DevLog 250512 — Docker Setup Strategy for Modular Projects

After setting up my new GPU and SSD with Ubuntu, I’m moving toward a streamlined, containerized development stack. This post documents my full Docker setup plan—from system installation to GitHub architecture—for AI bots, headless Blender, and more.

1. Free Docker Setup on Ubuntu

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ca-certificates curl gnupg lsb-release

# Add Docker's GPG key
sudo mkdir -m 0755 -p /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

# Add Docker repository
echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] \
  https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

# Install Docker
sudo apt update
sudo apt install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

# Optional: run Docker without sudo
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Reboot and verify:

docker --version
docker run hello-world

2. Container Structure by Project Type

AI Bots

/Projects/ai-bots/
├── lorebot/
│   ├── Dockerfile
│   ├── bot.py
│   └── requirements.txt
├── daemonbot/
├── watcherbot/

# Sample Dockerfile
FROM python:3.11-slim
WORKDIR /app
COPY . .
RUN pip install -r requirements.txt
CMD ["python", "bot.py"]

Build and run:

docker build -t lorebot .
docker run -d --name lorebot lorebot

Headless Blender

FROM ubuntu:22.04

RUN apt update && apt install -y \ 
    wget unzip python3 python3-pip \ 
    libx11-6 libxi6 libxxf86vm1 libxrandr2 libxinerama1 libxcursor1 libgl1-mesa-glx

RUN wget https://mirror.clarkson.edu/blender/release/Blender3.6/blender-3.6.0-linux-x64.tar.xz && \
    tar -xvf blender-3.6.0-linux-x64.tar.xz && \
    mv blender-3.6.0-linux-x64 /opt/blender

ENV PATH="/opt/blender:$PATH"
CMD ["blender", "--version"]

To render:

docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/blender blender-container blender -b scene.blend -o //frame_ -F PNG -x 1 -a

Three.js Dev Server

FROM node:20
WORKDIR /app
COPY . .
RUN npm install
CMD ["npm", "run", "dev"]

Security Lab / TOR Gateway

FROM kalilinux/kali-rolling
RUN apt update && apt install -y nmap ufw tor

3. GitHub Project Structure

SkyeVault/
├── docker-templates/
├── ai-bots/
│   ├── lorebot/
│   ├── daemonbot/
│   └── watcherbot/
├── 3d-gallery/
│   ├── server/
│   └── textures/
├── render-pipeline/
│   └── headless-blender/
├── security-labs/
│   ├── tor-node/
│   └── firewall-demo/
└── README.md

4. Optional Tips

• Use Portainer. Use docker-compose.yml for multi-container orchestration
• Keep sensitive config in .env files
• Automate build/run with setup.sh per project
• Push images to Docker Hub (optional)

This container strategy gives me ultimate control over dependencies, reproducibility, and performance—especially with headless rendering and AI inference. I finally have the GPU, the disk space, and now a scalable system.

— Lorelei Noble