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Introducing WatchWarden

· 2 min read
Alex Neo

WatchWarden is a Docker container update manager built for teams that need more than Watchtower can offer — but don't want to set up Kubernetes just to get zero-downtime deployments.

Why We Built This​

Watchtower is great for simple setups. But when you have multiple Docker hosts, need rollback capability, or want to see what changed before updating — it falls short.

WatchWarden fills that gap:

  • Blue-green deployments — start the new container, verify health, then stop the old one
  • Snapshot rollbacks — every update saves the full container config for instant revert
  • Crash-loop detection — automatically rolls back containers stuck in restart loops
  • Multi-host dashboard — manage all your Docker hosts from a single UI
  • Solo Mode — drop-in Watchtower replacement when you don't need the full stack

Two Ways to Run​

Solo Mode — one container, zero dependencies:

docker run -d \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  -e WW_SCHEDULE="@every 6h" \
  -e WW_AUTO_UPDATE=true \
  ghcr.io/watchwarden-labs/watchwarden-agent:latest

Managed Mode — controller + agents + dashboard:

docker compose -f docker-compose.production.yml up -d

What's Next​

  • Private registry support with encrypted credential storage
  • Vulnerability scanning via Trivy
  • Update policies per container group
  • Scheduled maintenance windows

Check out the Getting Started guide to try it out.