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Introducing Bucketeer Lite – Run Anywhere with Docker Compose

· 4 min read
Alessandro Yuichi Okimoto
Alessandro Yuichi Okimoto
Software Engineer

Bucketeer has always been a powerful open-source platform for feature flag management and A/B testing.
But until now, self-hosting Bucketeer required Google Cloud services like BigQuery and Pub/Sub. That meant local testing was difficult, and teams who preferred to host outside GCP had limited options.

With Bucketeer Lite, we're changing that.

Now you can run Bucketeer in just a few minutes using Docker Compose, with Redis Streams for pub/sub and MySQL for data storage.
No GCP required — just Docker, MySQL, and Redis.

Why This Matters​

This release opens up Bucketeer to a much wider audience:

  • Open-source contributors can run Bucketeer locally in minutes.
  • Engineering teams can try Bucketeer before committing to cloud infrastructure.
  • Organizations can self-host in any environment that supports Docker, MySQL, and Redis.

In short, Bucketeer Lite makes it easier than ever to evaluate, adopt, and contribute to Bucketeer.

What Changed​

Previously, Bucketeer relied on GCP services:

  • Google Pub/Sub for messaging
  • BigQuery for data warehousing

This created friction for developers who wanted to experiment locally or deploy in their own infrastructure.

Now, with Bucketeer Lite:

  • Redis Streams replace Google Pub/Sub
  • MySQL replaces BigQuery
  • All services are bundled into a Docker Compose stack

Side-by-Side Comparison​

AspectBefore (GCP only)Now (Bucketeer Lite)
Pub/SubGoogle Pub/SubRedis Streams
Data WarehouseBigQueryMySQL
SetupGCP project, IAM, configsmake docker-compose-up
HostingGCP onlyAny platform with Docker

Architecture​

Under the hood, Bucketeer Lite runs the same core services as the full Bucketeer stack, but simplified for Docker Compose:

  • NGINX Reverse Proxy – terminates HTTPS, handles routing, and exposes ports 80/443.
  • Bucketeer Services – Web, API, Batch, Subscriber, and Migration services communicate internally over gRPC secured with TLS.
  • MySQL and Redis – MySQL stores data, while Redis provides caching and pub/sub via Redis Streams.

All communication between services is secured with TLS, and Nginx provides a production-like entrypoint even in local setups.

Getting Started in Minutes​

With Docker and Docker Compose installed, bring up Bucketeer Lite in a few commands:

git clone https://github.com/bucketeer-io/bucketeer
make docker-compose-up

Once running​

Before opening the Admin Console, add the following entry to your /etc/hosts file:

127.0.0.1 web-gateway.bucketeer.io
127.0.0.1 api-gateway.bucketeer.io

This is required for the Admin Console domain.
The API Gateway also works via http://localhost and doesn’t need a hosts entry.

Bucketeer Dashboard Screenshot

That's it — Bucketeer is live locally! 🎉

Example Workflow​

After launching Bucketeer Lite, you can:

  1. Open the Admin Console and create a feature flag.
  2. Use one of the client SDKs to connect to the local API gateway (http://localhost).
  3. Evaluate the flag directly in your app.

This makes it possible to develop and test with real feature flags locally, without depending on cloud infrastructure.

What's Next​

We're not stopping here. In the next semester, we'll add PostgreSQL support for both:

  • The console database
  • The big data/analytics layer

This will give teams even more flexibility and performance improvements, especially for those already standardizing on PostgreSQL in production.

Try Bucketeer Lite Today​

Bucketeer Lite is ready for you to try — running locally only takes a few minutes with Docker Compose.

👉 Get Bucketeer on GitHub