View and edit YAML files for untracked stacks

[danfratamico]

I have many containers that I set up manually and they are stored in /opt/dockers. Dockhand can perform almost everything I need, except the ability to view and edit my YAML configuration files. I don't want to use Dockhand to manage using the default stacks folder, I want it to use the existing folder I have listed above. How can I change it so that the default stacks directory is a folder path on my host and not in a Docker volume?

[BartschLabs]

@danfratamico, you could try to volume-map dockhand's stacks folder to your stacks folder like this (make sure to make a backup of your stacks folder first):

volumes:
- /opt/dockers:/app/data/stacks

Then you might have to choose the Adopt button to bring in your stacks.

[danfratamico]

Thanks, that worked partially. I was able to adopt and bring in all my existing stacks. If I make a change to a stack, save it creates a folder with my "Raspberry Pi" environment name. Example:

Original Container path:
/opt/dockers/homebridge

Editing the container's YAML file in Dockhand yields:

1. New folder created: /opt/dockers/'Raspberry Pi'/homebridge
2. The YAML file in /opt/dockers/homebridge was updated, though.

[robflate]

Did you ever get this sorted? It seems Dockhand uses the Portainer approach of having to adopt stacks rather than being agnostic and using existing compose files on disk like Arcane. I like how Arcane lets me go back and forth between it and standard docker compose in the terminal. Any info appreciated because Dockhand looks excellent!

[danfratamico]

Did you ever get this sorted? It seems Dockhand uses the Portainer approach of having to adopt stacks rather than being agnostic and using existing compose files on disk like Arcane. I like how Arcane lets me go back and forth between it and standard docker compose in the terminal. Any info appreciated because Dockhand looks excellent!

Nope, I decided not to track my stacks in Dockhand and just view & edit the YAML files directly on the host. It would be super nice if we can at least view the YAML files for containers that are untracked.

[robflate]

Seems like you can do what you want unless I'm misunderstanding your use case. If you map your compose folder and then click Adopt in Dockhand, it lets you edit/manage them but leaves the files in place. I'm testing it now and it works great. Lets me use Arcane, Dockhand, docker compose, VS Code, all with the same files on disk.

When you adopt a stack, Dockhand tells you;

What happens when you adopt: Dockhand will track this compose file, letting you edit, start, and stop the stack from the UI. Your files stay in their current location.

#84 (comment)

[BartschLabs]

@danfratamico. does the docker-compose.yml file stay in /opt/dockers/homebridge or does it get moved to the new /opt/dockers/'Raspberry Pi'/homebridge folder, or duplicated there?

[danfratamico]

It is duplicated in the 'Raspberry Pi' folder. Also, I did a test and decided to revert the volume change, but Dockhand still thinks my containers are managed and appear as "internal". How do I unmanage them?

[BartschLabs]

Sorry, that I don't know. You might have to modify a database table or reinstall Dockhand.