4 Docker containers I'm setting up before the new school year

Published Aug 13, 2026, 11:15 AM EDT Aggy is a veteran writer and editor in the technology and gaming space. Having served as a Managing Editor for high-traffic digital publications, alongside being an editor and consultant for over a dozen sites. Aggy's published work spans a wide and respected array of tech and gaming outlets, including WePC, Screen Rant, How-To Geek, Android Police, PC Invasion, and Try Hard Guides. Beyond editorial work, Aggy's direct experience in the tech sphere extends to app development. Aggy has published two games under Tales and is always eager to learn and do more. He also likes working on computers and researching in his spare time. He knows about Windows, Linux, Audio, Video, and much more. The week before a new school year starts has a way of feeling productive without actually being productive. Setting up a few self-hosted Docker containers won't fix your study habits, but it will replace a handful of tools you're already paying for or tolerating. It’s better to learn how to use Docker containers than to use regular apps, because it keeps your work together. Kanboard gives you total control over your coursework Getting your Kanboard container running properly Kanboard is so much better than Trello and Asana because of how much control you get. It's a lightweight, Kanban-style project management tool that works surprisingly well for keeping track of schoolwork. At the start of a new semester, you're usually handed a stack of syllabi packed with readings, problem sets, papers, and exam dates. Instead of leaving all that buried in a PDF you'll forget about, you can pull it onto Kanboard and lay it out visually. Give each class its own board, set up columns like "Backlog," "To Do," "In Progress," "Review," and "Done," and just drag cards across as things move forward. A big research paper, for example, can be broken down into smaller pieces with its own descriptions and due dates, so a chaotic semester actually feels manageable. To get everything working day-to-day, you'll need to set up persistent storage and a few environment variables. Persistence matters because without it, your boards vanish every time the container restarts. Mount a local folder to /var/www/app/data to keep your SQLite database, config files, and any attachments safe. You can also add mounts for /var/www/app/plugins if you want to use extensions, and /etc/nginx/ssl if you're working with SSL certificates. SQLite is the default and works fine for most students, but if you need something that can handle more, you can point Kanboard at a PostgreSQL database using the DATABASE_URL variable in a Docker Compose file. Also worth setting during startup: pass PLUGIN_INSTALLER as true if you want to install plugins through the web interface, since that's turned off by default. Jupyter puts all your code and notes in one place The notebook format makes studying a lot easier Self-hosting a Jupyter Notebook setup is one of the better upgrades you can make to your academic workflow, especially if you're in STEM, economics, or data science. My son does a lot of STEM, so this was an easy pick for me. The typical experience means a mess of separate tools, like writing code in a text editor, running it in a terminal, watching plots pop up in another window, and keeping notes open in something else entirely. Jupyter collapses all of that into a single browser tab. You can write and run code block by block, pull in datasets, plot the results, and type up your notes and conclusions all in the same place. Running it through Docker makes things even cleaner, since you get a ready-to-go environment without having to manually install a pile of libraries on your own machine or worry about something breaking because of a version conflict. The thing that makes Jupyter useful for studying is the notebook format itself. Each file is a mix of live code cells and regular text, where the text isn't just plain comments but actual formatted writing. You can use headings, bullet points, links, and even properly rendered math equations, all sitting right next to the code that demonstrates the concept. Nextcloud keeps your school files completely private Set up your storage correctly so you don't lose data Credit: Jorge Aguilar / How-To Geek I like Nextcloud because it's a lot more private than Google Drive. Running your own Nextcloud gives you a private, self-hosted alternative to services like Google Drive or Dropbox, where you stay in full control of your files and coursework. Nextcloud is an open-source platform that handles file syncing, communication, and a range of apps. You decide where your data lives and who can see it. Once it's set up, you can access and sync files, calendars, contacts, and email across all your devices without any of that data touching a third-party server. Nextcloud also works well for group projects. Its built-in Office, Groupware, and Collectives modules let you collaborate on documents and coordinate shared work with classmates in one place. Before the school year starts, it's worth getting your storage setup right so nothing disappears when you restart or update your containers. For a setup that won't fall apart, use named Docker volumes or mounted host directories. You can have one for the main app, one for custom apps, one for config, one for your actual files. However, if you're just using it for class, you can just focus on using it regularly. You likely won't need this again when your education ends. Kiwix lets you study even when your internet drops You can download massive archives of whole websites If you're heading into a new school year and want a reliable way to study without depending on an internet connection, running Kiwix inside a Docker container is worth setting up. Most students are used to studying online, so you're stuck dealing with spotty Wi-Fi, servers going down at the worst possible time, and the general black hole of the live internet pulling your attention everywhere. By hosting Kiwix locally, you can store and browse full copies of Wikipedia, Stack Overflow, medical encyclopedias, and more, all on your own machine without touching the internet. Pages load almost instantly since there's no network involved, and because your Wi-Fi radio isn't constantly pinging servers, you'll actually get a meaningful bump in battery life during long study sessions. You can download the full ZIM archives for English Wikipedia in a few different sizes depending on whether you want images, plus separate archives for Stack Overflow, tens of thousands of free ebooks through Project Gutenberg, WikiMed for medical content, Wiktionary, Wikivoyage, TED Talks, and Khan Academy video modules. If there's a specific site you need that isn't already available as a pre-built archive, you can use a companion tool called Zimit, which crawls the site in a headless browser, captures it, and packages it into a ZIM file you can host locally. You don't need powerful hardware to run these containers None of these containers require serious hardware, and most students can run all four on a single machine without noticing a performance hit. That said, self-hosting does mean you're responsible for keeping things running. If a container breaks the night before an exam, you're the one fixing it, not a support team. Getting this running once at the start of the semester is a few hours of setup for months of not having to think about it again. Docker OS Windows, macOS, Linux Brand Docker Docker is an application that makes it easy to develop new apps. Price Starting at $11/month Free trial Free version with limited features