Drydock runs a complete Nightship — server and storage —
on your own machine in Docker. Use it to try Nightship, demo it to your
team, or evaluate it before you self-host for real. All you need is the
Nightship client and Docker Desktop; there are no accounts to create and
nothing is hosted by us.
Drydock is for trying and demoing, not production.
It runs on Docker Desktop, binds to localhost, and uses fixed
demo credentials. For a real deployment, run nightshipd on a
server pointed at your own storage — see
Running a server.
If Docker Desktop isn’t running, the tab says so — start it and
click Retry. (It also tells you if Docker isn’t installed.)
Click Set up the demo…. A stepped dialog does everything: it
starts the containers, waits for storage, provisions the storage bucket,
points the server at storage, claims the server as your admin
(adding it to your Servers list), then creates a demo channel,
pushes a first build, and subscribes you to it.
When it finishes you have a live Nightship on localhost with a
build already synced — no terminal, no config files.
Docker pulls the images on the first run, so the first setup takes a minute
or two; after that it’s fast.
Screenshot — the Drydock tab: Docker status, Set up the demo, and the Your demo row
The whole demo lives on one tab.
Try the loop — push a build, watch it land
The Drydock tab’s Your demo row is the whole producer→consumer
loop in one place:
Open build folder — a folder you edit: add, change, or remove files.
Push build — publishes what’s in that folder to the demo channel.
Open synced folder — where a subscriber receives it; your change shows up here within about 15 seconds.
Open storage view — a browser view of the object store, so you can see the content-addressed chunks and manifests a push writes.
Back up server — runs nightshipd backup in the demo: an encrypted, incremental snapshot of the server’s data into a second bucket (nightship-backup). See Back up and restore.
That is the entire Nightship loop: make a change, push, and every subscriber
syncs it — moving only what changed. (That’s Tide, the delta
engine; see Storage engines: Cargo vs Tide.)
What’s actually running
Drydock brings up three containers via Docker:
nightshipd — the Nightship server: channels, auth, manifests (the control plane).
Garage — an S3-compatible object store: the bucket your builds live in.
garage-webui — a small web page to browse that storage (the Open storage view button).
The server speaks plain HTTP on localhost; storage is Garage on
localhost. Nothing leaves your machine apart from Docker
pulling the images.
Reset or start over
Reset… stops the environment and deletes its data — a clean slate.
Set up the demo… → Start fresh does the same, then sets up again.
FAQ
Is this production?
No — it’s a local demo/evaluation. It uses fixed demo
credentials and binds to localhost. For real use, run
nightshipd on a server (or in the cloud) pointed at your own
S3-compatible storage. See Running a server.
What is Tide, and what does “delta” mean?
Tide is Nightship’s delta engine: a build is split into
content-addressed chunks, and only the chunks that actually changed
are transferred. In the subscription list a Δ marks a Tide
(delta) channel; a crate marks a Cargo (whole-file) channel.
What is Garage?
A lightweight, S3-compatible object store. Drydock bundles it so you can
try the delta engine without a real S3 account. In production you point
Nightship at any S3-compatible storage you own.
Do I need an account or an internet connection?
No account, and no connection beyond Docker pulling the images the first
time. Everything else is local.
Docker says it’s not installed / not running.
The Drydock tab detects both states. Install Docker Desktop, or start it
and click Retry.
How do I go from the demo to real on-prem or cloud?
It’s the same software. Run nightshipd on your own box
or in the cloud, point its storage at your own S3-compatible bucket, and
hand out invites. See Running a server and
Connect object storage.