Docker Image

SnapOtter ships as a Docker image that runs alongside PostgreSQL 17 and Redis 8 in a Compose stack. The app image works on all platforms.

Quick start

docker run -d --name SnapOtter -p 1349:1349 -v SnapOtter-data:/data snapotter/snapotter:latest

GPU acceleration

The image includes CUDA support on amd64. If you have an NVIDIA GPU with the NVIDIA Container Toolkit installed, add --gpus all:

docker run -d --name SnapOtter --gpus all -p 1349:1349 -v SnapOtter-data:/data snapotter/snapotter:latest

The image auto-detects your GPU at runtime. Without --gpus all, it runs on CPU. Same image either way.

Benchmarks

Tested on an NVIDIA RTX 4070 (12 GB VRAM) with a 572x1024 JPEG portrait.

Warm performance

Tool	CPU	GPU	Speedup
Background removal (u2net)	2,415ms	879ms	2.7x
Background removal (isnet)	2,457ms	1,137ms	2.2x
Upscale 2x	350ms	309ms	1.1x
Upscale 4x	910ms	310ms	2.9x
OCR (PaddleOCR)	137ms	94ms	1.5x
Face blur	139ms	122ms	1.1x

Cold start (first request after container start)

Tool	CPU	GPU	Speedup
Background removal	22,286ms	4,792ms	4.7x
Upscale 2x	3,957ms	2,318ms	1.7x
OCR (PaddleOCR)	1,469ms	1,090ms	1.3x

GPU health check

After the first AI request, the admin health endpoint reports GPU status:

GET /api/v1/admin/health
{"ai": {"gpu": true}}

Docker Compose

The full Compose stack includes the app, PostgreSQL 17, and Redis 8. See Deployment for the complete docker-compose.yml. A minimal example:

services:
  SnapOtter:
    image: snapotter/snapotter:latest
    ports:
      - "1349:1349"
    volumes:
      - SnapOtter-data:/data
      - SnapOtter-workspace:/tmp/workspace
    environment:
      - DATABASE_URL=postgres://snapotter:snapotter@postgres:5432/snapotter
      - REDIS_URL=redis://redis:6379
    depends_on:
      postgres:
        condition: service_healthy
      redis:
        condition: service_healthy
    restart: unless-stopped
    logging:
      driver: json-file
      options:
        max-size: "10m"
        max-file: "3"

  postgres:
    image: postgres:17-alpine
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: snapotter
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: snapotter
      POSTGRES_DB: snapotter
    volumes:
      - SnapOtter-pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    restart: unless-stopped
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U snapotter"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 12

  redis:
    image: redis:8-alpine
    command: ["redis-server", "--maxmemory-policy", "noeviction", "--appendonly", "yes"]
    volumes:
      - SnapOtter-redisdata:/data
    restart: unless-stopped
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "redis-cli", "ping"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 12

volumes:
  SnapOtter-data:
  SnapOtter-workspace:
  SnapOtter-pgdata:
  SnapOtter-redisdata:

For GPU acceleration via Docker Compose, add the deploy section to the SnapOtter service:

    deploy:
      resources:
        reservations:
          devices:
            - driver: nvidia
              count: 1
              capabilities: [gpu]

Version pinning

Tag	Description
latest	Latest release
1.11.0	Exact version
1.11	Latest patch in 1.11.x
1	Latest minor in 1.x

Platforms

Architecture	GPU support	Notes
linux/amd64	NVIDIA CUDA	Full GPU acceleration for AI tools
linux/arm64	CPU only	Raspberry Pi 4/5, Apple Silicon via Docker Desktop

Migration from previous tags

If you were using the :cuda tag, switch to :latest and keep --gpus all. Same GPU support, unified image.

Your data and settings are preserved in the volumes.