Local Docker Instance#
Note
If you used another method to access AiiDAlab, you may proceed to learn about AiiDAlab’s features.
AiiDAlab is available as a Docker image, a blueprint for a self-contained, pre-configured environment including all the necessary software to access the AiiDAlab platform. The following sections will guide you through the necessary steps to create a local AiiDAlab instance (Docker container) from this image.
Installing Docker#
Important
If you already have Docker installed, please ensure that your user account is part of the docker or docker-users group (system-dependent). If you are unsure, please follow the instructions in the important box corresponding to your operating system.
Windows/Mac#
We recommend to install Docker Desktop, a convenient graphical user interface (GUI) for Docker, which simplifies the process of managing containers.Important
For Windows users, if your admin account is different to your user account, you must add the user to the docker-users group.
From a Windows terminal
net localgroup docker-users <username> /add
or, if using WSL, from a bash terminal
sudo usermod -aG docker <username>
Linux#
Though Docker Desktop is available for Linux, we recommend the simpler option of installing the Docker Engine.Important
For Linux users, please follow the post-installation steps for Docker Engine.
Launching AiiDAlab#
Once Docker is installed, you can create and launch the container by using the following options:
Tip
Regardless of the option chosen here to create the AiiDAlab container, you can always use the Docker Desktop GUI to conveniently view and manage all images, containers, and volumes.
Automate container setup with our handy aiidalab-launch CLI.
Use the graphical interface to configure the container, including ports, mounts, environment variable, etc.
Manually set up a container using the Docker CLI. Most flexible, but requires prior knowledge of Docker.