ForgeBox

Your enterprise homelab, unleashed. Turn that unused PC into a powerful, professional-grade datacenter with a single command.

That unused PC in the corner? It's a datacenter. You just haven't run the command yet.

What is ForgeBox?

ForgeBox is a complete "Datacenter-in-a-Box" solution that transforms any standard computer — an old desktop, a retired workstation, or a mini-PC — into a fully-featured homelab. It ships as a pre-configured, integrated stack of the same enterprise-grade tools used by IT professionals worldwide, managed through one unified system.

The magic is a single docker-compose.yml. After a minimal setup, you run one command. ForgeBox deploys and connects 30+ essential services — tested together, so there are no port conflicts, dependency issues, or version mismatches to fight at 2 AM.

What makes it different

• Tested together, not just collected. Every container is pre-configured to coexist.
• Built for DragonForge Linux. The Gitea + Semaphore + Jenkins trio mirrors real DevOps workflows you'll be tested on.
• One command to deploy, zero commands to maintain. Watchtower updates; Uptime Kuma watches.
• Total control. Your data, your rules. No subscriptions.

Quick start

# 1. Install Docker + git on a fresh Debian/Ubuntu host
bash install.sh

# 2. Configure
cp .env.example .env && $EDITOR .env

# 3. Deploy the core
docker compose up -d

Then open the ForgeBox dashboard (Heimdall) at http://<host>:8080.

Add more of the stack (profiles)

ForgeBox uses compose profiles so a small host can run a subset and a big one can run it all.

docker compose up -d                                   # core only
docker compose --profile devops up -d                  # core + DevOps
docker compose --profile devops --profile media up -d  # several
docker compose --profile "*" up -d                     # everything

Note: there is no profile literally named all. Use the wildcard --profile "*" (keep the quotes so your shell doesn't glob it) to enable every profile — --profile all silently starts core only.

Profile	Services
(core, none)	Portainer, Heimdall, Nginx Proxy Manager, Uptime Kuma, Watchtower, Glances
security	Pi-hole, WireGuard, Vaultwarden
vpn	Gluetun (opt-in — needs a host /dev/net/tun; see below)
devops	Gitea, Semaphore, Jenkins, code-server, Guacamole
media	Jellyfin, Sonarr, Radarr, Prowlarr, qBittorrent, Overseerr
productivity	Home Assistant, Paperless-ngx, Vikunja, Linkding, n8n
files	Nextcloud, Syncthing, Chibisafe

Gluetun is opt-in. It's the only service in the vpn profile and needs a host /dev/net/tun device node (present on bare metal / VMs, absent in unprivileged LXC by default). It is not part of the security profile, so --profile security runs clean without it. Note the wildcard --profile "*" does include vpn — on a host without tun that run brings up everything else and then errors on Gluetun alone (everything else keeps running). To run Gluetun, ensure the device exists (see docs/troubleshooting.md) and start it explicitly: docker compose --profile vpn up -d.

Documentation

• docs/install.md — full install guide
• docs/quick-start.md — first-run walkthrough
• docs/services.md — the container catalog + port table
• docs/troubleshooting.md — when things go sideways

Requirements

• A 64-bit host running Debian 12+ / Ubuntu 22.04+ (DragonForge Linux recommended)
• Docker Engine + Compose v2
• 2 cores / 4 GB RAM minimum for the core profile
• More for the heavy profiles (see docs/services.md for sizing)

License

See LICENSE.

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Maintained by CR Perdue Technologies. Built for the DragonForge Linux learning path.