Jenkins

What is Jenkins?

Jenkins is a widely used open-source automation server for building CI/CD pipelines: running tests, building artifacts, and deploying on every push. Laradock runs it as its own privileged container with access to the Docker socket, so pipeline jobs can build and run other containers.

Start Jenkins

Laradock CLI

./laradock start jenkins

Docker Compose

docker compose up -d jenkins

Jenkins state is created on first start under JENKINS_HOME and kept between restarts.

Stop Jenkins

Stopping just pauses the container; your data is safe:

Laradock CLI

./laradock stop jenkins

Docker Compose

docker compose stop jenkins

To delete the container entirely (the data on disk is still untouched, it lives under JENKINS_HOME):

Laradock CLI

./laradock remove jenkins

Docker Compose

docker compose rm -sf jenkins

Logs

Laradock CLI

./laradock logs jenkins

Docker Compose

docker compose logs --tail=100 jenkins

Configuration

All settings live in jenkins/defaults.env and can be overridden by adding the same line to your own .env (your .env always wins):

Variable	Default	What it does
JENKINS_HOST_HTTP_PORT	8090	Host-side port the Jenkins web UI is published on.
JENKINS_HOST_SLAVE_AGENT_PORT	50000	Host-side port for Jenkins build agents (JNLP).
JENKINS_HOME	./jenkins/jenkins_home	Host folder mounted to /var/jenkins_home, holds all jobs, plugins, and config.

The container also runs privileged: true and mounts /var/run/docker.sock, so Jenkins jobs can build and run Docker containers directly.

Initial setup

1. Start the container, then open http://localhost:8090/ (or your JENKINS_HOST_HTTP_PORT).
2. Sign in with user admin and the auto-generated password:

Laradock CLI

./laradock exec jenkins cat /var/jenkins_home/secrets/initialAdminPassword

Docker Compose

docker compose exec jenkins cat /var/jenkins_home/secrets/initialAdminPassword

3. Install the suggested plugins and create your own admin user when prompted.

Admin tasks

Enter the container as root (needed for some plugin installs or system packages, no friendly CLI shortcut for the root user, use Docker Compose directly):

docker compose exec --user root jenkins bash

For a regular (non-root) shell instead, use the standard enter verb:

Laradock CLI

./laradock enter jenkins

Docker Compose

docker compose exec jenkins bash

• Add a user manually at http://localhost:8090/securityRealm/addUser.
• Review or lock down authorization at http://localhost:8090/configureSecurity/.
• Restart Jenkins itself (without restarting the container) at http://localhost:8090/restart.

Change the Jenkins version

The bundled Jenkins version isn't an .env variable, it's baked into the image via build args in jenkins/Dockerfile: JENKINS_VERSION (currently 2.469) and JENKINS_SHA, the matching .war checksum used to verify the download. To bump it:

1. Look up the new version's .war SHA-256 checksum from the Jenkins download site or its release changelog.
2. Update ARG JENKINS_VERSION and ARG JENKINS_SHA in jenkins/Dockerfile.
3. Rebuild:

Laradock CLI

./laradock rebuild jenkins

Docker Compose

docker compose build jenkins

4. Restart the container: ./laradock restart jenkins. Your jobs, plugins, and config under JENKINS_HOME carry over as-is, Jenkins runs its own plugin-compatibility checks on the new version at startup.

Backup and restore

JENKINS_HOME (./jenkins/jenkins_home by default) is a plain host folder, not a named Docker volume, so backing it up is just archiving that folder. Stop the container first so nothing is mid-write:

Laradock CLI

./laradock stop jenkins

Docker Compose

docker compose stop jenkins

tar -czf jenkins-backup.tar.gz -C jenkins jenkins_home
./laradock start jenkins

To restore, stop Jenkins, extract the archive back over jenkins/jenkins_home (or point JENKINS_HOME at wherever you extracted it), then start again:

./laradock stop jenkins
rm -rf jenkins/jenkins_home
tar -xzf jenkins-backup.tar.gz -C jenkins
./laradock start jenkins

This is also how you move a Jenkins setup (jobs, plugins, credentials, build history) between machines.

Start completely fresh (wipe all data)

To throw away every job, plugin, and credential and start Jenkins from a clean, empty state (this permanently deletes everything under JENKINS_HOME, back up first if you need anything):

Laradock CLI

./laradock stop jenkins
./laradock remove jenkins
rm -rf "${JENKINS_HOME:-./jenkins/jenkins_home}"
./laradock start jenkins

Docker Compose

docker compose stop jenkins
docker compose rm -sf jenkins
rm -rf "${JENKINS_HOME:-./jenkins/jenkins_home}"
docker compose up -d jenkins

Starting again re-runs the full first-boot setup wizard, including a brand-new initialAdminPassword.

Common issues

• Can't find the initial admin password. It only exists before the setup wizard finishes; run the ./laradock exec jenkins cat /var/jenkins_home/secrets/initialAdminPassword command above right after first start.
• Port 8090 already in use. Another local service is bound to it. Change JENKINS_HOST_HTTP_PORT in .env and restart: ./laradock restart jenkins.
• Jobs that build Docker images fail. Confirm the job actually has access to /var/run/docker.sock (mounted by default) and that the container is still running privileged: true.
• Losing jobs/plugins between rebuilds. Everything Jenkins-specific lives under JENKINS_HOME on your host; don't delete that folder unless you intend to reset Jenkins entirely.
• Build agents can't connect (JNLP). Confirm JENKINS_HOST_SLAVE_AGENT_PORT is reachable from the agent and matches the port Jenkins itself is configured to use under Manage Jenkins → Configure Global Security.

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Need a full CI/CD pipeline with its own Git server instead? See GitLab or OneDev. New to Laradock? Start at Getting Started.