Open-Source Observability · stefanprodan

dockprom

dockprom is a Docker Compose–based monitoring stack that bundles Prometheus, Grafana, cAdvisor, NodeExporter, and AlertManager to track host and container metrics. It provides pre-built dashboards and alert rules for resource monitoring, requiring minimal setup beyond cloning and running docker-compose up.

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Source: GitHub — github.com/stefanprodan/dockprom

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MIT

License (OSI-approved)

Key facts

Objective fields from the source. Values we can't verify are shown as “Unknown” rather than guessed.

Field	Value
Repository	stefanprodan/dockprom
Owner	stefanprodan
Primary language	Unknown
License	MIT — OSI-approved
Stars	6.6k
Forks	1.8k
Open issues	21
Latest release	v9.2.0 (2026-03-06)
Last updated	2026-03-06
Source	https://github.com/stefanprodan/dockprom

What dockprom is

dockprom orchestrates a multi-container monitoring pipeline: Prometheus scrapes metrics from NodeExporter (host) and cAdvisor (containers), Grafana visualizes via pre-provisioned dashboards, AlertManager handles alerting, and Caddy serves as a reverse proxy with basic auth. Alerts are defined in Prometheus rules and cover service downtime, CPU/memory/storage thresholds, and container-specific conditions.

Quickstart

Get the dockprom source

Clone the repository and explore it locally.

terminalbash

1git clone https://github.com/stefanprodan/dockprom.git2cd dockprom3# follow the project's README for install & configuration

Need it deployed, integrated, or customized instead? DEV.co ships production installs.

Best use cases

Small to mid-scale Docker environments

Ideal for teams running 10–100 containers on single or few hosts who need out-of-the-box visibility without complex Kubernetes orchestration.

Development and staging monitoring

Quick spin-up for local development or staging environments to validate container behavior, resource usage, and alerting rules before production deployment.

Docker Swarm or single-host Docker deployments

Fits naturally into non-Kubernetes Docker setups where you control the host directly and want integrated alerting and dashboards without external SaaS dependencies.

Implementation considerations

Requires manual password hash generation via `caddy hash-password`; plain text credentials in compose file pose exposure risk if committed to version control.
Filesystem type (aufs, btrfs, etc.) must be manually configured in Grafana dashboard JSON for storage metrics to display correctly.
Alert thresholds (CPU load > 1.5, memory > 85%, storage > 85%) are hardcoded and must be tuned to your environment; CPU threshold depends on core count.
No built-in persistence strategy for Prometheus data across container recreation; volumes are declared but recovery/backup procedures are not documented.
Requires Docker Engine ≥1.13 and Docker Compose ≥1.11; version compatibility with newer Docker Compose (v2 spec) requires explicit verification.

When to avoid it — and what to weigh

Kubernetes cluster monitoring — dockprom targets Docker Compose; use Prometheus Operator, Thanos, or vendor solutions (Datadog, New Relic) for Kubernetes observability.
Multi-tenant or highly regulated environments — Basic auth via Caddy and embedded credentials in docker-compose.yml are not designed for RBAC, audit logging, or compliance (SOC2, PCI-DSS, HIPAA) requirements.
High-cardinality or massive scale (1000s of containers) — Prometheus in single-instance mode will face memory and storage limits; consider Thanos, Cortex, or managed services.
Need for enterprise support or SLA guarantees — Community-maintained project with no official support contracts; not suitable for mission-critical systems requiring vendor backing.

License & commercial use

MIT License: permissive open-source license allowing commercial use, modification, and redistribution with the requirement to include the license notice and disclaimer.

MIT is a permissive OSI license that explicitly permits commercial use without restriction or royalty. However, this project offers no warranty or support; you assume all operational risk. Verify that bundled components (Prometheus, Grafana, cAdvisor, AlertManager, NodeExporter) licenses are compatible with your use case.

DEV.co evaluation signals

Editorial assessment — not user reviews. Directional, with an explicit confidence level.

Signal	Assessment
Maintenance	Active
Documentation	Adequate
License clarity	Clear
Deployment complexity	Moderate
DEV.co fit	Good
Assessment confidence	High

Security considerations

Basic auth via Caddy protects Prometheus and AlertManager UI endpoints, but credentials are plaintext in compose file unless externalized. No encryption in transit (TLS/mTLS) between components or to exporters. cAdvisor and NodeExporter expose metrics without authentication on internal network. Host-level secrets (ADMIN_PASSWORD_HASH) require careful version control practices. Review container image provenance and keep component versions patched.

Alternatives to consider

Prometheus Operator + Kube-Prometheus

Industry-standard for Kubernetes; offers CRD-based configuration, multi-cluster support, and broader ecosystem integration. Overkill for single-host or Docker Swarm use.

Portainer + built-in monitoring

Docker-native UI with lightweight metrics; simpler for ops teams but less customizable alerting and no Prometheus flexibility.

Managed services (Datadog, New Relic, Grafana Cloud)

Eliminate operational overhead, provide enterprise SLAs, and scale seamlessly; trade-off is cost and data residency constraints.

Software development agency

Build on dockprom with DEV.co software developers

Our DevOps team can help you assess dockprom for your infrastructure, configure custom alerts, implement backup strategies, or migrate to an enterprise monitoring solution that scales with you.

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Related open-source tools

Surfaced by semantic similarity across the DEV.co open-source index.

cluster-monitoring prometheus prometheus-operator

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dockprom FAQ

Does dockprom support multi-host Docker monitoring?

Not natively. Each host requires its own dockprom stack. Federation or centralized Prometheus scraping can be configured manually but is not documented in the README.

Can I use dockprom in production?

Yes, but understand the limitations: single-instance Prometheus, basic auth only, no HA or backup strategy, and community-only support. Mission-critical workloads should use managed services or enterprise stacks.

How do I update alert thresholds or add custom alerts?

Edit `prometheus/alert.rules`, then reload Prometheus via `curl -X POST http://admin:admin@<host-ip>:9090/-/reload`. Changes persist only if the rules file is stored outside the container or volume-mounted.

What happens to metrics if Prometheus restarts?

Prometheus stores data in a volume (`prometheus_data`). On restart, the volume is remounted and historical data is retained. However, there is no documented backup or retention policy.

Custom software development services

From first prototype to production, DEV.co delivers software development services around tools like dockprom. Our software development agency staffs experienced software developers and web developers for custom software development, web development, integrations, and ongoing support across open-source observability and beyond.

Need hands-on guidance for your monitoring stack?

Our DevOps team can help you assess dockprom for your infrastructure, configure custom alerts, implement backup strategies, or migrate to an enterprise monitoring solution that scales with you.

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