Citadel - Docker Compose Deployment

Deploy Citadel, a zero-trust AI gateway, using Docker Compose.

Quick Start

1. Copy the environment template and configure it:

   cp .env.example .env

   At minimum, set:

   • SECRET_KEY — generate with openssl rand -hex 32
   • At least one provider API key (OPENROUTER_API_KEY, etc.)

2. Start the services:

   docker compose up -d

3. Access Citadel:

   Open http://localhost:8000

   With DEV_LOGIN_ENABLED=true (the default), you can log in without external auth.

Services

Service	Port	Description
Citadel	8000	AI Gateway
PostgreSQL	5432 (localhost only)	Database
Redis	6379 (localhost only)	Rate limiting cache

Database

Database migrations run automatically when Citadel starts. No manual setup is needed.

Data is persisted in Docker volumes (postgres_data, redis_data).

Configuration

See .env.example for all available options including:

• Provider API keys (OpenRouter, Vertex AI, AWS Bedrock)
• Guardrails and content filtering
• Rate limiting
• Logging options

Updating

Pull the latest image and restart:

docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

To pin a specific version, edit docker-compose.yml and change the image tag:

image: ghcr.io/radiusmethod/citadel:1.2.3