Docker

Docker

The image runs as the non-root spectrum user. USB access is granted with devices: and group_add: plugdev; privileged mode is not required.

Start the dashboard

docker compose up -d

Open http://localhost:8088.

The container listens on port 8000 internally. Port 8088 is used on the host because 8000 is commonly occupied by other services. Override it with:

SPECTRUM_ALERT_WEB_PORT=9000 docker compose up -d

Check status:

docker compose ps
docker compose logs -f spectrumalert

Run a CLI command in a container

The default image command is the dashboard, but the entry point is still the spectrum-alert CLI:

docker compose run --rm spectrumalert monitor status
docker compose run --rm spectrumalert system status
docker compose run --rm spectrumalert geo receivers
docker compose run --rm spectrumalert monitor start \
  --freq-start 144 --freq-end 148 --duration 30

Use a separate profile for long-running headless operation:

docker compose --profile service up spectrumalert-service
docker compose --profile autonomous up spectrumalert-autonomous

Services

Service	Purpose
spectrumalert	Web dashboard (default)
spectrumalert-service	Continuous monitoring profile
spectrumalert-autonomous	Collection + training + monitoring profile

USB access

The compose file maps the USB bus and adds the container user to plugdev:

devices:
  - /dev/bus/usb:/dev/bus/usb
group_add:
  - plugdev

Verify the container sees the dongle:

docker compose exec spectrumalert rtl_test -t

If the host cannot see the dongle either, see Troubleshooting.

Persistent data

The stack mounts the checkout's data, model, log and configuration directories:

./data    -> /app/data
./models  -> /app/models
./logs    -> /app/logs
./config  -> /app/config

Training artifacts created in the container are therefore visible on the host.

Synthetic IQ inside the container

docker compose run --rm --no-deps --entrypoint python spectrumalert \
  scripts/generate_iq_samples.py \
  --data-dir /tmp/iq/data \
  --raw-dir /tmp/iq/raw

For persistent fixtures, point --data-dir at /app/data and --raw-dir at a mounted directory.

Health check

The dashboard service checks the HTTP endpoint every 30 seconds. A healthy state is shown by:

docker compose ps

Example:

spectrum-alert   Up 2 minutes (healthy)   0.0.0.0:8088->8000/tcp

Rebuild after changes

docker compose build
docker compose up -d

Related

• Installation
• CLI Reference
• Troubleshooting