Homelab
Automate, monitor, and maintain your self-hosted services without leaving Dockerman.
Dockerman's homelab features let you monitor your self-hosted services, get notified when things go wrong, and fix issues without juggling multiple tools.
Why homelab mode
Most container management happens while you are at your desk. Homelab mode covers the rest: what happens when you step away, when a service crashes at 3 AM, or when a new image version drops while you are not looking.
Dockerman is desktop-first and local-first. It does not deploy a management container and does not expose a management port. Everything runs inside the app, credentials stay in your system Keychain, and Compose files land on your filesystem where git and docker compose CLI can use them directly.
The end-to-end workflow
Set up notification channels
Connect Telegram, ntfy, Gotify, Discord, or a generic webhook so Dockerman can reach you when you are away.
Enable the preset alert rules (or write your own)
Two rules — Restart loop and Container crash (non-zero exit) — ship preconfigured but disabled. Enable them with one click, or add more alert rules for resource thresholds or per-stack scoping.
Subscribe to image updates
Turn on image upgrade watches for the services you care about. Dockerman checks registries in the background and pushes a notification when a new version is available.
Diagnose and fix
When something breaks, generate a diagnostic bundle with one click, edit the Compose YAML in the built-in editor or the .env editor, and apply the fix.
Features at a glance
Background Tasks
Cron and interval scheduling that keeps running when the main window is closed.
Notifications
Telegram, ntfy, Gotify, Discord, Webhook, and system notifications through a Shoutrrr-compatible URL scheme.
Alert Rules
Four rule types covering container exits, health checks, resource thresholds, and restart bursts.
Image Upgrade Watches
Background registry polling with digest comparison and multi-channel push when a new version lands.
Diagnostic Bundle
One-click zip of inspect, events, logs, and stats for a container or an entire Compose stack.
How it stays running
Dockerman uses tray residence: closing the main window sends the app to the system tray, and background tasks keep running. When you quit the tray icon, Dockerman tells you that background tasks will stop.
A full system service (launchd / systemd / Windows Service) is planned for a future release.