Install

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monbooru comes three ways: a Docker image, a portable folder you unpack anywhere, or a normal installed app. They all run the same program and end up in the same place, a web page at http://localhost:8455.

Docker#

  1. Grab docker/docker-compose.yml from the monbooru repository and edit the volume paths so they point at your folders.
  2. docker compose up -d
  3. Open http://localhost:8455.
Mount What goes there
/gallery your images
/data the database and thumbnails
/config monbooru.toml, themes and plugins
/models auto-tagger models

Keep /data on a persistent volume: it holds everything monbooru knows about your files.

The container runs as user 1000:1000, the usual first user on a Linux machine. Change user: in the compose file to your own uid:gid so the files monbooru writes belong to you.

The compose file also starts monloader, the optional companion for downloading and reverse lookup. Delete its block if you don’t want it.

Portable#

Download a portable build for your system from the releases page, unpack it and run the program. A browser opens on a short setup page.

A portable folder keeps everything inside itself:

monbooru/            the folder you unpacked
  monbooru           the program (monbooru.exe on Windows)
  monbooru.toml      settings
  data/              database, thumbnails, logs
  gallery/           your images

Move the folder or copy it to a USB stick and it keeps working. Delete it and monbooru is gone. To upgrade, replace the program file (and the bundled tools, if you took the bundled download) and leave the rest alone.

Each build comes in two flavours:

  • lite is just the program. Video, AVIF and JPEG XL thumbnails need ffmpeg installed on your system, and auto-tagging needs ONNX Runtime.
  • bundled adds both, so everything works out of the box.

Installed#

If you’d rather have monbooru in your applications menu and uninstall it the normal way, take one of these instead. Each opens the same setup page on first run.

  • Windows: the installer.
  • Linux: an AppImage, or a Flatpak.
  • Arch Linux: monbooru in the AUR. Install onnxruntime and ffmpeg alongside it for auto-tagging and video thumbnails.

Every release also has a SHA256SUMS file if you want to check your download.

Where an installed copy keeps your files#

Linux Windows
Settings, plugins, themes ~/.config/monbooru %AppData%\monbooru
Database and thumbnails ~/.local/share/monbooru %LocalAppData%\monbooru
Log file logs in the database folder same
Your images wherever you pointed setup same

A Flatpak keeps the first three under ~/.var/app/io.github.monbooru.Monbooru/ instead.

To run monbooru as a service on a server, see Configuration.

Next#

First steps walks you through adding and tagging your first images.