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Deployment Guide

flowyml is designed to be flexible, supporting both local execution and centralized deployment for teams. This guide covers how to deploy flowyml as a centralized hub using Docker.

Centralized Hub Deployment

A centralized hub allows your team to share pipelines, runs, and artifacts. It consists of the flowyml backend (API & Orchestrator) and the frontend (UI).

Prerequisites

  • Docker
  • Docker Compose

Quick Start

  1. Clone the repository (or use your fork): 

    git clone https://github.com/unicolab/flowyml.git
cd flowyml

  2. Start the services: 

    docker-compose up -d

This will start: - Backend on port 8000 - Frontend on port 8080

  1. Access the UI: Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:8080.

Configuration

You can configure the deployment by setting environment variables in docker-compose.yml or a .env file.

Variable Description Default
flowyml_HOME Path to flowyml data directory /root/.flowyml
flowyml_UI_HOST Host to bind the backend to 0.0.0.0
flowyml_UI_PORT Port for the backend API 8000

Data Persistence

The docker-compose.yml mounts a volume for data persistence: 

volumes:
  - ./.flowyml:/root/.flowyml
This ensures that your metadata database, artifacts, and logs are preserved across restarts.

Client Configuration

To connect your local flowyml CLI or UI to the centralized hub, you need to configure the execution mode.

Using the CLI

  1. Set the execution mode to remote: 

    flowyml config set-mode remote

  2. Set the remote server URL: 

    flowyml config set-url --server http://<hub-ip>:8000 --ui http://<hub-ip>:8080
    Replace <hub-ip> with the IP address or hostname of your centralized hub.

  3. Verify configuration: 

    flowyml config show

Using Environment Variables

You can also configure the client using environment variables:

export flowyml_EXECUTION_MODE=remote
export flowyml_REMOTE_SERVER_URL=http://<hub-ip>:8000
export flowyml_REMOTE_UI_URL=http://<hub-ip>:8080

Production Considerations

  • Security: The default setup does not include authentication. For production use, ensure the hub is deployed within a private network (VPN/VPC) or behind a secure proxy with authentication (e.g., Nginx with Basic Auth, OAuth2 Proxy).
  • Storage: For heavy workloads, consider using an external database (PostgreSQL) and object storage (S3) instead of the default SQLite and local file system. (See Advanced Configuration).
  • Scalability: The default backend runs a single worker. For high concurrency, you may need to scale the backend service or use a more robust task queue (e.g., Celery/Redis).