Install Dokku with Terraform

OpenTofu/Terraform Module to install Docker, Dokku, and Dokku plugins on a server with SSH access using the official Dokku bootstrap script.

This pairs really well with this other dokku terraform module which is focused on configuring an already-installed Dokku instance.

Features

• ✅ Uses official Dokku bootstrap installation method
• ✅ Idempotent installation (safe to run multiple times)
• ✅ Modern Ubuntu support (20.04, 22.04, 24.04)
• ✅ Supports latest Dokku versions (0.35.x)
• ✅ Improved error handling and logging
• ✅ Declarative plugin management
• ✅ Supports both shortnames and full URLs for plugins

Requirements

• OpenTofu >= 1.6 or Terraform >= 1.5
• SSH access to target server
• Ubuntu 20.04+ (recommended)

Usage

See test/main.tf for example usage of the module.

Example

module "dokku" {
  source = "path/to/this/module"

  ssh_host             = "192.168.1.100"
  ssh_user             = "root"
  ssh_private_key_path = "~/.ssh/id_rsa"
  
  dokku_version  = "0.35.20"
  dokku_hostname = "dokku.example.com"

  dokku_plugins = [
    "postgres",
    "redis",
    "mysql"
  ]
}

Inputs

Name	Description	Type	Default	Required
dokku_hostname	Dokku hostname	string	"dokku.yourhost.com"	no
dokku_ssh_key_name	Name for the SSH key in Dokku (used with ssh-keys:add command)	string	"admin"	no
dokku_ssh_public_key_path	Path to SSH public key file to add to Dokku for deployments (optional)	string	null	no
dokku_version	Dokku version	string	"0.35.20"	no
ssh_host	SSH host	string	"192.168.0.100"	no
ssh_private_key_path	SSH private key path	string	"~/.ssh/id_rsa"	no
ssh_user	SSH user	string	"root"	no

Outputs

Name	Description
dokku_hostname	The hostname configured for Dokku
dokku_version	The version of Dokku installed
installation_id	Unique identifier for this Dokku installation
ssh_host	The SSH host where Dokku is installed
ssh_key_configured	Whether an SSH public key was configured for Dokku deployments
ssh_key_name	The name of the SSH key configured in Dokku (if any)

Related Projects

• https://github.com/dhinus/dokku-terraform/blob/master/scripts/install-dokku.sh
• https://github.com/brotandgames/terraform-dokku this project was my original inspiration