Green Padlock, Zero Headache: Let’s Encrypt SSL for Self-Hosted Dify
#dify#letsencrypt#docker#devops
Shamsuddin Ahmed

Shamsuddin Ahmed @shamspias

About: I build backends and mess with AI. I code in Python. Sometimes it works, sometimes it’s magic. Big fan of hacking stuff together and making it work somehow.

Location:
Bangladesh
Joined:
Apr 28, 2024

Green Padlock, Zero Headache: Let’s Encrypt SSL for Self-Hosted Dify

Publish Date: May 8
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“Your app isn’t production until the padlock turns green.”
This guide merges the one-liner speed of the quick-start and the step-by-step clarity of the original long-form post.

Follow along and you’ll mint fresh Let’s Encrypt certificates, wire them into Dify’s Nginx, and set-and-forget auto-renewal—all in ~15 minutes.

0 Why bother?

✅ Win 🚀 Why it matters
End-to-end encryption Keep chat sessions & API calls private.
Browser trust No more red “Not secure” labels.
Free & automated Let’s Encrypt renews every 60–90 days without a credit-card or cron anxiety.

1 Prerequisites

  • Domain – A/AAAA record → your server
  • Ports – 80 & 443 open on firewall/cloud SG
  • Docker – v24 + Compose v2 (docker compose version)
  • Dify repo – git clone https://github.com/langgenius/dify.git && cd dify/docker

2 Patch .env (tell Dify who it is) 

# --- SSL filenames Nginx expects
NGINX_SSL_CERT_FILENAME=fullchain.pem
NGINX_SSL_CERT_KEY_FILENAME=privkey.pem

# --- Let Certbot answer ACME challenges
NGINX_ENABLE_CERTBOT_CHALLENGE=true

# --- Your domain + a real e-mail
CERTBOT_DOMAIN=dify.example.com
CERTBOT_EMAIL=ops@example.com

# --- Leave this OFF until the cert exists
NGINX_HTTPS_ENABLED=false
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Got multiple sub-domains?
Add APP_WEB_URL, APP_API_URL, CONSOLE_WEB_URL, and CONSOLE_API_URL, each with https://… so Dify’s front-end matches its back-end once HTTPS is live.

3 (Tidy-up) Prune stray Docker networks

Old bridges sometimes clash with the Certbot profile.

docker network prune        # hit y when asked
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4 Launch the stack with the Certbot profile 

docker compose --profile certbot up --force-recreate -d
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Flag Why we need it
--profile certbot Starts nginx + certbot side-cars.
--force-recreate Rebuild nginx so it mounts the Let’s Encrypt volume.
-d Runs in the background (detached).

5 Run Certbot inside its container 

docker compose exec -it certbot /bin/sh /update-cert.sh
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What just happened?

  1. Certbot spins a micro webroot on :80.
  2. Let’s Encrypt validates dify.example.com.
  3. Keys drop into volumes/certbot/conf/live/dify.example.com/.

Expect the triumphant:

Congratulations! Your certificate and chain have been saved at:
  /etc/letsencrypt/live/dify.example.com/fullchain.pem
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6 Flip the HTTPS switch 

# in docker/.env
NGINX_HTTPS_ENABLED=true
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7 Recreate only nginx (fast restart) 

docker compose --profile certbot up -d --no-deps --force-recreate nginx
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Nginx boots, finds fullchain.pem & privkey.pem, and starts serving 443.

8 Verify the green padlock 

https://dify.example.com
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You should see:

  • 🔒 Green padlock
  • Auto-redirect from http:// → https://

9 Renewal in two commands (bookmark this)

Let’s Encrypt certs last 90 days. Certbot’s built-in cron renews them, but here’s the manual drill:

# 1. Force renew (safe to run anytime)
docker compose exec -it certbot /bin/sh /update-cert.sh

# 2. Hot-reload nginx to pick up the new files
docker compose exec nginx nginx -s reload
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10 Troubleshooting cheat-sheet

🛠️ Symptom 💡 Fix
timeout during connect (likely firewall) Port 80 closed or DNS not propagated.
Permission denied on /update-cert.sh Script lost its +x bit—chmod +x /update-cert.sh inside the image or rebuild.
Infinite “Loading…” UI All five *_WEB_URL / *_API_URL env vars must match the new https://… URL.
bind: address already in use: 0.0.0.0:80 Another web server running—stop Apache/old Nginx or change Compose ports.

11 Recap (copy-paste edition) 

# 0  clone repo & cd dify/docker
# 1  edit .env  → domain, e-mail, filenames
# 2  docker network prune
# 3  docker compose --profile certbot up --force-recreate -d
# 4  docker compose exec -it certbot /bin/sh /update-cert.sh
# 5  set NGINX_HTTPS_ENABLED=true in .env
# 6  docker compose --profile certbot up -d --no-deps --force-recreate nginx
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Fifteen minutes, one free cert, zero recurring fees—your Dify instance is officially production-grade.

Happy shipping!

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