Issues building the TriliumNext server in a container

[Hetti]

Hello,

I did some research in the discussions forum and in the documentation and sadly couldn't find any helping pointers.

I want to build the server myself from source in a container and also build the container image afterwards.
However, I am failing on getting the server built in the container. :(
The Dockerfile is based on using DeepWiki - but it did not work out.

I did check out https://docs.triliumnotes.org/#building-the-executable and https://github.com/TriliumNext/Trilium/blob/main/docs/Developer%20Guide/Developer%20Guide/Project%20Structure.md but I couldn't get any information from there that would resolve my problem.

The fixed working file:

# Stage 1: Build the application  
FROM node:22.20.0-alpine AS builder  
RUN corepack enable  
  
WORKDIR /usr/src/app  
  
# Copy workspace configuration  
COPY pnpm-workspace.yaml package.json pnpm-lock.yaml tsconfig.base.json tsconfig.json ./  
COPY patches ./patches 
COPY packages ./packages
COPY apps/ ./apps/  
COPY scripts ./scripts  

# Install all dependencies  
RUN pnpm install --frozen-lockfile --ignore-scripts

# # Build the server (this runs the TypeScript compilation and bundles everything)  
RUN pnpm run server:build  

# Stage 2: Build native dependencies for target platform  
FROM node:22.20.0-alpine AS native-builder  
RUN corepack enable  
  
WORKDIR /usr/src/app  
COPY apps/server/docker/package.json apps/server/docker/pnpm-workspace.yaml ./  
RUN pnpm install --no-frozen-lockfile --prod && pnpm rebuild  
  
# Stage 3: Final runtime image  
FROM node:22.20.0-alpine  
  
ARG USER=trilium  
ARG UID=1001  
ARG GID=1001  
  
RUN apk add --no-cache dumb-init bash && \  
    addgroup -g ${GID} ${USER} && \  
    adduser -u ${UID} -G ${USER} -s /bin/sh -D -h /home/${USER} ${USER}  
  
WORKDIR /home/${USER}/app  
  
# Copy built application from builder stage  
COPY --from=builder /usr/src/app/apps/server/dist ./  
COPY --from=builder /usr/src/app/apps/server/rootless-entrypoint.sh ./  
  
# Copy native dependencies  
RUN rm -rf ./node_modules/better-sqlite3  
COPY --from=native-builder /usr/src/app/node_modules/better-sqlite3 ./node_modules/better-sqlite3  
  
RUN chown -R ${USER}:${USER} /home/${USER}  
  
USER ${USER}  
EXPOSE 8080  
  
ENV TRILIUM_UID=${UID}  
ENV TRILIUM_GID=${GID}  
ENV TRILIUM_DATA_DIR=/home/${USER}/trilium-data  
  
ENTRYPOINT ["/usr/bin/dumb-init", "--"]  
CMD ["bash", "./rootless-entrypoint.sh"]  
  
HEALTHCHECK --start-period=10s CMD node /home/${USER}/app/docker_healthcheck

Running the pnpm run server:build command ends up in

✓ 8 modules transformed.
✗ Build failed in 484ms
error during build:
[vite]: Rollup failed to resolve import "@triliumnext/ckeditor5/src/theme/ck-content.css" from "/usr/src/app/apps/client/src/share.ts".
This is most likely unintended because it can break your application at runtime.
If you do want to externalize this module explicitly add it to
`build.rollupOptions.external`
    at viteLog (file:///usr/src/app/node_modules/vite/dist/node/chunks/dep-Chhhsdoe.js:33989:57)
    at file:///usr/src/app/node_modules/vite/dist/node/chunks/dep-Chhhsdoe.js:34025:73
    at onwarn (file:///usr/src/app/node_modules/@preact/preset-vite/dist/esm/index.mjs:65:29)
    at file:///usr/src/app/node_modules/vite/dist/node/chunks/dep-Chhhsdoe.js:34025:28
    at onRollupLog (file:///usr/src/app/node_modules/vite/dist/node/chunks/dep-Chhhsdoe.js:34020:63)
    at onLog (file:///usr/src/app/node_modules/vite/dist/node/chunks/dep-Chhhsdoe.js:33821:4)
    at file:///usr/src/app/node_modules/vite/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:20956:32
    at Object.logger [as onLog] (file:///usr/src/app/node_modules/vite/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:22842:9)
    at ModuleLoader.handleInvalidResolvedId (file:///usr/src/app/node_modules/vite/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:21586:26)
    at file:///usr/src/app/node_modules/vite/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:21544:26
 ELIFECYCLE  Command failed with exit code 1.
node:internal/errors:983
  const err = new Error(message);
              ^

Error: Command failed: pnpm build
    at genericNodeError (node:internal/errors:983:15)
    at wrappedFn (node:internal/errors:537:14)
    at checkExecSyncError (node:child_process:916:11)
    at execSync (node:child_process:988:15)
    at BuildHelper.triggerBuildAndCopyTo (/usr/src/app/scripts/build-utils.ts:73:9)
    at main (/usr/src/app/apps/server/scripts/build.ts:17:11)
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:105:5) {
  status: 1,
  signal: null,
  output: [ null, null, null ],
  pid: 81,
  stdout: null,
  stderr: null
}

Node.js v22.20.0
/usr/src/app/apps/server:
 ERR_PNPM_RECURSIVE_RUN_FIRST_FAIL  @triliumnext/[email protected] build: `tsx scripts/build.ts`
Exit status 1
 ELIFECYCLE  Command failed with exit code 1.
Error: building at STEP "RUN pnpm run server:build": while running runtime: exit status 1

Can someone give me guidance how to properly get the server built in the container? What am I missing?

Thanks a lot!

[dosubot[bot]]

Hi @Hetti! I'm Dosu and I’m helping the Trilium team.

The main issue is likely the build order and dependency installation in your Dockerfile. In a TriliumNext monorepo, you must build all shared packages (like ckeditor5, commons, highlightjs, codemirror, share-theme) before building the server. Your Dockerfile currently skips these steps—they're commented out. This causes the server build to fail because its dependencies aren't built yet.

Uncomment and run the shared package build steps before pnpm run server build:

RUN pnpm run --filter "@triliumnext/ckeditor5..." build  
RUN pnpm run --filter "@triliumnext/commons" build  
RUN pnpm run --filter "@triliumnext/highlightjs" build  
RUN pnpm run --filter "@triliumnext/codemirror" build  
RUN pnpm run --filter "@triliumnext/share-theme" build  
RUN pnpm run server build

Also, make sure you install all workspace dependencies, not just for the server. Use:

RUN pnpm install --ignore-scripts

instead of filtering only the server. This ensures all packages are available for the build.

If you see errors related to native modules (like better-sqlite3), ensure you rebuild them in the correct stage, as your Dockerfile already does. If you get "file not found" errors during the Docker build, check that your COPY commands use the correct paths (sometimes you need to prefix with apps/server/ depending on your build context) [source].

If you still hit issues, please share the exact error message from the failing build step. That will help pinpoint the problem.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

---

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[Hetti]

When building the ckeditor with the step RUN pnpm run --filter "@triliumnext/ckeditor5..." build

the following error appears @dosu

[1/3] STEP 16/17: RUN pnpm run --filter "@triliumnext/ckeditor5..." build
Scope: 6 of 17 workspace projects
packages/ckeditor5-admonition build$ node ./scripts/build-dist.mjs
packages/ckeditor5-footnotes build$ node ./scripts/build-dist.mjs
packages/ckeditor5-keyboard-marker build$ node ./scripts/build-dist.mjs
packages/ckeditor5-math build$ node ./scripts/build-dist.mjs
packages/ckeditor5-admonition build: 1/2: Generating NPM build...
packages/ckeditor5-keyboard-marker build: 1/2: Generating NPM build...
packages/ckeditor5-footnotes build: 1/2: Generating NPM build...
packages/ckeditor5-math build: 1/2: Generating NPM build...
packages/ckeditor5-keyboard-marker build: Done
packages/ckeditor5-mermaid build$ node ./scripts/build-dist.mjs
packages/ckeditor5-footnotes build: Done
packages/ckeditor5-math build: file:///usr/src/app/node_modules/@ckeditor/ckeditor5-dev-build-tools/dist/index.js:971
packages/ckeditor5-math build:         throw new Error(removeWhitespace(message));
packages/ckeditor5-math build:               ^
packages/ckeditor5-math build: Error:
packages/ckeditor5-math build: ERROR: The build process failed with the following error:
packages/ckeditor5-math build: Could not load /usr/src/app/packages/ckeditor5-math/src/ui/@ckeditor/ckeditor5-icons/theme/icons/check.svg?raw (imported by src/ui/mainformview.ts): ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/usr/src/app/packages/ckeditor5-math/src/ui/@ckeditor/ckeditor5-icons/theme/icons/check.svg'
packages/ckeditor5-math build:     at build (file:///usr/src/app/node_modules/@ckeditor/ckeditor5-dev-build-tools/dist/index.js:971:15)
packages/ckeditor5-math build:     at async file:///usr/src/app/packages/ckeditor5-math/scripts/build-dist.mjs:30:2
packages/ckeditor5-math build: Node.js v22.20.0
packages/ckeditor5-math build: Failed
/usr/src/app/packages/ckeditor5-math:
 ERR_PNPM_RECURSIVE_RUN_FIRST_FAIL  @triliumnext/[email protected] build: `node ./scripts/build-dist.mjs`
Exit status 1
Error: building at STEP "RUN pnpm run --filter "@triliumnext/ckeditor5..." build": while running runtime: exit status 1
``

[dosubot[bot]]

The build error is happening because the ckeditor5-math package can't find the 'check.svg' icon from @ckeditor/ckeditor5-icons. Recent updates to the TriliumNext repo have bumped @ckeditor/ckeditor5-icons to version 47.1.0, which likely includes the missing icon asset and resolves this issue [source].

To fix the build, make sure your dependencies are up to date:

1. Run pnpm install in your workspace to update all packages.
2. Clean out any old lockfiles and node_modules if you still see the error.
3. Try the build again.

If you’re using a Dockerfile, ensure you’re copying the full workspace and running pnpm install without filtering only the server. This will ensure all shared packages and their assets are present for the build.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

---

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[eliandoran]

The Dockerfile used is not correct, unfortunately.

You should base your Dockerfile on the one we are using right now: https://github.com/TriliumNext/Trilium/blob/main/apps/server/Dockerfile
Your initial issue came from the fact that only a few projects were copied. You need the full repo copied in the builder.

The Dockerfile we are using is not standalone, since we install the dependencies and build the application at CI level: https://github.com/TriliumNext/Trilium/blob/main/.github/workflows/main-docker.yml

Also, what's the usecase for building it from scratch and not reusing the image that is already available on DockerHub?

[Hetti]

thanks for your reply.

I wanted to build it on my own just of principle. Instead of pulling it from the container registry, I wanted to build it on my own.

I managed to build it with my docker file above, I made the mistake to filter on server... in the pnpm install directive RUN pnpm i --ignore-scripts --filter=server and should have run RUN pnpm install --frozen-lockfile --ignore-scripts instead.

Thanks again for the hint in the https://github.com/TriliumNext/Trilium/blob/main/.github/workflows/main-docker.yml file

I corrected for everyone interested the working file in my first post.