Arguments Reference

Updock supports configuration via CLI flags, environment variables, or a combination of both. Environment variables use the UPDOCK_ prefix.

Secrets Support

Any environment variable can be suffixed with _FILE to read its value from a file. This is useful for Docker secrets:

UPDOCK_HTTP_API_TOKEN_FILE=/run/secrets/api_token

Docker Connection

Argument	Environment Variable	Type	Default
--docker-host	UPDOCK_DOCKER_HOST	string	unix:///var/run/docker.sock
--tls-verify	UPDOCK_TLS_VERIFY	bool	false
--docker-config	UPDOCK_DOCKER_CONFIG	string	~/.docker/config.json

Scheduling

Argument	Environment Variable	Type	Default
--interval	UPDOCK_INTERVAL	int (seconds)	86400
--schedule	UPDOCK_SCHEDULE	string (cron)	none
--run-once	UPDOCK_RUN_ONCE	bool	false

Note

--schedule takes precedence over --interval when both are set. The cron format supports 5 or 6 fields (with optional seconds).

Container Selection

Argument	Environment Variable	Type	Default
--monitor-all	UPDOCK_MONITOR_ALL	bool	true
--label-enable	UPDOCK_LABEL_ENABLE	bool	false
--disable-containers	UPDOCK_DISABLE_CONTAINERS	string (csv)	none
--include-stopped	UPDOCK_INCLUDE_STOPPED	bool	false
--include-restarting	UPDOCK_INCLUDE_RESTARTING	bool	false
--revive-stopped	UPDOCK_REVIVE_STOPPED	bool	false
--scope	UPDOCK_SCOPE	string	none

Update Behavior

Argument	Environment Variable	Type	Default
--cleanup	UPDOCK_CLEANUP	bool	false
--remove-volumes	UPDOCK_REMOVE_VOLUMES	bool	false
--stop-timeout	UPDOCK_STOP_TIMEOUT	int (seconds)	10
--dry-run	UPDOCK_DRY_RUN	bool	false
--no-pull	UPDOCK_NO_PULL	bool	false
--no-restart	UPDOCK_NO_RESTART	bool	false
--rolling-restart	UPDOCK_ROLLING_RESTART	bool	false
--label-precedence	UPDOCK_LABEL_PRECEDENCE	bool	false
--lifecycle-hooks	UPDOCK_LIFECYCLE_HOOKS	bool	false

HTTP / Web UI

Argument	Environment Variable	Type	Default
--http-addr	UPDOCK_HTTP_ADDR	string	:8080
--http-enabled	UPDOCK_HTTP_ENABLED	bool	true
--http-api-token	UPDOCK_HTTP_API_TOKEN	string	none
--metrics	UPDOCK_METRICS	bool	false

Notifications

Argument	Environment Variable	Type	Default
--webhook-url	UPDOCK_WEBHOOK_URL	string (csv)	none
--notification-template	UPDOCK_NOTIFICATION_TEMPLATE	string	built-in
--no-startup-message	UPDOCK_NO_STARTUP_MESSAGE	bool	false

Policy & Audit

Argument	Environment Variable	Type	Default
--policy-file	UPDOCK_POLICY_FILE	string	updock.yml
--audit-log	UPDOCK_AUDIT_LOG	string	/var/lib/updock/audit.json

Policy file

The policy file (updock.yml) is Updock's core differentiator. It defines update strategies, maintenance windows, approval modes, and container groups. See Policies for the full reference.

Logging

Argument	Environment Variable	Type	Default
--log-level	UPDOCK_LOG_LEVEL	string	info
--warn-on-head-failure	UPDOCK_WARN_ON_HEAD_FAILURE	string	auto

--warn-on-head-failure

Controls behavior when a HEAD request to a registry fails. Accepted values: always, never, auto. In auto mode, Updock falls back to a full GET request silently.

Example

docker run -d \
  --name updock \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  -e UPDOCK_INTERVAL=3600 \
  -e UPDOCK_CLEANUP=true \
  -e UPDOCK_HTTP_API_TOKEN_FILE=/run/secrets/token \
  -e UPDOCK_LOG_LEVEL=debug \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  updock/updock