Installing CouchDB as a docker image Steps Ensure docker and docker-compose are installed sudo apt-get install docker-compose sudo apt install docker-ce Clone the official couchDB repo git clone https://github.com/apache/couchdb-docker.git Create the following docker-compose.yml file in the root of the repo version: "3.3" services: couchdb: image: couchdb-one ports: - "5984:5984" volumes: - couchdb-data:/var/lib/couchdb networks: - internal environment: COUCHDB_USER: admin COUCHDB_PASSWORD: admin restart: always networks: internal: volumes: couchdb-data: cd into the correct version you are wanting to install. E.g. cd 3.2.1 and build the image using docker build -t couchdb-one . Once built, cd back into the root of the directory and run: docker-compose up -d To see if it is running use docker ps