Kimai
Kimai is a professional grade time-tracking application, free and open-source. It handles use-cases of freelancers as well as companies with dozens or hundreds of users. Kimai was build to track your project times and ships with many advanced features, including but not limited to: JSON API, invoicing, data exports, multi-timer and punch-in punch-out mode, tagging, multi-user - multi-timezones - multi-language (over 30 translations existing!), authentication via SAML/LDAP/Database, two-factor authentication (2FA) with TOTP, customizable role and team permissions, responsive design, user/customer/project specific rates, advanced search & filtering, money and time budgets, advanced reporting, support for plugins and so much more.
Image details
Configuration
TypeContainerlinuxlinuxserver/kimai:latest80:80/tcp443:443/tcp/config : /srv/lsio/kimai/configPUID=1000PGID=1000TZ=Etc/UTCAPP_SECRET=DATABASE_URL=mysql://your_db_user:your_db_pass@your_db_host:3306/your_db_name?charset=your_db_charset&serverVersion=your_db_versionTRUSTED_HOSTS=kimai.example.comTRUSTED_PROXIES=127.0.0.1/32unless-stoppedTemplate by technorabilia
Notes
Ensure to create the following volume directories on the host file system, or modify the paths in the volume mapping section under the advanced options below, as needed.
mkdir -p /srv/lsio/kimai/config
Installation
- Ensure both Docker and Portainer are installed, and up-to-date
- Log into your Portainer web UI
- Under Settings → App Templates, paste the below URL
- Head to Home → App Templates, and the list of apps will show up
- Select the app you wish to deploy, fill in any config options, and hit Deploy
Template Import URL
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Lissy93/portainer-templates/main/templates.json
Show Me
docker run -d --name Kimai \
-p 80:80/tcp \
-p 443:443/tcp \
-e 'PUID=1000' \
-e 'PGID=1000' \
-e 'TZ=Etc/UTC' \
-e 'APP_SECRET=' \
-e 'DATABASE_URL=mysql://your_db_user:your_db_pass@your_db_host:3306/your_db_name?charset=your_db_charset&serverVersion=your_db_version' \
-e 'TRUSTED_HOSTS=kimai.example.com' \
-e 'TRUSTED_PROXIES=127.0.0.1/32' \
-v /srv/lsio/kimai/config:/config \
--restart=unless-stopped \
linuxserver/kimai:latestSave this file as compose.yaml and run docker compose up -d
Use this only as a guide.
services:
kimai:
image: linuxserver/kimai:latest
ports:
- 80:80/tcp
- 443:443/tcp
volumes:
- /srv/lsio/kimai/config:/config
environment:
PUID: '1000'
PGID: '1000'
TZ: Etc/UTC
APP_SECRET: ''
DATABASE_URL: >-
mysql://your_db_user:your_db_pass@your_db_host:3306/your_db_name?charset=your_db_charset&serverVersion=your_db_version
TRUSTED_HOSTS: kimai.example.com
TRUSTED_PROXIES: 127.0.0.1/32
restart: unless-stopped
Save this file as kimai-stack.yml, then from a manager node, run docker stack deploy -c kimai-stack.yml kimai
version: '3.8'
services:
kimai:
image: linuxserver/kimai:latest
ports:
- 80:80/tcp
- 443:443/tcp
volumes:
- /srv/lsio/kimai/config:/config
environment:
PUID: '1000'
PGID: '1000'
TZ: Etc/UTC
APP_SECRET: ''
DATABASE_URL: >-
mysql://your_db_user:your_db_pass@your_db_host:3306/your_db_name?charset=your_db_charset&serverVersion=your_db_version
TRUSTED_HOSTS: kimai.example.com
TRUSTED_PROXIES: 127.0.0.1/32
deploy:
restart_policy:
condition: any
Save each file below into a folder, then run kubectl apply -f .
Written for k3s, but works on any cluster: bind mounts use hostPath, named volumes get a
persistent volume claim, and ports are exposed via a LoadBalancer service.
kimai-deployment.yaml
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: kimai
labels:
app: kimai
spec:
replicas: 1
selector:
matchLabels:
app: kimai
template:
metadata:
labels:
app: kimai
spec:
containers:
- name: kimai
image: linuxserver/kimai:latest
env:
- name: PUID
value: '1000'
- name: PGID
value: '1000'
- name: TZ
value: Etc/UTC
- name: APP_SECRET
value: ''
- name: DATABASE_URL
value: >-
mysql://your_db_user:your_db_pass@your_db_host:3306/your_db_name?charset=your_db_charset&serverVersion=your_db_version
- name: TRUSTED_HOSTS
value: kimai.example.com
- name: TRUSTED_PROXIES
value: 127.0.0.1/32
ports:
- containerPort: 80
protocol: TCP
- containerPort: 443
protocol: TCP
volumeMounts:
- name: kimai-data-0
mountPath: /config
volumes:
- name: kimai-data-0
hostPath:
path: /srv/lsio/kimai/config
kimai-service.yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
name: kimai
spec:
type: LoadBalancer
selector:
app: kimai
ports:
- name: 80-tcp
port: 80
targetPort: 80
protocol: TCP
- name: 443-tcp
port: 443
targetPort: 443
protocol: TCP
Save this file as ~/.config/containers/systemd/kimai.container
[Unit]
Description=Kimai
[Container]
Image=linuxserver/kimai:latest
ContainerName=kimai
PublishPort=80:80/tcp
PublishPort=443:443/tcp
Environment=PUID=1000
Environment=PGID=1000
Environment=TZ=Etc/UTC
Environment=APP_SECRET=
Environment=DATABASE_URL=mysql://your_db_user:your_db_pass@your_db_host:3306/your_db_name?charset=your_db_charset&serverVersion=your_db_version
Environment=TRUSTED_HOSTS=kimai.example.com
Environment=TRUSTED_PROXIES=127.0.0.1/32
Volume=/srv/lsio/kimai/config:/config
[Service]
Restart=always
[Install]
WantedBy=default.targetThen reload systemd and start the service:
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user start kimaiFor a system-wide service, use /etc/containers/systemd/ and drop --user.
For more installation options, see the Documentation in our GitHub repo

The LinuxServer.io team brings you another container release featuring:
- regular and timely application updates
- easy user mappings (PGID, PUID)
- custom base image with s6 overlay
- weekly base OS updates with common layers across the entire LinuxServer.io ecosystem to minimise space usage, down time and bandwidth
- regular security updates
Find us at:
- Blog - all the things you can do with our containers including How-To guides, opinions and much more!
- Discord - realtime support / chat with the community and the team.
- Discourse - post on our community forum.
- GitHub - view the source for all of our repositories.
- Open Collective - please consider helping us by either donating or contributing to our budget
linuxserver/kimai
Kimai is a professional grade time-tracking application, free and open-source. It handles use-cases of freelancers as well as companies with dozens or hundreds of users. Kimai was build to track your project times and ships with many advanced features, including but not limited to:
JSON API, invoicing, data exports, multi-timer and punch-in punch-out mode, tagging, multi-user - multi-timezones - multi-language (over 30 translations existing!), authentication via SAML/LDAP/Database, two-factor authentication (2FA) with TOTP, customizable role and team permissions, responsive design, user/customer/project specific rates, advanced search & filtering, money and time budgets, advanced reporting, support for plugins and so much more.

Supported Architectures
We utilise the docker manifest for multi-platform awareness. More information is available from docker here and our announcement here.Simply pulling
lscr.io/linuxserver/kimai:latest should retrieve the correct image for your arch, but you can also pull specific arch images via tags.The architectures supported by this image are:
| Architecture | Available | Tag | | :----: | :----: | ---- | | x86-64 | ✅ | amd64-\
Application Setup
Configure your database connection
You have to replace the following values with your defaults:- the database username "yourdbuser"
- the database password "yourdbpass"
- the database schema name "yourdbname"
- the database host or IP "yourdbhost"
- the database character set "yourdbcharset" (usually "utf8")
- the database version "yourdbversion"
SELECT VERSION(); in your MariaDB/MySQL database to get the version
example for MariaDB use "10.11.4-MariaDB-log"
example for MySQL use "8.0.32"- you might have to adapt port "3306" as well
DATABASE_URL=mysql://your_db_user:your_db_pass@your_db_host:3306/your_db_name?charset=your_db_charset&serverVersion=your_db_version
````
### Create your first user
```shell
docker exec -it kimai console kimai:user:create your_username [email protected] ROLE_SUPER_ADMINInitial setup
Access the web gui athttp://<your-ip>:80, for more information check out Kimai Initial setup.Usage
To help you get started creating a container from this image you can either use docker-compose or the docker cli.>!NOTE >Unless a parameter is flagged as 'optional', it is mandatory and a value must be provided.
docker-compose (recommended, click here for more info)
---
services:
kimai:
image: lscr.io/linuxserver/kimai:latest
container_name: kimai
environment:
- PUID=1000
- PGID=1000
- TZ=Etc/UTC
- APP_SECRET=
- DATABASE_URL=mysql://your_db_user:your_db_pass@your_db_host:3306/your_db_name?charset=your_db_charset&serverVersion=your_db_version
- TRUSTED_HOSTS=kimai.example.com
- TRUSTED_PROXIES=127.0.0.1/32 #optional
volumes:
- /path/to/kimai/config:/config
ports:
- 80:80
- 443:443
restart: unless-stopped
# This container requires an external application to be run separately.
# MariaDB
mariadb:
image: lscr.io/linuxserver/mariadb:latest
container_name: mariadb
environment:
- PUID=1000
- PGID=1000
- TZ=Etc/UTC
- MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=ROOT_ACCESS_PASSWORD
- MYSQL_DATABASE=your_db_name #optional
- MYSQL_USER=your_db_user #optional
- MYSQL_PASSWORD=your_db_pass #optional
volumes:
- path_to_data:/config
ports:
- 3306:3306
restart: unless-stoppeddocker cli (click here for more info)
docker run -d \
--name=kimai \
-e PUID=1000 \
-e PGID=1000 \
-e TZ=Etc/UTC \
-e APP_SECRET= \
-e DATABASE_URL=mysql://your_db_user:your_db_pass@your_db_host:3306/your_db_name?charset=your_db_charset&serverVersion=your_db_version \
-e TRUSTED_HOSTS=kimai.example.com \
-e TRUSTED_PROXIES=127.0.0.1/32 `#optional` \
-p 80:80 \
-p 443:443 \
-v /path/to/kimai/config:/config \
--restart unless-stopped \
lscr.io/linuxserver/kimai:latest
# This container requires an external application to be run separately.
docker run -d \
--name=mariadb \
-e PUID=1000 \
-e PGID=1000 \
-e TZ=Etc/UTC \
-e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=ROOT_ACCESS_PASSWORD \
-e MYSQL_DATABASE=your_db_name `#optional` \
-e MYSQL_USER=your_db_user `#optional` \
-e MYSQL_PASSWORD=your_db_pass `#optional` \
-p 3306:3306 \
-v path_to_data:/config \
--restart unless-stopped \
lscr.io/linuxserver/mariadb:latestParameters
Containers are configured using parameters passed at runtime (such as those above). These parameters are separated by a colon and indicate<external>:<internal> respectively. For example, -p 8080:80 would expose port 80 from inside the container to be accessible from the host's IP on port 8080 outside the container.| Parameter | Function | | :----: | --- | |
-p 80:80 | http gui |
| -p 443:443 | https gui |
| -e PUID=1000 | for UserID - see below for explanation |
| -e PGID=1000 | for GroupID - see below for explanation |
| -e TZ=Etc/UTC | specify a timezone to use, see this list. |
| -e APP_SECRET= | Random string used for session encryption. Generate using e.g. openssl rand -hex 32. |
| -e DATABASE_URL=mysql://your_db_user:your_db_pass@your_db_host:3306/your_db_name?charset=your_db_charset&serverVersion=your_db_version | Configure your database connection, see Application Setup instructions. |
| -e TRUSTED_HOSTS=kimai.example.com | Domain or IP you will be using to access Kimai. Can be a regex like localhost|127.0.0.1|kimai.example.com |
| -e TRUSTED_PROXIES=127.0.0.1/32 | If behind a reverse proxy set this to its IP or network CIDR so that Kimai trusts its headers. |
| -v /config | Persistent config files |Environment variables from files (Docker secrets)
You can set any environment variable from a file by using a special prependFILE__.As an example:
-e FILE__MYVAR=/run/secrets/mysecretvariableWill set the environment variable
MYVAR based on the contents of the /run/secrets/mysecretvariable file.Umask for running applications
For all of our images we provide the ability to override the default umask settings for services started within the containers using the optional-e UMASK=022 setting.
Keep in mind umask is not chmod it subtracts from permissions based on it's value it does not add. Please read up here before asking for support.User / Group Identifiers
When using volumes (-v flags), permissions issues can arise between the host OS and the container, we avoid this issue by allowing you to specify the user PUID and group PGID.Ensure any volume directories on the host are owned by the same user you specify and any permissions issues will vanish like magic.
In this instance
PUID=1000 and PGID=1000, to find yours use id your_user as below:id your_userExample output:
uid=1000(your_user) gid=1000(your_user) groups=1000(your_user)Docker Mods
We publish various Docker Mods to enable additional functionality within the containers. The list of Mods available for this image (if any) as well as universal mods that can be applied to any one of our images can be accessed via the dynamic badges above.
Support Info
- Shell access whilst the container is running:
```bash
docker exec -it kimai /bin/bash
```- To monitor the logs of the container in realtime:
```bash
docker logs -f kimai
```- Container version number:
```bash
docker inspect -f '{{ index .Config.Labels "build_version" }}' kimai
```- Image version number:
```bash
docker inspect -f '{{ index .Config.Labels "build_version" }}' lscr.io/linuxserver/kimai:latest
```Updating Info
Most of our images are static, versioned, and require an image update and container recreation to update the app inside. With some exceptions (noted in the relevant readme.md), we do not recommend or support updating apps inside the container. Please consult the Application Setup section above to see if it is recommended for the image.Below are the instructions for updating containers:
Via Docker Compose
- Update images:
* All images:
```bash
docker-compose pull
```
* Single image:
```bash
docker-compose pull kimai
```- Update containers:
* All containers:
```bash
docker-compose up -d
```
* Single container:
```bash
docker-compose up -d kimai
```- You can also remove the old dangling images:
```bash
docker image prune
```Via Docker Run
- Update the image:
```bash
docker pull lscr.io/linuxserver/kimai:latest
```- Stop the running container:
```bash
docker stop kimai
```- Delete the container:
```bash
docker rm kimai
```- Recreate a new container with the same docker run parameters as instructed above (if mapped correctly to a host folder, your
/configfolder and settings will be preserved) - You can also remove the old dangling images:
```bash
docker image prune
```Image Update Notifications - Diun (Docker Image Update Notifier)
>!TIP >We recommend Diun for update notifications. Other tools that automatically update containers unattended are not recommended or supported.Building locally
If you want to make local modifications to these images for development purposes or just to customize the logic:git clone https://github.com/linuxserver/docker-kimai.git
cd docker-kimai
docker build \
--no-cache \
--pull \
-t lscr.io/linuxserver/kimai:latest .The ARM variants can be built on x8664 hardware and vice versa using
lscr.io/linuxserver/qemu-staticdocker run --rm --privileged lscr.io/linuxserver/qemu-static --resetOnce registered you can define the dockerfile to use with
-f Dockerfile.aarch64.Versions
- 04.07.27: - Rebase to Alpine 3.24.
- 28.12.25: - Rebase to Alpine 3.23.
- 04.07.25: - Rebase to Alpine 3.22.
- 06.04.25: - Rebase to Alpine 3.21.
- 30.06.24: - Rebase to Alpine 3.20. Existing users should update their nginx confs to avoid http2 deprecation warnings.
- 24.03.24: - Added LDAP module to composer
- 06.03.24: - Existing users should update: site-confs/default.conf - Cleanup default site conf.
- 23.01.24: - Rebase to Alpine 3.19 with php 8.3.
- 02.01.24: - Symlink config.yaml to /config for user editing.
- 21.08.23: - Important documentation update for setting
DATABASE_URLwith version 2.0.30 and later. - 09.08.23: - Initial Release.
Serve Kimai on your own domain behind Caddy, Nginx or Traefik. Fill in your domain and copy the result. It's a starting point, some apps need their own base URL or extra headers set too.
Proxying kimai.example.com to http://Kimai:80
Add this to your Caddyfile
kimai.example.com {
reverse_proxy http://Kimai:80
}Check the logs first
Nine times out of ten the logs tell you exactly what went wrong.
- In Portainer, go to Containers, click the container, then Logs. Or run
docker logs Kimai - Exit codes help too:
137means killed, usually out of memory.126or127means the command inside the image is broken.
Port already in use
If deployment fails with "Bind for 0.0.0.0:80 failed: port is already allocated", something else on your server is using that port.
- Find what's using it:
sudo ss -tlnp | grep :80 - Stop the other service, or pick a different host port. In
80:80only the left number is yours to change, the right one belongs to the app.
Running but the page won't load
The container is up but nothing appears in your browser.
- Use your server's real IP:
http://your-server-ip:80. The 0.0.0.0 link Portainer shows isn't a real address. - Give it a minute after first deploy, Kimai can take a while to initialise.
- Make sure your firewall allows the port, e.g.
sudo ufw allow 80
Permission denied on volumes
If the logs show "permission denied", the app can't write to its data folder on the host.
- Fix the ownership:
sudo chown -R 1000:1000 /srv/lsio/kimai/config - Or set the
PUIDandPGIDvariables (defaults 1000:1000) to match your own user, found withid $USER
Image won't pull
Test the pull directly on the host: docker pull linuxserver/kimai:latest
- "manifest unknown" means the tag no longer exists. This template uses
latest, so try pinning a specific version instead. - "toomanyrequests" is the Docker Hub rate limit. Log in with
docker loginto raise it. - "no space left on device" means a full disk. Reclaim space with
docker system prune
"exec format error"
This means the image was built for a different CPU architecture than your server.
- This image supports:
amd64, arm64 - Check yours with
uname -m: x86_64 is amd64, aarch64 is arm64. Raspberry Pi and other ARM boards are the usual culprits.
Container keeps restarting
The unless-stopped restart policy relaunches the app after every crash, so the real error can scroll past.
- Check the logs right after a restart, the last few lines before it died are the useful ones.
- Get the exit code with
docker inspect Kimai --format '{{.State.ExitCode}}' - Still stuck? Redeploy once with the restart policy set to
noso the failure stays visible.
Required settings are blank
APP_SECRET has no default value, and Kimai may crash or misbehave if left empty.
- Fill it in on the deploy screen before hitting deploy.
Raise an issue
Found something which isn't working as it should? Here's how to report it.
- Bug within the app: Open an issue within Kimai's repo
- Template not working: Open an issue on technorabilia/portainer-templates
- This website not working: Open an issue on lissy93/portainer-templates