# Omeka S Docker Template

- **Years:** 2026
- **Methods:** Docker, Nginx, PHP, MySQL, Linux, Bash, Omeka S, IIIF, Typesense, Caddy, GitHub Actions
- **Web page:** https://www.frederickmadore.com/digital-humanities/omeka-s-docker

*A self-installing Docker template that lets research teams run their own Omeka S digital archive, secure, easy to update and backed up, without being system administrators.*

[Omeka S](https://omeka.org/s/) is one of the most widely used platforms for digital collections and exhibits, but hosting it well remains a barrier for many research teams: servers to configure, security to get right, upgrades that can break a live site. This template takes most of that work away. It runs [AMIRA](https://www.frederickmadore.com/digital-humanities/amira.md), and I kept it general enough for anyone to host their own archive with it.

I developed it with the [Digital Research Environment (DRE)](https://www.africamultiple.uni-bayreuth.de/en/1_5-Digital-Solutions1/index.html) of the University of Bayreuth's [Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence](https://www.africamultiple.uni-bayreuth.de/en/index.html). The aim is simple: let teams spend their time curating and sharing collections according to the FAIR principles, not maintaining servers.

## What it does

- **Installs itself**: on a fresh Linux server, a [companion installer](https://github.com/AM-Digital-Research-Environment/am-omeka-s-docker-bootstrap) sets everything up in one command, offers secure HTTPS, and prints the admin login at the end
- **Managed from the browser**: add, update and remove modules and themes from Omeka's own admin panel, with no terminal needed
- **Safe upgrades**: Omeka's code is fixed in the image, so nothing can change it while the site runs, an upgrade is a deliberate step, and going back is easy
- **Secure by default**: nothing runs with administrator rights, the database is never exposed, and the web server, PHP and MySQL come tuned for Omeka
- **Backups in one command**, including moving a site to a new server
- **Optional extras**: IIIF image viewing and fast Typesense search
- **Extendable without forking**: in-house modules and vocabularies sit in a separate layer on top

It is designed for research teams, librarians and digital humanists who want to run a digital archive without deep systems-administration expertise.

## Addresses

- [omeka-s-docker](https://github.com/AM-Digital-Research-Environment/omeka-s-docker)
- [am-omeka-s-docker-bootstrap](https://github.com/AM-Digital-Research-Environment/am-omeka-s-docker-bootstrap)