Deploy Thunder with Docker

This guide walks you through deploying Thunder using Docker. You can run Thunder as a single container for development or pair it with an external PostgreSQL database for production use.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure the following tools are installed:

Tool	Minimum Version	Installation Guide	Version Check
Docker	20.10	Install Docker	docker --version
Docker Compose	2.0	Install Docker Compose	docker compose version

Verify your installation:

docker --version
docker compose version
docker run hello-world

Thunder listens on port 8090 by default. Ensure that port is available on your host.

Run Thunder with Docker

Step 1: Pull the Image

docker pull ghcr.io/asgardeo/thunder:latest

Step 2: Set Up the Server

Run the one-time setup script before starting Thunder for the first time. The setup initializes the configuration and database:

docker run -it --rm \
  ghcr.io/asgardeo/thunder:latest \
  ./setup.sh

The container exits after setup completes. If you are using SQLite as the database, mount a volume to persist the database file so the setup data is available when you start the server.

Step 3: Start the Server

docker run --rm \
  -p 8090:8090 \
  ghcr.io/asgardeo/thunder:latest

Thunder is now running at https://localhost:8090.

Customize the Configuration

To override the default server configuration, mount a custom deployment.yaml file. Create a deployment.yaml based on the default configuration and pass it to the container:

docker run --rm \
  -p 8090:8090 \
  -v $(pwd)/deployment.yaml:/opt/thunder/repository/conf/deployment.yaml \
  ghcr.io/asgardeo/thunder:latest

To also use custom TLS certificates, mount them alongside the configuration:

docker run --rm \
  -p 8090:8090 \
  -v $(pwd)/deployment.yaml:/opt/thunder/repository/conf/deployment.yaml \
  -v $(pwd)/certs/server.cert:/opt/thunder/repository/resources/security/server.cert \
  -v $(pwd)/certs/server.key:/opt/thunder/repository/resources/security/server.key \
  ghcr.io/asgardeo/thunder:latest

Access Thunder

Once the container is running, access Thunder at the following endpoints:

Endpoint	URL
Application	https://localhost:8090
Sign-in / Register	https://localhost:8090/signin
Thunder Console	https://localhost:8090/console

Database Setup

Embedded SQLite (Default)

Thunder uses SQLite by default. No additional setup is required for development or local testing.

External PostgreSQL

For production deployments, use an external PostgreSQL database. Thunder ships with a Docker Compose file for running a local PostgreSQL instance.

1. Navigate to the install/local-development directory:

   cd install/local-development

2. Start PostgreSQL in the background:

   docker compose up -d

3. View PostgreSQL logs:

   docker compose logs -f

4. Stop PostgreSQL:

   docker compose down

   To stop PostgreSQL and delete all data:

   docker compose down -v

Next Steps

• Deploy Thunder on Kubernetes — Deploy Thunder to a Kubernetes cluster using Helm.
• Deploy Thunder on OpenChoreo — Deploy Thunder on the OpenChoreo platform.