Choose a platform

Keel installs on Linux, Windows, macOS and the common NAS systems, anywhere Docker runs. This page compares the systems it installs on, so you can pick a guide, and covers the NAS app screens and small devices such as the Raspberry Pi.

Which one?

For apps that phones and other people rely on, use a machine that's always on: a Linux server or mini PC, or a NAS. A Mac or Windows PC is fine for building and trying things out. Whatever you pick, apps reach Keel the same way and you can move later with a full backup.

The installers set it up the same way everywhere: one exact version of the published images, random passwords in an .env file, Studio and Postgres on the machine itself unless you choose otherwise, and the keel command for updates (with a backup first) and rollbacks. Each one checks every file it downloads against the published SHA-256 checksums.

System	Guide	Install folder	Studio by default
Linux server or PC	Linux (Docker Compose)	/opt/keel (~/keel without sudo)	asked; this machine only on a cloud server
Windows 10 and 11 (Docker Desktop)	Windows	%USERPROFILE%\keel	this PC only
macOS (Docker Desktop, OrbStack, Colima)	macOS	~/keel	this Mac only
ZimaOS, CasaOS	ZimaOS	/DATA/AppData/keel	your network
Unraid 6.12 and 7	Unraid	/mnt/user/appdata/keel	your network
TrueNAS SCALE 24.10+	TrueNAS SCALE	/mnt/<pool>/apps/keel	your network
Synology DSM 7.2+	Synology	/volume1/docker/keel	your network
Raspberry Pi, small NAS	below	as for Linux	asked

NAS app screens

Every NAS above can also run Keel from its own app screen (ZimaOS App Store, Unraid's Compose Manager, TrueNAS's Install via YAML, Synology's Container Manager, Portainer or Dockge) with one file, nas-docker-compose.yml. It has every setting written into it, so it needs no .env next to it. Before you paste it:

1. replace /DATA/AppData/keel everywhere in it with your data folder (the table above), and
2. fill in the seven CHANGE_ME values (see Unraid: Fill in the values).

The data folder holds Postgres' files, its TLS key, uploads, backups and the tunnel token, and the compose file holds every password. Keep both where only administrators can reach them: not in a shared folder that other NAS users or SMB clients can open.

Installed that way, Keel has no keel command: update it from the app screen, and back up in Studio first. The installer is the better choice when you can open a terminal.

Raspberry Pi and small NAS

Keel runs on a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 with a 64-bit OS, and on NAS devices with 1 to 2 GB of RAM. Two things help:

• An SSD instead of the SD card, for speed and so the card doesn't wear out.
• The small-device settings, which cap each container's memory (so one busy service can't push the machine into swap or get Postgres killed) and give Postgres, image resizing and edge functions smaller settings.

In your install folder:

curl -fsSL https://www.keeldb.name/docker-compose.small.yml -o docker-compose.small.yml
echo 'COMPOSE_FILE=docker-compose.yml:docker-compose.small.yml' >> .env
./keel up

In a source checkout the file is already there: add COMPOSE_FILE=docker-compose.yml:deploy/compose/docker-compose.small.yml to .env. With COMPOSE_FILE set, ./keel and plain docker compose commands in the folder use both files. (On Windows the list is separated by ; and already names docker-compose.windows.yml: add ;docker-compose.small.yml to the end of that line.)

The limits add up to about 1.3 GB at most; idle, Keel needs much less. If a service keeps restarting (./keel ps) or its log ends with "out of memory", raise its mem_limit in docker-compose.small.yml. The Postgres part is the KEEL_DB_SETTINGS line, which you can also set in .env on any machine:

KEEL_DB_SETTINGS=shared_buffers=64MB work_mem=2MB max_wal_size=256MB