Adding a new service (Docker image)

A new service can be added to Malcolm by following the following steps:

1. Create a new subdirectory for the service (under the Malcolm working copy base directory) containing whatever source or configuration files are necessary to build and run the service
2. Create the service’s Dockerfile in the Dockerfiles directory of your Malcolm working copy
3. Add a new section for your service under services: in the docker-compose.yml and docker-compose-standalone.yml files
4. If you want to enable automatic builds for your service on GitHub, create a new workflow, using an existing workflow as an example

Networking and firewall

If your service needs to expose a web interface to the user, you’ll need to adjust the following files:

• Ensure your service’s section in the docker-compose files uses the expose directive to indicate which ports its providing
• Add the service to the depends_on section of the nginx-proxy service in the docker-compose files
• Modify the configuration of the nginx-proxy container (in nginx/nginx.conf) to define upstream and location directives to point to your service

Avoid publishing ports directly from your container to the host machine’s network interface if at all possible. The nginx-proxy container handles encryption and authentication and should sit in front of any user-facing interface provided by Malcolm.