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Docker Deployment

Deploy the CoW Protocol Watch Tower using Docker.

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Overview

The preferred method of deployment is using Docker. The watch-tower is available as a Docker image on GitHub Container Registry.

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Available tags

The following Docker image tags are available:
  • latest - the latest stable version of the watch-tower
  • vX.Y.Z - specific version releases (e.g., v1.0.0)
  • main - the latest version from the main branch
  • pr-<PR_NUMBER> - the latest version from a specific pull request

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Running with Docker

To run the latest version of the watch-tower using Docker: 
docker run --rm -it \
  -v "$(pwd)/config.json.example:/config.json" \
  ghcr.io/cowprotocol/watch-tower:latest \
  run \
  --config-path /config.json

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Command breakdown

  • --rm - automatically remove the container when it exits
  • -it - run in interactive mode with TTY
  • -v - mount your local config file into the container
  • run --config-path /config.json - command arguments passed to the watch-tower

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Volume mounting

The watch-tower requires a configuration file to be mounted into the container. The Dockerfile defines a volume at /usr/src/app/database for persistent database storage. To mount both config and database: 
docker run --rm -it \
  -v "$(pwd)/config.json:/config.json" \
  -v "$(pwd)/database:/usr/src/app/database" \
  ghcr.io/cowprotocol/watch-tower:latest \
  run \
  --config-path /config.json
See the example config.json.example in the repository for a sample configuration file with network settings.

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Building from source

To build the Docker image from source: 
docker build -t watch-tower .
The build process will:
  1. Use Node.js 22.2 Alpine as the base image
  2. Install dependencies with yarn
  3. Run linting and tests
  4. Build the application
  5. Set up the entrypoint at dist/src/index.js
The Docker build process includes running tests and linting. Ensure your code passes these checks before building.
Last modified on March 4, 2026