litellm/docker

Docker Development Guide

This guide provides instructions for building and running the LiteLLM application using Docker and Docker Compose.

Just want to run LiteLLM? This guide builds from source. To run the published image instead, use docker-compose.quickstart.yml in this directory — the two-service stack (gateway + Postgres) that the Docker quickstart documents:

curl -sSLO https://github.com/BerriAI/litellm/raw/main/docker/docker-compose.quickstart.yml
printf 'LITELLM_MASTER_KEY=sk-%s\nLITELLM_SALT_KEY=sk-%s\n' "$(openssl rand -hex 32)" "$(openssl rand -hex 32)" > .env
docker compose -f docker-compose.quickstart.yml up -d

Prerequisites

• Docker
• Docker Compose

Building and Running the Application

To build and run the application, you will use the docker-compose.yml file located in the root of the project. This file is configured to use the Dockerfile.non_root for a secure, non-root container environment.

1. Set the Master Key

The application requires a LITELLM_MASTER_KEY for signing and validating tokens. You must set this key as an environment variable before running the application.

Create a .env file in the root of the project and add the following line:

LITELLM_MASTER_KEY=your-secret-key

Replace your-secret-key with a strong, randomly generated secret.

2. Build and Run the Containers

Once you have set the LITELLM_MASTER_KEY, you can build and run the containers using the following command:

docker compose up -d --build

This command will:

• Build the Docker image using Dockerfile.non_root.
• Start the litellm, litellm_db, and prometheus services in detached mode (-d).
• The --build flag ensures that the image is rebuilt if there are any changes to the Dockerfile or the application code.

3. Verifying the Application is Running

You can check the status of the running containers with the following command:

docker compose ps

To view the logs of the litellm container, run:

docker compose logs -f litellm

4. Stopping the Application

To stop the running containers, use the following command:

docker compose down

Embedded LiteAdmin MCP

Source builds containing embedded LiteAdmin MCP can serve it at /admin/mcp on the existing LiteLLM port. This capability is unreleased. Keep your existing database, master key, and proxy configuration, then add these settings to the serving container's environment:

LITELLM_ENABLE_ADMIN_MCP=true
LITELLM_LICENSE="your-enterprise-license"
PROXY_BASE_URL=https://gateway.example.com

For the unified source deployment described above, put them in its .env file and rebuild:

docker compose up -d --build

In componentized deployments, set the flag and license on the backend container and route /admin/mcp to the backend service. The gateway component excludes this endpoint. The unified, database, non-root, and backend image builds bundle the connector

Hosting is disabled by default. Opting in requires a valid base Enterprise license; an unlicensed opt-in or invalid flag value prevents startup. Enabling it reserves /admin, so rename any MCP server alias called admin first

With native key authentication, connect with a personal proxy-admin bearer key. When enable_oauth2_proxy_auth is enabled, the existing trusted-proxy identity headers select the user instead; the MCP bearer is required by the connector but does not select the native user. The resolved user must have the stored proxy_admin role, and trusted_proxy_ranges applies to the original caller's direct peer

Embedded responses default to full; selecting LITELLM_ADMIN_RESPONSE_VIEW=compact requires subsequent saved-result reads to reach the same worker process, including within a multi-worker pod

See the LiteAdmin MCP guide for client configuration, tool restrictions, and verification

Hardened / Offline Testing

To ensure changes are safe for non-root, read-only root filesystems and restricted egress, always validate with the hardened compose file:

docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.hardened.yml build --no-cache
docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.hardened.yml up -d

This setup:

• Builds from docker/Dockerfile.non_root with Prisma engines and Node toolchain baked into the image.
• Runs the proxy as a non-root user with a read-only rootfs and only writable tmpfs mounts:
  • /app/cache (Prisma/NPM cache; backing PRISMA_BINARY_CACHE_DIR, NPM_CONFIG_CACHE, XDG_CACHE_HOME)
  • /app/migrations (Prisma migration workspace; backing LITELLM_MIGRATION_DIR)
• Pre-builds and serves the admin UI from read-only paths:
  • /var/lib/litellm/ui (pre-restructured Next.js UI with .litellm_ui_ready marker)
  • /var/lib/litellm/assets (UI logos and assets)
• Routes all outbound traffic through a local Squid proxy that denies egress, so Prisma migrations must use the cached CLI and engines.

You should also verify offline Prisma behaviour with:

docker run --rm --network none --entrypoint prisma ghcr.io/berriai/litellm:main-stable --version

This command should succeed (showing engine versions) even with --network none, confirming that Prisma binaries are available without network access.

Troubleshooting

• build_admin_ui.sh: not found: This error can occur if the Docker build context is not set correctly. Ensure that you are running the docker-compose command from the root of the project.
• Master key is not initialized: This error means the LITELLM_MASTER_KEY environment variable is not set. Make sure you have created a .env file in the project root with the LITELLM_MASTER_KEY defined.