Coolify Installation Script Failed

If the Coolify installation script completes but you cannot access Coolify, or if containers are missing, this guide will help you debug and fix the issue.

Common Symptoms

Installation script finishes but no access URL is displayed
Script shows success but Coolify web interface is not accessible on port 8000
Docker containers are missing or not running
Installation appears to complete but something doesn't work

Important

Before following this guide, make sure you read the self-hosted setup guide to ensure your system meets all requirements.

Enable Verbose Mode for Debugging

If you're experiencing installation issues, you can run the installation script in verbose mode to see exactly what commands are being executed:

curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/install.sh -o install.sh
bash -x install.sh 2>&1 | tee installation-debug.log

This will:

Show every command as it executes (bash -x)
Display both stdout and stderr (2>&1)
Save all output to installation-debug.log for later review (tee)

Note

Verbose mode is extremely helpful for identifying exactly where the installation fails. Include the verbose log when asking for help in Discord.

Diagnostic Steps

Check Installation Logs

The installation script creates log files that contain valuable information about what happened during installation.

The installation process creates two log files in /data/coolify/source/:

Installation log: installation-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.log
Upgrade log: upgrade-YYYY-MM-DD-HH-MM-SS.log

Note

The installation script calls the upgrade script internally, so both logs are created during initial installation.

Find your most recent log files:

# List all log files sorted by date (most recent first)
ls -lt /data/coolify/source/*.log | head -5

View the installation log:

# Replace the date/time with your actual log file
tail -100 /data/coolify/source/installation-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.log

# Or view the entire log
cat /data/coolify/source/installation-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.log

View the upgrade log:

# Replace the date/time with your actual log file
tail -100 /data/coolify/source/upgrade-YYYY-MM-DD-HH-MM-SS.log

# Or view the entire log
cat /data/coolify/source/upgrade-YYYY-MM-DD-HH-MM-SS.log

Look for error messages containing:

ERROR:
Failed to
could not
Connection refused
Permission denied
No such file or directory

Verify Docker Installation

Check if Docker is properly installed and running:

# Check Docker version
docker --version

# Check Docker Compose plugin
docker compose version

# Check if Docker daemon is running
sudo systemctl status docker

Expected output for docker --version:

Docker version 27.0.x, build xxxxx

If Docker is not installed or not running:

# Start Docker service
sudo systemctl start docker

# Enable Docker to start on boot
sudo systemctl enable docker

Docker via Snap Not Supported

If you installed Docker via snap, you must remove it and reinstall Docker properly. The installation script will detect and block snap-based Docker installations.

# Remove Docker snap
sudo snap remove docker

# Then re-run the Coolify installation script
curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/install.sh | sudo bash

Check Port Availability

Coolify requires specific ports to be available. The most critical port for initial installation is port 8000.

Critical Port

Port 8000 must be available for Coolify's web interface. If something else is using this port, installation will fail silently.

Check port 8000 using one of these tools:

sudo ss -tulpn | grep :8000

If these commands return no output, the port is free ✓

If they show output, something is using port 8000. Example:

tcp   LISTEN  0  4096  *:8000  *:*  users:(("some-app",pid=1234,fd=3))

You can check the other Coolify ports the same way:

# Port 6001 (Soketi/Real-time)
sudo ss -tulpn | grep :6001

# Port 5432 (PostgreSQL - usually internal only)
sudo ss -tulpn | grep :5432

# Port 6379 (Redis - usually internal only)
sudo ss -tulpn | grep :6379

If port 8000 is in use, you have two options:

# Find the process ID (PID) from the ss/lsof output
sudo kill <PID>

# Or stop the service if you know what it is
sudo systemctl stop <service-name>

Validate Docker Containers

Check if all Coolify containers are running:

# List all containers (running and stopped)
docker ps -a

# Filter for Coolify containers only
docker ps -a --filter "name=coolify"

You should see these containers:

Container Name	Status	Purpose
`coolify`	Up	Main Coolify application
`coolify-realtime`	Up	Real-time updates (Soketi)
`coolify-db`	Up	PostgreSQL database
`coolify-redis`	Up	Redis cache

Note

The coolify-proxy container is NOT created during installation. It's created later when you deploy your first application or enable a proxy.

If containers are stopped or exited, check their logs:

# View logs for specific container
docker logs coolify
docker logs coolify-realtime
docker logs coolify-db
docker logs coolify-redis

# Follow logs in real-time
docker logs -f coolify

If containers are stopped, try starting them:

# Start all Coolify containers
cd /data/coolify/source
docker compose --env-file .env -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d

Verify Docker Images

Check if all required Docker images were pulled successfully:

# List Coolify-related images
docker images | grep coolify
docker images | grep ghcr.io/coollabsio

You should see at least:

ghcr.io/coollabsio/coolify (or your custom registry)
ghcr.io/coollabsio/coolify-helper
ghcr.io/coollabsio/coolify-realtime

If images are missing, there may have been a network issue during installation. Try pulling them manually:

# Pull the latest Coolify images
docker pull ghcr.io/coollabsio/coolify:latest
docker pull ghcr.io/coollabsio/coolify-helper:latest
docker pull ghcr.io/coollabsio/coolify-realtime:latest

# Then restart Coolify
cd /data/coolify/source
docker compose --env-file .env -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d --force-recreate

Registry Authentication

If you're using a custom Docker registry that requires authentication, you may need to run docker login first.

Check Docker Networks

Verify that the Coolify Docker network exists:

# List Docker networks
docker network ls | grep coolify

Expected output:

<network-id>   coolify   bridge   local

If the network doesn't exist, create it:

# Try creating with IPv6 support first
docker network create --attachable --ipv6 coolify

# If that fails, create without IPv6
docker network create --attachable coolify

Verify Disk Space

Check available disk space:

df -h /

Coolify requires:

Minimum 30GB total disk space
Minimum 20GB available space

Low Disk Space

If you have less than the required space, the installation may complete but fail during operation. Consider:

Cleaning up unused Docker resources: docker system prune -a
Expanding your disk/volume
Using a larger server

Common Issues & Solutions

Manual Verification Checklist

Run these commands to get a complete diagnostic report:

echo "=== COOLIFY INSTALLATION DIAGNOSTICS ==="
echo ""

echo "1. Installation Logs:"
ls -lt /data/coolify/source/*.log 2>/dev/null | head -5 || echo "No logs found"
echo ""

echo "2. Docker Version:"
docker --version
docker compose version
echo ""

echo "3. Docker Service Status:"
sudo systemctl status docker --no-pager -l
echo ""

echo "4. Coolify Containers:"
docker ps -a --filter "name=coolify" --format "table {{.Names}}\t{{.Status}}\t{{.Ports}}"
echo ""

echo "5. Docker Images:"
docker images --format "table {{.Repository}}\t{{.Tag}}\t{{.Size}}" | grep -E "REPOSITORY|coolify"
echo ""

echo "6. Docker Networks:"
docker network ls | grep -E "NETWORK|coolify"
echo ""

echo "7. Port 8000 Status:"
sudo ss -tulpn | grep :8000 || echo "Port 8000 is free"
echo ""

echo "8. Disk Space:"
df -h /
echo ""

echo "9. Environment File:"
ls -lh /data/coolify/source/.env 2>/dev/null || echo ".env file not found"
echo ""

Copy the output of this diagnostic script when asking for help.

Recovery Steps

If you just want to retry without losing data:

# Re-run the installation script
curl -fsSL https://cdn.coollabs.io/coolify/install.sh | sudo bash

The script is designed to be idempotent (safe to run multiple times).

Getting Help

If you've followed all the steps above and still have issues, please ask for help in our Discord community.

Information to Provide

When asking for help, include:

Your system information:
```
cat /etc/os-release
uname -m
```

Installation logs: (last 100 lines)

tail -100 /data/coolify/source/installation-*.log
tail -100 /data/coolify/source/upgrade-*.log

Docker status:

docker ps -a --filter "name=coolify"
docker images | grep coolify

Any error messages you see in logs or on screen
What you've already tried to fix the issue

This information will help the community diagnose your problem much faster!

Script completes but no access URL shown

Port 8000 already in use

Docker image pull failures

Insufficient permissions

SSH configuration problems

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