How to run Node Red with custom flows with Docker on HTTPS with custom username and password

🐳 Node-RED Docker Cheat Sheet (with HTTPS/SSL, Flows, and Password)

✅ 1. Install Docker (on Raspberry Pi or Linux)

curl -sL https://get.docker.com | sh
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

🔁 Reboot or log out/log in after adding yourself to the docker group.

🔐 2. Generate password hash for `settings.js`

docker run -it --rm --entrypoint bash nodered/node-red

Inside the container:

node -e "console.log(require('bcryptjs').hashSync('mySecurePassword123', 8))"

Use the resulting bcrypt hash in your settings.js:

adminAuth: {
  type: "credentials",
  users: [{
    username: "your-username",
    password: "paste-your-bcrypt-hash-here",
    permissions: "*"
  }]
}

🔐 3. Generate Self-Signed SSL Certificate

Good for a 100 years with the -days 36500

mkdir certs
openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 36500 -newkey rsa:2048 \
  -keyout certs/privkey.pem -out certs/cert.pem \
  -subj "/CN=node-red.local"

This gives you:

certs/privkey.pem
certs/cert.pem

⚙️ 4. Create Folder Structure

node-red-app/
├── Dockerfile
├── settings.js     ← with HTTPS + adminAuth
├── flows/
│   └── flows.json
└── certs/
    ├── privkey.pem
    └── cert.pem

⚙️ 5. Modify `settings.js` for HTTPS

https: {
  key: require("fs").readFileSync('/data/certs/privkey.pem'),
  cert: require("fs").readFileSync('/data/certs/cert.pem')
},
requireHttps: true,

Also ensure adminAuth is enabled.

🛠️ 6. Build Docker Image

docker build -t custom-nodered .

🚀 7. Run Node-RED with local `settings.js`, flows, and certs

This is the KEY part that was missing before:

docker run -d \
  --name custom-nodered \
  -p 1880:1880 \
  -v $PWD:/data \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  custom-nodered

❗ This mounts your entire node-red-app project folder into /data, ensuring settings.js, flows/, and certs/ are all seen by Node-RED.

🧼 8. Rebuild and Restart After Changes

docker stop custom-nodered
docker rm custom-nodered
docker build -t custom-nodered .
docker run -d \
  --name custom-nodered \
  -p 1880:1880 \
  -v $PWD:/data \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  custom-nodered

🌐 9. Access Node-RED via HTTPS

On the Pi:
```
https://localhost:1880
```
On another device:
```
https://<your-pi-ip>:1880
```

⚠️ You’ll likely see a browser warning due to the self-signed cert — that’s expected.

bbartling/docker_pi_notes.md