Skip to content

Installation

Requirements

  • Docker and Docker Compose
  • A running Paperless-ngx instance
  • An AI provider account or local Ollama instance
  • ~512 MB RAM (Lite) or ~2 GB RAM (Full with RAG)

Choose your image

Not sure which to pick? Start with Lite. You can switch to Full later if you want the semantic search chat.

Lite – AI tagging only

The smallest image (~500–700 MB). Automatically tags, titles, and classifies documents. No RAG semantic search.

services:
  paperless-ai:
    image: admonstrator/paperless-ai-next:latest-lite
    container_name: paperless-ai
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    volumes:
      - ./data:/app/data
    environment:
      - PAPERLESS_AI_INITIAL_SETUP=yes

Larger image (~1.5–2 GB). Includes everything from Lite plus the RAG AI chat that lets you ask questions about your documents.

services:
  paperless-ai:
    image: admonstrator/paperless-ai-next:latest-full
    container_name: paperless-ai
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    volumes:
      - ./data:/app/data
    environment:
      - PAPERLESS_AI_INITIAL_SETUP=yes

Start it up

docker compose up -d

Then open http://localhost:3000 and follow the First Setup guide.

Same Docker network as Paperless-ngx?

If you run both containers in the same Docker Compose project or network, use the service name as the Paperless-ngx URL (e.g. http://paperless-ngx:8000) instead of localhost.

Updates

docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

Your data (in ./data) is preserved across updates.