Despite their small form-factor and energy-efficient design, modern Raspberry Pi SBCs pack enough firepower under the hood to run dozens of containers. Since these adorable boards are compatible with several home server operating systems, you can self-host your favorite services without scouring through waves of Docker commands.

But what if you wanted to use your Raspberry Pi for other projects without swapping distros every time you come up with a new DIY idea? Runtipi can be a lifesaver in this scenario, and here’s everything you need to know about this wonderful utility.

What’s Runtipi, anyway?

And why should you bother self-hosting it?

At its core, Runtipi offers a simple web UI to help you configure, install, and manage apps inside Docker containers, making it akin to UmbrelOS, Freedombox, YunoHost, and other containerization distributions. But unlike its rivals, Runtipi doesn’t have to be flashed on a microSD card as an operating system and can be set up on top of another operating system.

This way, you don’t have to switch to another device just to access your Docker-based application stack. If your Raspberry Pi has enough resources, you can even run your self-hosted services in the background while working on SBC projects. For folks with a mini-PC or x86 system, you can configure Runtipi on your favorite Linux distro and work with an even larger set of applications than the ones available on the Raspberry Pi and other Arm-based SBCs.

While we’re on the subject, Runtipi’s app store houses a solid collection of over 300 services, ranging from Nextcloud, Vikunja, and other popular utilities to the more obscure tools like RomM, Spoolman, and IT-Tools. Heck, it even has a container that lets you run Windows 11 on your SBC! To top it off, Runtipi also includes a neat dashboard where you can check your system resources and pin locally-hosted as well as external applications. It also has the simplest installation process out of every container platform I’ve ever used in my home lab, let alone on my Raspberry Pi.

Setting up a Runtipi instance

Once you’re ready to dip your toes in the Runtipi waters, all you have to do is:

1. Launch the terminal application of your distro.
2. Execute the following command to pull the Runtipi package and install it on your system:

   curl -L https://setup.runtipi.io | bash

3. Once the script has worked its magic, you can use the IP address generated inside the terminal to access the web UI.
4. Enter the Email address and Password for your admin user inside the Runtipi browser window.
5. Hit the Save and enter button.

Installing apps on Runtipi

Now that you’re in the Runtipi dashboard, it’s time to outfit your Raspberry Pi server with some containers.

1. Head to the App Store tab and click on the service you wish to deploy on your SBC.
2. Press the Install button under the app name, choose the Reverse proxy settings, and tap Install inside the pop-up window.
3. Once Runtipi has finished deploying the container, you can press Open to access it inside a separate browser window.

Build an imposing self-hosted app stack with Runtipi

With that, you’re free to tinker with Runtipi to your heart’s content. After moving many of my favorite self-hosted services to Runtipi, I’ve grown quite fond of the platform – to the point where I’ve started using it as my primary containerization tool on the Raspberry Pi.

But for folks who don’t mind relegating an entire microSD card to a container-centric distro, I recommend checking out UmbrelOS and YunoHost. The former has a really sleek UI, while the latter combines several neat features with a robust app library.