# Host Your Own Reddit Alternative with Lemmy in Docker

## What is Lemmy?

> Lemmy is an open-source, federated link aggregator similar to Reddit and built with Rust.

1. Log into the host device
2. Run the following commands in terminal
   # install docker and docker-compose
   sudo apt install docker docker-compose docker.io
   # create a working directory
   sudo mkdir lemmy && cd lemmy/
   # download the container files
   sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/main/docker/prod/docker-compose.yml
   sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/main/docker/lemmy.hjson
   sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/main/docker/iframely.config.local.js
   # create pictrs directory
   sudo mkdir -p volumes/pictrs
   sudo chown -R 991:991 volumes/pictrs
   # edit docker-compose.yml
   sudo nano docker-compose.yml
3. Scroll down to the POSTGRES_PASSWORD line and enter a secure password
4. Press CTRL+O, Enter, CTRL+X to write the changes to docker-compose.yml
5. Continue with the following command
   sudo nano lemmy.hjson
6. Press CTRL + W and search for database
7. Scroll down to the database password and update the value to match the value set in docker-compose.yml earlier
8. Press CTRL+O, Enter, CTRL+X to write the changes to lemmy.hjson
9. Run the following command to start the Lemmy Docker container
   sudo docker-compose up -d
10. Open a web browser and navigate to http://DNSorIP:1235
11. Log into Lemmy with the username and password lemmy