---
url: https://dozzle.dev/guide/moving-from-watchtower.md
description: >-
  Replace Watchtower with Dozzle to update Docker containers on a schedule, with
  each Watchtower setting and label mapped to its Dozzle equivalent.
---

# Moving from Watchtower

Dozzle can do what Watchtower does: check your containers for newer images on a schedule and update them. Each update is watched, and the old container is put back if the new one fails to stay up. This page maps Watchtower's settings to Dozzle's.

## Turn it on

Dozzle needs actions on and `/data` on a volume:

```yaml [docker-compose.yml]
services:
  dozzle:
    image: amir20/dozzle:latest
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
      - dozzle-data:/data
    ports:
      - 8080:8080
    environment:
      DOZZLE_ENABLE_ACTIONS: true
      DOZZLE_AUTO_UPDATE: daily
      DOZZLE_AUTO_UPDATE_TIME: "04:00"
volumes:
  dozzle-data:
```

You can leave out the two `DOZZLE_AUTO_UPDATE` lines and set the schedule under **Settings → Updates** instead. Pick **Which containers** there too. Then stop Watchtower, so the two do not update the same containers.

## Settings

| Watchtower                                                         | Dozzle                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `--schedule` or `--interval`                                       | `DOZZLE_AUTO_UPDATE` (`daily`, or `weekly` on Sunday) and `DOZZLE_AUTO_UPDATE_TIME`. At most once a day                                                                                  |
| Every container (the default)                                      | **Which containers: Everything**                                                                                                                                                         |
| `--label-enable` with `com.centurylinklabs.watchtower.enable=true` | **Which containers: Labelled containers** (the default) with `dev.dozzle.update: auto`                                                                                                   |
| `com.centurylinklabs.watchtower.enable=false`                      | `dev.dozzle.update: off`                                                                                                                                                                 |
| `--cleanup`                                                        | Always on. The old untagged image is removed after an update, and one previous image is kept for rolling back                                                                            |
| `--monitor-only`                                                   | Leave the container unlabelled under **Labelled containers**: it is checked and shown as an update, and never updated on its own                                                         |
| `--rolling-restart`                                                | Always: each host updates one container at a time                                                                                                                                        |
| `--notification-url`                                               | [Alerts and webhooks](/guide/alerts-and-webhooks) on container events, or [Dozzle Cloud](/guide/dozzle-cloud), which watches each update and tells you when a new version starts failing |
| `--run-once`                                                       | **Update** in the Updates drawer                                                                                                                                                         |
| Private registry credentials                                       | Not supported. Containers from a private registry are skipped                                                                                                                            |

## Labels

Watchtower's labels are not read. Replace `com.centurylinklabs.watchtower.enable` with `dev.dozzle.update`:

| `dev.dozzle.update` | What happens                                                                                            |
| ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `auto`              | Updated on the schedule, unless **Which containers** is **Dozzle only**                                 |
| *(no label)*        | Updated on the schedule under **Everything**. Otherwise checked and shown as an update, which you apply |
| `off`               | Never checked, never updated                                                                            |

Older Dozzle labels are still accepted: `dev.dozzle.auto-update=true` reads as `auto`, and `dev.dozzle.update-check=false` as `off`.

## What is different

* The old container is kept until the new one has stayed up, and healthy if it has a healthcheck. If not, the old one is put back.
* Unhealthy containers are skipped.
* Stopped containers are never updated, even when they are labelled `auto`.
*  With [Dozzle Cloud](/guide/dozzle-cloud), a scheduled update that starts failing can be [rolled back](/guide/updates#rolling-back). The schedule then leaves that container alone until a newer image is published.
* Images pinned to a digest and images built locally are skipped, since there is nothing newer to compare against.