Running Collabora

Introduction

The Collabora Online Development Edition (CODE) is a server that provides online document editing. It allows collaborative editing of common office documents and serves as an open-source alternative to Office365.

This guide demonstrates the installation using a Nextcloud example – from initial setup to creating and opening your first document.

Requirements

1. Installed and configured Nextcloud version 29 or higher, with Nextcloud Office installed
2. mStudio with a hosting plan that supports containerized workloads
3. Sufficient free RAM (see dashboard)
4. An already existing subdomain for CODE (e.g. code.my-domain.tld)

Further Resources

• Nextcloud
• Collabora
• Collabora Docker Docs
• Docker Hub CODE

note

We assume that a working Nextcloud is already installed and configured. It is important that the Nextcloud Office app is also installed in the backend of Nextcloud. If it's not installed yet, you can add it via the Nextcloud App Store.

Collabora/CODE can be operated either as a separate instance in its own project or per Nextcloud instance, depending on your use case. Both setups are possible: either one CODE instance per Nextcloud or one centralized CODE instance for multiple Nextclouds.

How do I start the container?

Using the mStudio UI

In mStudio, go to your project and select “Create container”. A guided dialog will open to assist you with the container setup.

First, enter a description – this is a free text field used to identify the container. For example, enter “collabora/code”.

Next, you'll be asked for the image name. You can find this on Docker Hub, in this case it is collabora/code. Enter this value and confirm with “Next”.

Entrypoint and Volume

• The Entrypoint can remain unchanged
• In the next section, you can create a Volume (persistent storage). This is not strictly required for collabora/code, so you can skip this section

Environment Variables

In the next section “Add environment variables”, we need to make some adjustments. Click “Add variable” – two input fields (Key & Value) will appear.

Now it depends on whether collabora/code will be used for a single Nextcloud instance in the same project or for multiple Nextcloud instances. Replace code.my-domain.tld with your actual subdomain.

For a single Nextcloud instance in the same project:

extra_params=--o:ssl.enable=false --o:ssl.termination=true --o:net.post_allow.host[0]=.+ --o:storage.wopi.host[0]=.+ --o:server_name=code.my-domain.tld

For multiple Nextcloud instances:

aliasgroup1=https://.*:443

extra_params=--o:ssl.enable=false --o:ssl.termination=true --o:net.post_allow.host[0]=.+ --o:storage.wopi.host[0]=.+ --o:server_name=code.my-domain.tld

note

aliasgroup1=https://.*:443 allows access from all external domains. For better security, you can use a more restrictive domain pattern – see the documentation.

Once you've entered the desired value, click “Save”. In the final section, you’ll be asked for the port – you can leave this unchanged. Click “Create container” to create and start the container.

Alternative: Using the mw container run command

You can also use the mw container run command to directly create and start a Collabora container from the command line. This approach is similar to using the Docker CLI and allows you to specify all container parameters in a single command.

For a single Nextcloud instance in the same project:

mw container run \
  --name collabora \
  --description "Collabora Online Development Edition" \
  --publish 9980/tcp \
  --env "extra_params=--o:ssl.enable=false --o:ssl.termination=true --o:net.post_allow.host[0]=.+ --o:storage.wopi.host[0]=.+ --o:server_name=code.my-domain.tld" \
  collabora/code

For multiple Nextcloud instances:

mw container run \
  --name collabora \
  --description "Collabora Online Development Edition" \
  --publish 9980/tcp \
  --env "aliasgroup1=https://.*:443" \
  --env "extra_params=--o:ssl.enable=false --o:ssl.termination=true --o:net.post_allow.host[0]=.+ --o:storage.wopi.host[0]=.+ --o:server_name=code.my-domain.tld" \
  collabora/code

Make sure to replace code.my-domain.tld with your actual subdomain. The --publish flag exposes port 9980, which is the default port used by Collabora. The --name flag sets the container name, which will also be used as the internal DNS name.

After creating the container, you'll still need to assign a domain to it as described in the "Assign Domain" section below.

Alternative: Using the mw stack deploy command

Alternatively, you can use the mw stack deploy command, which is compatible with Docker Compose. This approach allows you to define your container configuration in a YAML file and deploy it with a single command.

First, create a docker-compose.yml file with the following content:

services:
  collabora:
    image: collabora/code
    ports:
      - "9980/tcp"
    environment:
      # For a single Nextcloud instance in the same project:
      extra_params: "--o:ssl.enable=false --o:ssl.termination=true --o:net.post_allow.host[0]=.+ --o:storage.wopi.host[0]=.+ --o:server_name=code.my-domain.tld"
      # For multiple Nextcloud instances (uncomment this line):
      # aliasgroup1: "https://.*:443"

Make sure to replace code.my-domain.tld with your actual subdomain. Choose the appropriate extra_params configuration based on your use case (single or multiple Nextcloud instances).

Then, deploy the container using the mw stack deploy command:

mw stack deploy

This command will read the docker-compose.yml file from the current directory and deploy it to your default stack. If you want to specify a different file or stack, you can use the following options:

mw stack deploy --compose-file=/path/to/docker-compose.yml --stack-id=your-stack-id

After deploying the container, you'll still need to assign a domain to it. You can do this through the mStudio UI as described in the "Assign Domain" section above.

Assign Domain

Now switch to the Domains section and link code.my-domain.tld with your container. Select the domain and set the target to the container you just created.

Alternatively, use the mw domain virtualhost create CLI command with the --path-to-container flag.

Integration in Nextcloud

In order for Nextcloud to communicate with collabora/code, you need to configure it in the backend of Nextcloud. Log in to your Nextcloud as an admin user (admin rights required!).

Navigate to Administration Settings > Office. Select “Use your own server” and fill in the field as follows:

Single instance in the same project

In the “URL (and port) of Collabora Online server” field, enter the container hostname – for example http://collabora:9980 (the hostname matches the container name). Enable the checkbox “Disable certificate verification”.

You should now see a green confirmation message:

Collabora Online server is reachable.
Collabora Online Development Edition 24.04.13.2 ded56d8ff7
URL used by browser: https://code.your-domain.tld
Nextcloud URL used by Collabora: https://nextcloud.your-domain.tld

Instance for multiple Nextclouds

Enter the publicly accessible URL of the Collabora server, e.g., https://code.my-domain.tld. The certificate verification checkbox does not need to be enabled if a valid SSL certificate (e.g. Let’s Encrypt) is in place.

You'll also get the green success message if everything is correct:

Collabora Online server is reachable.
Collabora Online Development Edition 24.04.13.2 ded56d8ff7
URL used by browser: https://code.my-domain.tld
Nextcloud URL used by Collabora: https://nextcloud.other-domain.tld

Create a document

You can create a new document directly within Nextcloud: go to the Files section and click “+ New” to create and start editing your first document.

If you want to collaborate with other users on the same document, you can do so directly in the browser – simply open the document.