Docker Deployment

Run Pilot in Docker containers for consistent, portable deployments.

Dockerfile


FROM golang:1.24-alpine AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY go.mod go.sum ./
RUN go mod download
COPY . .
RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -o pilot ./cmd/pilot
 
FROM alpine:3.19
RUN apk add --no-cache ca-certificates git nodejs npm
RUN npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
WORKDIR /home/pilot
COPY --from=builder /app/pilot /usr/local/bin/
USER nobody
EXPOSE 9090
ENTRYPOINT ["pilot"]
CMD ["start"]

Multi-Architecture Build

Build for multiple architectures:


docker buildx build --platform linux/amd64,linux/arm64 -t pilot:latest .

Docker Compose


version: '3.8'
services:
  pilot:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "9090:9090"
    environment:
      - GITHUB_TOKEN=${GITHUB_TOKEN}
      - ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=${ANTHROPIC_API_KEY}
    volumes:
      - ./config.yaml:/home/pilot/.pilot/config.yaml:ro
      - pilot-data:/home/pilot/.pilot/data
    restart: unless-stopped
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "wget", "-q", "--spider", "http://localhost:9090/health"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 3
 
volumes:
  pilot-data:

Run


docker compose up -d
docker compose logs -f

Pre-built Image

Use the official image from GitHub Container Registry:


docker pull ghcr.io/anthropics/pilot:latest

Run with environment variables:


docker run -d \
  --name pilot \
  -p 9090:9090 \
  -e GITHUB_TOKEN="${GITHUB_TOKEN}" \
  -e ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="${ANTHROPIC_API_KEY}" \
  -v $(pwd)/config.yaml:/home/pilot/.pilot/config.yaml:ro \
  -v pilot-data:/home/pilot/.pilot/data \
  ghcr.io/anthropics/pilot:latest

Volume Recommendations

Volume	Purpose	Required
`/home/pilot/.pilot/config.yaml`	Configuration file	Yes
`/home/pilot/.pilot/data`	SQLite database, state	Yes (for persistence)
`/home/pilot/.ssh`	SSH keys (if using SSH git URLs)	Optional

Without a persistent volume for /home/pilot/.pilot/data, Pilot will lose its execution history and queue state on container restart.

Git Configuration

The container needs git configured for creating branches and commits:


# Add to Dockerfile
RUN git config --global user.email "pilot@example.com" && \
    git config --global user.name "Pilot Bot"

Or mount a .gitconfig:


volumes:
  - ./gitconfig:/home/pilot/.gitconfig:ro

Claude Code in Container

The Dockerfile installs Claude Code CLI globally. Ensure your ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is valid:


# Test Claude Code works inside container
docker exec -it pilot claude-code --version

For alternative backends (Qwen Code, OpenCode), modify the Dockerfile:


# For Qwen Code
RUN npm install -g qwen-code
 
# For OpenCode
RUN npm install -g opencode-cli

And update your config:


executor:
  type: "qwen-code"  # or "opencode"

Docker Swarm

For Docker Swarm deployments:


version: '3.8'
services:
  pilot:
    image: ghcr.io/anthropics/pilot:latest
    deploy:
      replicas: 1  # Single replica recommended
      restart_policy:
        condition: on-failure
        delay: 10s
        max_attempts: 3
      resources:
        limits:
          memory: 1G
        reservations:
          memory: 256M
    secrets:
      - github_token
      - anthropic_api_key
    configs:
      - source: pilot_config
        target: /home/pilot/.pilot/config.yaml
    volumes:
      - pilot-data:/home/pilot/.pilot/data
 
secrets:
  github_token:
    external: true
  anthropic_api_key:
    external: true
 
configs:
  pilot_config:
    file: ./config.yaml
 
volumes:
  pilot-data:

Create secrets:


echo "ghp_xxxx" | docker secret create github_token -
echo "sk-ant-xxxx" | docker secret create anthropic_api_key -

Pilot is designed to run as a single instance. Running multiple replicas may cause duplicate task processing.