Running with Docker Compose

The Docker Compose setup includes:

• Frank!Framework: core application
• Frank!Flow: visual configuration tool
• Swagger UI: API documentation viewer

Production-ready containers are pushed to the Nexus Repository Manager frankframework-docker repository. Helm charts are available in the charts repository.

Prerequisites

• Docker Desktop (includes Docker Compose) or Docker Engine with the Compose plugin
• Docker Compose v2.22 or later (required for docker compose watch)

Getting started

Directory structure

Create a project directory and add a configurations/ subdirectory:

my-frank-project/
├── compose.yaml
└── configurations/
    └── <YourConfiguration>/
        └── Configuration.xml

The configurations/ directory is synced automatically when using docker compose watch.

Docker Compose file

Create compose.yaml with this content:

services:
  frankframework:
    image: frankframework/frankframework:latest
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    configs:
      - source: resources.yml
        target: /opt/frank/resources/resources.yml
    environment:
      instance.name: ff-quick-start
      customViews.names: FrankFlow
      customViews.FrankFlow.name: Frank!Flow
      customViews.FrankFlow.url: http://localhost:8081
      # Enable CORS for local development.
      cors.enforced: "true"
    develop:
      watch:
        - action: sync
          initial_sync: true
          path: ./configurations/
          target: /opt/frank/configurations/

        # Optional additional watch actions.
        # - action: sync
        #   path: ./resources
        #   target: /resources
        # - action: sync+restart
        #   path: ./secrets
        #   target: /secrets

  frank-flow:
    image: frankframework/frank-flow:latest
    ports:
      - "8081:8080"
    volumes:
      - ./configurations/:/opt/frank/configurations
    environment:
      configurations.directory: /opt/frank/configurations

  swagger-ui:
    image: swaggerapi/swagger-ui:v5.32.0
    ports:
      - "8082:8080"
    environment:
      URLS: |
        [
          {"name":"Configurations API","url":"http://localhost:8080/iaf/api/webservices/openapi.json"},
          {"name":"Frank!Framework API","url":"http://localhost:8080/iaf/api/openapi/v3.yaml"}
        ]

configs:
  resources.yml:
    content: |
      jdbc:
        - name: "ff-quick-start"
          type: "org.h2.jdbcx.JdbcDataSource"
          url: "jdbc:h2:mem:test;NON_KEYWORDS=VALUE;DB_CLOSE_ON_EXIT=FALSE;DB_CLOSE_DELAY=-1;TRACE_LEVEL_FILE=0;"

Run the setup

Recommended:

docker compose watch

Stop watching with Ctrl+C. Containers keep running in the background. Stop and remove them with:

docker compose down

docker compose watch requires Docker Compose v2.22 or later. Use docker compose version to check.

Alternative: use --watch

docker compose up --watch

Alternative: plain volume mount

If docker compose watch is unavailable, mount configurations/ as a volume in the frankframework service:

services:
  frankframework:
    ...
    volumes:
      - ./configurations/:/opt/frank/configurations

Then start normally:

docker compose up -d

Changes to configurations/ are still picked up, but may be slower (especially on Windows).

What's next

When the services are running:

URL	Description
http://localhost:8080	Frank!Framework console: monitor and manage your application
http://localhost:8081	Frank!Flow: visual configuration editor
http://localhost:8082	Swagger UI: browse and test the API

Open http://localhost:8080 in your browser. Frank!Flow is available from the console sidebar.

From there you can:

• Place configuration files in configurations/ and let Compose sync them.
• Monitor adapters, view logs, and test configurations.
• Create and edit configurations in Frank!Flow.
• Use Swagger UI at http://localhost:8082 to test the REST API.