Real-time logs
docker logs -f discord-bot

# Last 100 lines
docker logs --tail 100 discord-bot

# Logs since 1 hour ago
docker logs --since 1h discord-bot

Expected startup logs:

2026-03-04 15:30:00 - INFO - Bot has connected to Discord!
2026-03-04 15:30:00 - INFO - Bot is in 1 guild(s)
2026-03-04 15:30:00 - INFO - Connected to: My Team Server
2026-03-04 15:30:00 - INFO - Text channels: 5
2026-03-04 15:30:00 - INFO - Daily digest task started
2026-03-04 15:30:00 - INFO - ⏰ Waiting 8.5 hours until first digest at 0:00am ET

Restart Container

docker restart discord-bot

Stop and Remove

docker stop discord-bot
docker rm discord-bot

Access Container Shell

docker exec -it discord-bot /bin/bash

Useful for debugging:

# Check if exports exist
ls -lh /app/exports/

# Check digest files
ls -lh /app/digests/

# Verify git repo (if GitHub sync enabled)
cd /app/data/Daily\ Digests && git status

Troubleshooting

Bot crashes on startup

Check environment variables:

docker run --rm --env-file .env discord-exporter-bot python -c "import os; print('DISCORD_TOKEN:', os.getenv('DISCORD_TOKEN')[:20] if os.getenv('DISCORD_TOKEN') else 'NOT SET')"

Volumes not persisting

Verify mounts:

docker inspect discord-bot | grep -A 10 Mounts

Expected output:

"Mounts": [
    {
        "Type": "bind",
        "Source": "/home/user/discord-bot/exports",
        "Destination": "/app/exports",
        "Mode": "",
        "RW": true
    }
]

GitHub sync fails

Check git installation:

docker exec discord-bot git --version

Check git configuration:

docker exec discord-bot git config --list

Permission issues

Fix volume permissions:

# On host
sudo chown -R $(id -u):$(id -g) ./exports ./digests ./data

# Or run container as specific user
docker run -d --user $(id -u):$(id -g) --env-file .env discord-exporter-bot

Health Checks

Add a health check to your Docker setup:

docker-compose.yml

services:
  discord-bot:
    build: .
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "ps aux | grep 'python.*bot.py' || exit 1"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 3
      start_period: 40s

Or in docker run:

docker run -d \
  --health-cmd="ps aux | grep 'python.*bot.py' || exit 1" \
  --health-interval=30s \
  --health-timeout=10s \
  --health-retries=3 \
  --env-file .env \
  discord-exporter-bot

Production Recommendations

Use volume mounts for all persistent data

Always mount /app/exports and /app/digests to prevent data loss during container restarts or updates.

Set restart policy

Use --restart unless-stopped to ensure the bot automatically recovers from crashes or server reboots.

Configure logging

Use Docker’s logging drivers to prevent logs from consuming disk space:

logging:
  driver: "json-file"
  options:
    max-size: "10m"
    max-file: "3"

Secure your secrets

Never commit .env files to version control. Use Docker secrets for production:

echo "MTIzNDU2..." | docker secret create discord_token -

Monitor resource usage

Check container stats:

docker stats discord-bot

Get Started

Configuration

Commands

Features

API Reference

Dockerfile Overview

Building the Image

Running the Container

Basic Usage

With Volume Mounts

Full Production Setup

Docker Compose

Environment Variables in Docker

Method 1: Using .env file (Recommended)

Method 2: Individual -e flags

Method 3: Docker Compose with env_file

Volume Mounting Explained

Exports Directory (`/app/exports`)

Digests Directory (`/app/digests`)

Data Volume (Optional)

Container Management

View Logs

Restart Container

Stop and Remove

Access Container Shell

Troubleshooting

Bot crashes on startup

Volumes not persisting

GitHub sync fails

Permission issues

Health Checks

Production Recommendations

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get Started

Configuration

Commands

Features

API Reference

Documentation Index

​Dockerfile Overview

​Building the Image

​Running the Container

​Basic Usage

​With Volume Mounts

​Full Production Setup

​Docker Compose

​Environment Variables in Docker

​Method 1: Using .env file (Recommended)

​Method 2: Individual -e flags

​Method 3: Docker Compose with env_file

​Volume Mounting Explained

​Exports Directory (/app/exports)

​Digests Directory (/app/digests)

​Data Volume (Optional)

​Container Management

​View Logs

​Restart Container

​Stop and Remove

​Access Container Shell

​Troubleshooting

​Bot crashes on startup

​Volumes not persisting

​GitHub sync fails

​Permission issues

​Health Checks

​Production Recommendations

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Dockerfile Overview

Building the Image

Running the Container

Basic Usage

With Volume Mounts

Full Production Setup

Docker Compose

Environment Variables in Docker

Method 1: Using .env file (Recommended)

Method 2: Individual -e flags

Method 3: Docker Compose with env_file

Volume Mounting Explained

Exports Directory (`/app/exports`)

Digests Directory (`/app/digests`)

Data Volume (Optional)

Container Management

View Logs

Restart Container

Stop and Remove

Access Container Shell

Troubleshooting

Bot crashes on startup

Volumes not persisting

GitHub sync fails

Permission issues

Health Checks

Production Recommendations