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Running PhotoPrism on a Synology NAS

Before setting up PhotoPrism on your NAS, we recommend that you check the Synology Knowledge Base for the CPU and memory configuration of your device.

For a good user experience, it should be a 64-bit system with at least 2 cores and 3 GB of RAM. Indexing large photo and video collections also benefits greatly from using SSD storage, especially for the database and cache files. Whether your device is fast enough largely depends on your expectations and how many files you have. Most users report that PhotoPrism runs well on their Synology NAS. However, keep in mind that the initial indexing process may take longer than it would on a typical desktop computer or server.

Should you experience problems with the installation, we recommend that you ask the Synology community for advice, as we cannot provide support for third-party software and services. Also note that RAW image conversion and TensorFlow are disabled on devices with 1 GB or less memory, and that high-resolution panoramic images may require additional swap space and/or physical memory above the recommended minimum.

Setup

Setup using Portainer

If you have Portainer set up on your device, you can follow our step-by-step guide to install PhotoPrism. Learn more ›

Setup using Synology Container Manager

Follow the steps below if you prefer Synology's built-in Container Manager (DSM 7.2+). The workflow mirrors Docker Compose, so you keep the entire configuration in a single YAML file and can redeploy updates with a few clicks.

1. Prerequisites

  • Install Container Manager from Package Center ▸ Search ▸ “Container”. DSM replaces the legacy Docker app with this package starting in DSM 7.2.
  • Confirm your NAS has a 64‑bit CPU and at least 4 GB RAM; LinuxLinks found PhotoPrism unstable below that threshold when indexing on DSM hardware.
  • Decide where originals live. Fast SSD volumes for the storage directory (cache, thumbnails, database dumps) significantly improve indexing performance.

2. Create shared folders

  1. Open Control Panel ▸ Shared Folder ▸ Create.
  2. Create a share such as /volume1/docker/photoprism, then add subfolders:
  3. storage – holds config, cache, sidecars.
  4. database – persistent MariaDB data.
  5. import – optional staging folder for uploads.
  6. originals – use this only if you plan to copy photos into a new folder. Most users should mount the share that already contains their pictures (for example /volume1/photo).
  7. Grant read/write access to the Container Manager system account (and your admin user) so Compose can mount these paths. Keeping assets inside /volume1/docker/<project> simplifies snapshots and backups.

3. Download the PhotoPrism image

  1. Launch Container Manager and switch to the Registry tab.
  2. Search for photoprism/photoprism, select it, and choose the latest tag (use an architecture-specific tag only if your NAS requires it).
  3. Click Download; the image appears under the Image tab once the pull completes.

4. Create a Compose project

  1. Go to the Project tab and click Create.
  2. Set a project name such as photoprism.

  3. Select Create with compose, then paste an adapted version of our standard Compose file into the editor:

    services:
  mariadb:
    image: mariadb:11
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      MARIADB_AUTO_UPGRADE: "1"
      MARIADB_INITDB_SKIP_TZINFO: "1"
      MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD: "supersecret"
      MARIADB_DATABASE: photoprism
      MARIADB_USER: photoprism
      MARIADB_PASSWORD: "change-me"
    volumes:
      # persistent database files on the NAS
      - /volume1/docker/photoprism/database:/var/lib/mysql

  photoprism:
    image: photoprism/photoprism:latest
    depends_on:
      - mariadb
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "2342:2342"
    environment:
      # initial admin password (8-72 characters)
      PHOTOPRISM_ADMIN_PASSWORD: "choose-a-strong-password"
      # canonical URL used to generate share links
      PHOTOPRISM_SITE_URL: "http://YOUR_NAS_IP:2342/"
      # force HTTP even if HTTPS is configured
      PHOTOPRISM_DISABLE_TLS: "false"
      # create a self-signed certificate as fallback
      PHOTOPRISM_DEFAULT_TLS: "true"
      # default UI language (e.g., en, de, fr)
      PHOTOPRISM_DEFAULT_LOCALE: "en"
      # location language (local, en, de, …)
      PHOTOPRISM_PLACES_LOCALE: "local"
      # write YAML sidecars with asset metadata
      PHOTOPRISM_SIDECAR_YAML: "true"
      # back up album metadata periodically
      PHOTOPRISM_BACKUP_ALBUMS: "true"
      # enable automatic database backups
      PHOTOPRISM_BACKUP_DATABASE: "true"
      # cron entry or shortcut (daily, weekly) for backups
      PHOTOPRISM_BACKUP_SCHEDULE: "daily"
      # cron syntax or "" to disable scheduled indexing
      PHOTOPRISM_INDEX_SCHEDULE: ""
      # delay (seconds) before indexing WebDAV uploads
      PHOTOPRISM_AUTO_INDEX: 300
      # delay (seconds) before importing WebDAV uploads
      PHOTOPRISM_AUTO_IMPORT: -1
      # auto-flag potentially offensive content (TensorFlow required)
      PHOTOPRISM_DETECT_NSFW: "false"
      # allow uploads that might be offensive
      PHOTOPRISM_UPLOAD_NSFW: "true"
      # restrict uploads to listed extensions (leave blank to allow all)
      PHOTOPRISM_UPLOAD_ALLOW: ""
      # allow zip uploads (extracted before import)
      PHOTOPRISM_UPLOAD_ARCHIVES: "true"
      # max upload size in MB
      PHOTOPRISM_UPLOAD_LIMIT: 5000
      # max originals size in MB (larger files are skipped)
      PHOTOPRISM_ORIGINALS_LIMIT: 5000
      # enable gzip to reduce bandwidth
      PHOTOPRISM_HTTP_COMPRESSION: "gzip"
      # database driver / connection settings
      PHOTOPRISM_DATABASE_DRIVER: "mysql"
      PHOTOPRISM_DATABASE_SERVER: "mariadb:3306"
      PHOTOPRISM_DATABASE_NAME: "photoprism"
      PHOTOPRISM_DATABASE_USER: "photoprism"
      PHOTOPRISM_DATABASE_PASSWORD: "change-me"
    volumes:
      # config, cache, and backups (place on SSD storage if available)
      - /volume1/docker/photoprism/storage:/photoprism/storage
      # existing media; replace /volume1/photo with your actual path
      - /volume1/photo:/photoprism/originals
      # optional import staging folder
      - /volume1/docker/photoprism/import:/photoprism/import

    By default, our Docker images use the volume mount paths /photoprism/storage and /photoprism/originals, so no additional variables are required to configure them.

  4. Update the placeholders (passwords, timezone, /volume1/docker/photoprism, and your actual originals share such as /volume1/photo) before clicking Next ▸ Create. Container Manager stores the Compose file with the project so you can edit it later without retyping.

5. Deploy and verify

  1. Highlight your new project and click Start. Container Manager creates both services; the Container tab should show green status dots for photoprism and mariadb.
  2. Visit http://<NAS-IP>:2342/ from your browser, complete the welcome wizard, and begin indexing. Expect the first scan to take a while on Atom-class CPUs; keep an eye on RAM usage and let the process finish without interruptions.
  3. Revisit the Compose file any time you need to adjust paths, environment variables, or add hardware acceleration flags documented in Config Options.
  4. Our First Steps 👣 tutorial guides you through the user interface and settings to ensure your library is indexed according to your individual preferences.

Troubleshooting

If your device runs out of memory or other system resources:

Other issues? Our troubleshooting checklists help you quickly diagnose and resolve them.