SHSelfHostIndex

Watchtower

Automatically update running Docker containers to new images

Automation & Workflows Archived ★ 24.6k stars Easy setup Apache-2.0

This project is archived. Upstream development has stopped, so expect no new features or security fixes. Consider an actively maintained automation & workflows alternative.

Watchtower is a service that monitors running Docker containers and automatically pulls and redeploys them when a new image version is published. It keeps self-hosted stacks up to date with minimal intervention.

Official siteSource code

Watchtower setup guides & articles

Hands-on coverage of Watchtower from the blog.

Self-Hosting Guides

Updating Containers Without Starting Fires

A container update strategy that survives contact — version pinning, Renovate PRs, what Watchtower can safely auto-update, and rollback plans that work.

Jul 11, 2026 · 4 min read

Key features

  • Automatic image updates
  • Notification on updates
  • Scheduling options
  • Cleanup of old images

Pros & cons

Strengths

  • Hands-off maintenance
  • Very simple to deploy

Trade-offs

  • Automatic updates can break things
  • Limited rollback

Is Watchtower secure?

OSV.dev has no published security advisories for Watchtower's repository. No known vulnerabilities is not proof of security: it means none have been publicly catalogued.

Source: OSV.dev, checked 2026-10-14. How this is measured.

Watchtower replaces

Self-hosted Renovate alternatives

Health badge

Maintain Watchtower? Add its health score to your README. The badge links back to this page.

SelfHostIndex: 15 · archived

Markdown
[![SelfHostIndex health score for Watchtower](https://selfhostindex.com/badge/watchtower.svg)](https://selfhostindex.com/app/watchtower/)
HTML
<a href="https://selfhostindex.com/app/watchtower/"><img src="https://selfhostindex.com/badge/watchtower.svg" alt="SelfHostIndex health score for Watchtower"></a>
reStructuredText
.. image:: https://selfhostindex.com/badge/watchtower.svg
   :alt: SelfHostIndex health score for Watchtower
   :target: https://selfhostindex.com/app/watchtower/

The score is recomputed on every nightly rebuild from public repository data — see how it is calculated.

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