Folders and settings

What needs files, such as your EAs or a certificate of your own, needs no environment setting: you mount the files in the right place. Environment settings go under environment in compose.yaml, or with -e in docker run. Changes take effect when the container is recreated: docker compose up -d, or remove the container and run it again.

Folders and files

In the container	On the server	What's in it
/config (required)	./data	Everything for the account: Wine, the MetaTrader program, account logins and servers, charts with their EAs and inputs, settings, price history and logs, and the desktop's certificate. MetaTrader updates itself here.
/mql5 (optional)	./ea	Your own EAs, indicators and scripts, laid out like MetaTrader's MQL5 folder: Experts, Indicators, Scripts, Include, Libraries, Presets.
/run/secrets/password	./secrets/password	The desktop password.
/config/ssl/cert.pem, /config/ssl/cert.key (optional)	your certificate's files, such as ./tls/cert.pem	A certificate of your own, and its key (see Your own certificate).

/config

• It's a bind mount (a host folder), not a named Docker volume. docker system prune --volumes can't delete it while the container is stopped, and it's easy to back up.
• Keep it at mode 0700: it holds saved broker logins. The container makes user 1000 (PUID) its owner at every start, and its log warns if other users on the host have any access to it.
• Back up data and the EA folder regularly, encrypted, and try a restore now and then.

The EA folder (/mql5)

• Each of its sections appears in MetaTrader as a subfolder named Mounted, such as MQL5/Experts/Mounted.
• Files is never linked, because EAs keep their own data there.
• A missing section is created when the folder is writable, and skipped when it's read-only (./ea:/mql5:ro).
• On its first start, MetaTrader compiles the sources it finds there.
• Refresh in the Navigator shows files added on the host.
• With file transfers on, uploads land in its Experts, and appear in the Navigator under Expert Advisors → Mounted after Refresh. When it's read-only, or not mounted, they land in MetaTrader's own MQL5/Experts, in data.

The main settings

Setting	Default	What it does
FILE__PASSWORD	none	Required: the path of the desktop password's file. At least 12 characters, and not a well-known placeholder such as password or changeme. A line break at the end is ignored. PASSWORD, the password itself, works too, but docker inspect shows it.
PUID, PGID	1000	The user and group that own /config and the desktop's programs. Set them to your id -u and id -g when those aren't 1000.
CUSTOM_USER	trader	The desktop's login name.
TITLE	MetaTrader	The browser tab's name.
TZ	UTC	The desktop's time zone. MetaTrader shows its server's time anyway.
SELKIES_CLIPBOARD_ENABLED	true	The shared clipboard: true, in (browser to desktop only), out (desktop to browser only) or false.
SELKIES_FILE_TRANSFERS	false	true turns on file transfers through the browser, and the side panel's file panel with them. upload or download allows one direction only. Uploads land in the EA folder's Experts when it's mounted and writable, and appear in the Navigator under Expert Advisors → Mounted after Refresh. Otherwise they land in MetaTrader's own MQL5/Experts, in /config, and appear under Expert Advisors. The file panel offers downloads from the same folder, and can't choose another.
MT_AI_AGENTS	off	true turns on MetaTrader's and MetaEditor's servers for AI agents (see MetaTrader's AI-agent servers).

Reverse proxy, VPN and host networking

See Access and reverse proxy. A certificate of your own needs no setting: see Your own certificate.

Setting	Default	What it does
TRUSTED_PROXIES	none	IP addresses or ranges, such as 172.20.0.5 or 10.8.0.0/24. When set, only they get in, and everyone else gets 403. Requests from them have their X-Forwarded-For logged.
SELKIES_ALLOWED_ORIGINS	none: the page's own origin only	Other origins allowed to open the stream, comma-separated, such as https://mt.example.com. * is refused.
SUBFOLDER	/	Serves the desktop under a path, such as /mt/.
CUSTOM_HTTPS_PORT	3001	The HTTPS port inside the container. For host networking.
LISTEN_ADDRESS	all of the container's addresses; 127.0.0.1 with host networking	The one address the HTTPS port listens on. For host networking.

Settings that go together

• PUID and PGID: set both, to your id -u and id -g.
• TRUSTED_PROXIES needs the proxy and the container on a Docker network of their own. The SSH tunnel then gets 403, so if the proxy is your only way in, remove ports (see What every proxy needs).
• SELKIES_ALLOWED_ORIGINS is needed only when your proxy replaces the Host header.
• SUBFOLDER needs a proxy that forwards the path as it is, without removing it.
• LISTEN_ADDRESS and CUSTOM_HTTPS_PORT are for host networking. On Docker's default network, change the server's port in ports instead: 127.0.0.1:3101:3001 serves the desktop on the server's port 3101.

Wine's own

For troubleshooting:

Setting	Default	What it does
WINEDEBUG	fixme-all,err-toolbar	What Wine writes to the log: its errors, minus the noise from MetaTrader's toolbar. During the first start's install, Wine writes nothing, unless you set WINEDEBUG yourself. For troubleshooting, fixme-all brings the toolbar's errors back, and an empty value restores Wine's defaults, which add its "fixme" notes.
WINEDLLOVERRIDES	mscoree,mshtml=	Turns off Wine's Mono (.NET) and Gecko (Internet Explorer's engine), so Wine never stops to offer them; MetaTrader uses neither. A value of your own replaces this one, so keep those two in it.

Other settings

The base image's and Selkies' other settings, such as SELKIES_ENCODER or LC_ALL, reach them unchanged: nothing filters the container's environment. They aren't tested with this image. A value you set replaces the image's own, its protections included: SELKIES_MICROPHONE_ENABLED=true brings the microphone back, for instance. The refusals below still apply.

Three have no effect, because the container replaces the base's web server setup with its own: CUSTOM_PORT, CUSTOM_WS_PORT and DISABLE_IPV6.

Deprecated

Still read, with a warning in the log. Images from 2026-12-22 on ignore them.

Setting	Instead
TLS_CERT_FILE, TLS_KEY_FILE	Mount your certificate and key at /config/ssl/cert.pem and cert.key (see Your own certificate).
FILE_MANAGER_PATH	Nothing: uploads land in the EA folder's Experts when it's mounted and writable, otherwise in MetaTrader's own (see SELKIES_FILE_TRANSFERS above).

Refused

The container stops at once, and its log says why in a [mt-access] REFUSED: line. With restart: unless-stopped, docker ps then shows it Restarting. These settings remove a protection and have no use here:

• no password, a file that can't be read, fewer than 12 characters, or a well-known placeholder;
• SELKIES_ALLOWED_ORIGINS with *: any website could open your stream;
• a TRUSTED_PROXIES that covers every address (0.0.0.0/0, ::/0), or holds something that isn't an address or range;
• a certificate and key in /config/ssl that can't be read or don't belong together, or only one of the two;
• while they're still read, only one of TLS_CERT_FILE and TLS_KEY_FILE, a path with unusual characters, or a file that can't be read;
• privileged mode (privileged: true, or cap_add: SYS_ADMIN), or the Docker socket mounted: the desktop would control the server;
• DEV_MODE, PIXELFLUX_WAYLAND=true, SELKIES_MODE=webrtc, SELKIES_ENABLE_DUAL_MODE=true, SELKIES_COMPUTER_USE_BIND, or another SELKIES_UNIX_SOCKET. These are the base image's development mode, its Wayland desktop, WebRTC streaming, and extra servers outside the login;
• a malformed CUSTOM_HTTPS_PORT, CUSTOM_USER, SUBFOLDER or LISTEN_ADDRESS;
• a SELKIES_FILE_TRANSFERS or SELKIES_CLIPBOARD_ENABLED value other than those in the table: Selkies would read one such as off as on, both ways.

Warned about

In the log, because you might have a reason:

• PASSWORD set directly;
• CUSTOM_PORT, which has no effect: there's no plain HTTP;
• HARDEN_DESKTOP=false: terminals come back, and sudo too without no-new-privileges;
• SELKIES_COMMAND_ENABLED=true: the web page can run commands on the desktop, as a terminal would;
• DOCKER_MODS: linuxserver's add-ons, which run as root at every start;
• no-new-privileges off;
• a /config that other users on the host can read;
• host networking, and MT_AI_AGENTS=true with host networking;
• the deprecated settings, and an upload folder the desktop's user can't create.