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Pixel-server Pixel-server

Container

Other

Wireless control of PixelStrips or NeoPixels using a web graphical interface running on a Raspberry Pi.

Image details

Pulls: 2k
Architecture: amd64, arm64, arm/v7
Image size: 113 MB
User: macley
Created: Sep 10, 2022
Updated: 1 years ago
Status: active

Configuration

Type
Container
Platform
linux
Image
macley/pixel-server:latest
Privileged
Yes
Ports
85:80/tcp
Volumes
/opt/pixel-server/auth.cfg : /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/pixel-server/auth.cfg/opt/pixel-server/pixelserver.cfg : /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/pixel-server/pixelserver.cfg/opt/pixel-server/users.cfg : /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/pixel-server/users.cfg/etc/crontabs/
Restart
unless-stopped

Template by novaspirit

Notes

Template created by Pi-Hosted Series
Check our Github page: https://github.com/pi-hosted/pi-hosted

Official Webpage: http://www.penguintutor.com/projects/pixel-server
Official Docker Documentation: https://github.com/Macleykun/pixel-server

Pi-Hosted dedicated documentation: pixel-server_setup.md



Pre-installation script must be RAN before you install: wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pi-hosted/pi-hosted/master/tools/install_pixel-server.sh | bash



Standalone Install

Select an install method, to see config/commands for deploying Pixel-server

Installation method

Install on Portainer

Import all app templates into your Portainer instance, for easy 1-click deploys

  1. Ensure both Docker and Portainer are installed, and up-to-date
  2. Log into your Portainer web UI
  3. Under Settings → App Templates, paste the below URL
  4. Head to Home → App Templates, and the list of apps will show up
  5. Select Pixel-server, fill in any config options, and hit Deploy

Template Import URL

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Lissy93/portainer-templates/main/templates.json
Show Me demo

More install options in our documentation.

Serve Pixel-server 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 pixel-server.example.com to http://pixel-server:80

Add this to your Caddyfile

pixel-server.example.com {
	reverse_proxy http://pixel-server: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 pixel-server
  • Exit codes help too: 137 means killed, usually out of memory. 126 or 127 means the command inside the image is broken.

Port already in use

If deployment fails with "Bind for 0.0.0.0:85 failed: port is already allocated", something else on your server is using that port.

  • Find what's using it: sudo ss -tlnp | grep :85
  • Stop the other service, or pick a different host port. In 85:80 only 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:85. The 0.0.0.0 link Portainer shows isn't a real address.
  • Give it a minute after first deploy, pixel-server can take a while to initialise.
  • Make sure your firewall allows the port, e.g. sudo ufw allow 85

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 /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/pixel-server/auth.cfg (and the same for the other mapped folders)

Image won't pull

Test the pull directly on the host: docker pull macley/pixel-server: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 login to 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, arm/v7
  • 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 pixel-server --format '{{.State.ExitCode}}'
  • Still stuck? Redeploy once with the restart policy set to no so the failure stays visible.

Privileged mode

This template runs the container in privileged mode, giving it full access to your host.

  • Only deploy it if you trust the app.
  • If deployment is blocked, your Portainer security settings or hardened host may not allow privileged containers.

Raise an issue

Found something which isn't working as it should? Here's how to report it.

A single container

Pixel-server runs as one container, the simplest kind of app here. Just the one image to pull and nothing else wired up alongside it.

The app image

An image is the app packed up ready to go, everything Pixel-server needs bundled into one download. This template pulls macley/pixel-server:latest, which Docker fetches once (about 113 MB) and then starts your own copy from.

Where the image comes from

Docker pulls its images from registries, public libraries of ready-built apps. Pixel-server's comes from Docker Hub, published by macley.

Version tags

The bit after the colon in the image name is the version tag. Here it's latest, which always points at the newest build, so a redeploy can bump you to a newer release without you asking. Pin a specific tag if you would rather stay on one version.

Which machines it runs on

Every image is built for particular CPU types. This one ships for amd64, arm64, arm/v7, so it runs on both regular x86 servers and ARM boards like a Raspberry Pi.

Ports

A port is the door the app answers on. A mapping like 85:80 means it's reachable on port 85 of your server, where the left number is yours to change and the right one belongs to the app. Once it's running, open http://your-server-ip:85 in a browser. It opens:

  • 85:80, likely the web interface

Volumes

A volume is where Pixel-server keeps its files so they survive an update or a restart. Without one, anything it saves would sit inside the container and vanish the moment it's recreated. This template mounts:

  • /opt/pixel-server/auth.cfg from /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/pixel-server/auth.cfg on the host
  • /opt/pixel-server/pixelserver.cfg from /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/pixel-server/pixelserver.cfg on the host
  • /opt/pixel-server/users.cfg from /portainer/Files/AppData/Config/pixel-server/users.cfg on the host
  • /etc/crontabs/ as a volume Docker manages for you

Restart policy

The restart policy here is unless-stopped, so Docker restarts Pixel-server after a crash or reboot, but leaves it off when you stop it on purpose. You can change this on the deploy screen. The choices are no (never restart), on-failure (only after a crash), unless-stopped (restart unless you stop it), and always (bring it back no matter what).

Networking

Nothing custom is set, so Pixel-server sits on Docker's default bridge network: its own private space that reaches the outside world only through the ports it publishes.

Container name

Once it's deployed, Portainer names the container pixel-server. That's what you'll spot in the containers list and use in commands like docker logs pixel-server.

Privileged mode

This template runs Pixel-server in privileged mode, which gives it nearly as much access to your server as the system itself. Some apps genuinely need it to reach hardware or manage the host, so it's one to run only if you trust the source.

Platform

The platform is linux, the kind of system the container is built to run on. Docker and Portainer handle this on a normal Linux server.

Portainer app templates

Zooming out, this whole page comes from a Portainer app template: a short recipe telling Portainer how to set Pixel-server up. Add the template list to Portainer once, then deploying Pixel-server is a click rather than a wall of config.