Nicotine-plus-docker

Nicotine+ is an open source graphical client for the Soulseek peer-to-peer network. As per their website, Nicotine+ aims to be a pleasant, Free and Open Source (FOSS) alternative to the official Soulseek client, providing additional functionality while keeping current with the Soulseek protocol.

Supported Architectures

Architecture	Available	Tag
x86-64	✅	latest
arm64	✅	latest

Application Setup

The application can be accessed at:

• https://yourhost:6081/ (recommended)
• http://localhost:6080/ (only works from the same machine)

⚠️ Breaking Change (Selkies migration): The underlying Selkies web client now uses the WebCodecs API for video decoding, which requires a Secure Context. This means plain HTTP access only works via localhost. For remote access, you must use HTTPS on port 6081 or place the container behind a reverse proxy with HTTPS termination (e.g. SWAG). A self-signed certificate is automatically generated on first run.

Usage

Here are some example snippets to help you get started creating a container.

docker-compose (recommended)

---
services:
  nicotine-plus:
    image: ghcr.io/fletchto99/nicotine-plus-docker:latest
    container_name: nicotine-plus
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
    volumes:
      - /path/to/data:/config
      - /path/to/downloads:/data/downloads
      - /path/to/incomplete:/data/incomplete_downloads
    ports:
      - 6080:6080
      - 6081:6081
      - 2234-2239:2234-2239
    shm_size: "1gb"
    restart: unless-stopped

docker cli

docker run -d \
  --name=nicotine-plus \
  -e PUID=1000 \
  -e PGID=1000 \
  -p 6080:6080 \
  -p 6081:6081 \
  -p 2234-2239:2234-2239 \
  -v /path/to/data:/config \
  -v /path/to/downloads:/data/downloads \
  -v /path/to/incomplete:/data/incomplete_downloads \
  --shm-size="1gb" \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  ghcr.io/fletchto99/nicotine-plus-docker:latest

Parameters

Container images are configured using parameters passed at runtime (such as those above). These parameters are separated by a colon and indicate <external>:<internal> respectively. For example, -p 3001:3001 would expose port 3001 from inside the container to be accessible from the host's IP on port 3001 outside the container.

Parameter	Function
-p 6080	Nicotine+ desktop gui (HTTP, localhost only).
-p 6081	Nicotine+ desktop gui (HTTPS, recommended for remote access).
-p 2234-2239	Nicotine+ P2P ports.
-e PUID=1000	for UserID - see below for explanation.
-e PGID=1000	for GroupID - see below for explanation.
-v /config	Where Nicotine+ should store configuration and queue data.
-v /data/downloads	Where Nicotine+ should store complete downloads.
-v /data/incomplete_downloads	Where Nicotine+ should store data during the download process.
--shm-size=1gb	Recommended for stability.

Optional run configurations

Variable	Description
--device /dev/dri:/dev/dri	Mount a GPU into the container for hardware acceleration. Only Open Source drivers are supported (Intel, AMDGPU, Radeon, ATI, Nouveau).

Options in all Selkies-based GUI containers

This container is based on LinuxServer's Docker Baseimage Selkies which means there are additional environment variables and run configurations to enable or disable specific functionality.

Optional environment variables

Variable	Description
NICOTINE_CLI	Additional CLI flags to pass to Nicotine+.
CUSTOM_PORT	Internal port the container listens on for HTTP if it needs to be swapped from the default 6080.
CUSTOM_HTTPS_PORT	Internal port the container listens on for HTTPS if it needs to be swapped from the default 6081.
CUSTOM_USER	HTTP Basic auth username, abc is default.
PASSWORD	HTTP Basic auth password, abc is default. If unset there will be no auth.
SUBFOLDER	Subfolder for the application if running a subfolder reverse proxy, need both slashes IE /subfolder/.
TITLE	The page title displayed on the web browser, default Nicotine+.
LC_ALL	Set the language for the container IE fr_FR.UTF-8.

Security Hardening

This container ships with sensible security defaults enabled:

Variable	Default	Description
HARDEN_DESKTOP	true	Disables sudo, terminal emulators, and xdg-open/exo-open. Also hides file transfer and app launcher UI in Selkies sidebar.
HARDEN_OPENBOX	true	Disables close button, right-click/middle-click menus, and escape keybinds. Automatically enables RESTART_APP so Nicotine+ restarts if closed.

These can be overridden by setting the variable to false in your environment if needed.

Additional hardening options

Variable	Description
SELKIES_MASTER_TOKEN	Enables token-based authentication instead of basic auth. See Selkies docs for details.
SELKIES_CLIPBOARD_ENABLED	Set to false to disable clipboard sync between host and container.

Note: The built-in basic auth (PASSWORD) is a convenience feature, not a robust security mechanism. For internet-facing deployments, place the container behind a reverse proxy with proper authentication (e.g. SWAG).

Environment variables from files (Docker secrets)

You can set any environment variable from a file by using a special prepend FILE__.

As an example:

-e FILE__PASSWORD=/run/secrets/mysecretpassword

Will set the environment variable PASSWORD based on the contents of the /run/secrets/mysecretpassword file.

Umask for running applications

For all of our images we provide the ability to override the default umask settings for services started within the containers using the optional -e UMASK=022 setting. Keep in mind umask is not chmod it subtracts from permissions based on its value it does not add. Please read up here before asking for support.

User / Group Identifiers

When using volumes (-v flags) permissions issues can arise between the host OS and the container, we avoid this issue by allowing you to specify the user PUID and group PGID.

Ensure any volume directories on the host are owned by the same user you specify and any permissions issues will vanish like magic.

In this instance PUID=1000 and PGID=1000, to find yours use id user as below:

  $ id username
    uid=1000(dockeruser) gid=1000(dockergroup) groups=1000(dockergroup)

Support Info

• Shell access whilst the container is running: docker exec -it nicotine-plus /bin/bash
• To monitor the logs of the container in realtime: docker logs -f nicotine-plus
• container version number
  • docker inspect -f '{{ index .Config.Labels "build_version" }}' nicotine-plus
• image version number
  • docker inspect -f '{{ index .Config.Labels "build_version" }}' ghcr.io/fletchto99/nicotine-plus-docker:latest

Building locally

If you want to make local modifications to these images for development purposes or just to customize the logic:

git clone https://github.com/fletchto99/nicotine-plus-docker.git
cd nicotine-plus-docker
docker build \
  --no-cache \
  --pull \
  --build-arg BASE_IMAGE=ghcr.io/linuxserver/baseimage-selkies:ubuntunoble \
  -t ghcr.io/fletchto99/nicotine-plus-docker:latest .

Versions

• 09.04.26: - Migrated to Ubuntu Noble base (from Arch Linux). Nicotine+ installed from official PPA.
• 02.04.26: - Migrated to baseimage-selkies (from baseimage-kasmvnc). Arch Linux base with Wayland support. Breaking: Remote HTTP access no longer works; use HTTPS (:6081) or a reverse proxy instead (see Application Setup).
• 19.07.23: - Initial release.