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Configuration
Host and Port

Host and Port

Overview

Watchtower defaults to listening on all interfaces on port 8080. This behavior can be changed by configuring the HTTP API Host and HTTP API Port configuration options

Configuration Options

HTTP API Host

Use the HTTP API Host configuration option to bind to a specific host interface.

  • This must be a valid IP address (IPv4 or IPv6).
  • If not specified, Watchtower listens on all interfaces on the port specified by HTTP API Port.

Default bind risk

When the host is unset, the HTTP API listens on all network interfaces (0.0.0.0). This exposes the API to every reachable network. Set http-api-host to a loopback or firewall-restricted interface unless the API is protected by an outer network policy (reverse proxy, VPN, etc.).

HTTP API Port

The port can be changed using the HTTP API Port configuration option.

If Watchtower is being run via a Docker container, then the host:container port mapping can be updated accordingly (e.g. 8080:8080 -> 9000:8080).

Examples

  • Listen on all interfaces on port 8080 (default):

    --http-api-port=8080

  • Listen on localhost only on port 8080:

    --http-api-host=127.0.0.1 --http-api-port=8080

  • Listen on a specific IP and port:

    --http-api-host=192.168.1.100 --http-api-port=9090
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