sudo docker run --rm -p 8181:8181
-v $PWD/data:/var/lib/influxdb3/data
-v $PWD/plugins:/var/lib/influxdb3/plugins
influxdb:3-core influxdb3 serve
–node-id=my-node-0
–object-store=file
–data-dir=/var/lib/influxdb3/data
–plugin-dir=/var/lib/influxdb3/plugins
[sudo] password for nigel:
2025-10-29T09:01:43.565392Z INFO influxdb3_lib::commands::serve: InfluxDB 3 Core server starting node_id=my-node-0 git_hash=a359575c82d87d72f22718df4ab9f092f4b5ba38 version=3.5.0 uuid=7ddb6630-69e8-4f23-b60f-dd421f758c74 num_cpus=4
2025-10-29T09:01:43.565654Z INFO influxdb3_clap_blocks::object_store: Object Store db_dir=“/var/lib/influxdb3/data” object_store_type=“Directory”
2025-10-29T09:01:43.566259Z INFO influxdb3_lib::commands::serve: Creating shared query executor num_threads=4
2025-10-29T09:01:43.569190Z INFO influxdb3_catalog::object_store::versions::v2: catalog not found, creating a new one catalog_uuid=547a4d35-0726-4d0f-9b83-52d475ee8faa
2025-10-29T09:01:43.569450Z ERROR influxdb3_catalog::object_store::versions::v2: failed to persist catalog checkpoint file error=Generic { store: “LocalFileSystem”, source: UnableToCreateDir { source: Os { code: 13, kind: PermissionDenied, message: “Permission denied” }, path: “/var/lib/influxdb3/data/my-node-0/catalog/v2” } }
2025-10-29T09:01:43.569570Z WARN executor: DedicatedExecutor dropped without calling shutdown()
2025-10-29T09:01:43.569630Z WARN executor: DedicatedExecutor dropped without waiting for worker termination
2025-10-29T09:01:43.570220Z WARN executor: DedicatedExecutor dropped without calling shutdown()
2025-10-29T09:01:43.570247Z WARN executor: DedicatedExecutor dropped without waiting for worker termination
2025-10-29T09:01:43.570716Z INFO influxdb3_cache::parquet_cache: cache request handler closed
Serve command failed: failed to initialize catalog: object store error: ObjectStore(Generic { store: “LocalFileSystem”, source: UnableToCreateDir { source: Os { code: 13, kind: PermissionDenied, message: “Permission denied” }, path: “/var/lib/influxdb3/data/my-node-0/catalog/v2” } })
Your answer is right there 
Adjust permissions / set owner correctly for your storage path.
I had the same issue following the instructions issued at the end of the installation:
NEXT STEPS
- Run the Docker image:
└─ docker run -it -p 8181:8181 --name influxdb3-container
–volume ~/.influxdb3_data:/.data --volume ~/.influxdb3_plugins:/plugins influxdb:3-core
influxdb3 serve --node-id node0 --object-store file --data-dir /.data --plugin-dir /plugins
and got it working with
docker run -itd -p 8181:8181 --name influxdb3-container \
–volume ~/.influxdb3_data:/home/influxdb3/.data \
–volume ~/.influxdb3_plugins:/home/influxdb3/.plugins influxdb:3-core \
sh -c influxdb3 serve --node-id node0 --object-store file --data-dir /home/influxdb3/.data --plugin-dir /home/influxdb3/.plugins
(key was the ‘sh -c’ in front of the influxdb3 command, as well as the path changes)
Hope that helps.
-F
Thanks both - the /var/lib/influxdb3/data/my-node-0/catalog/v2 does not exist and I m struggling to understand why/how the install sh did not create with the right permissions and/or the doc didn’t highlight that its needed ! What are the required permissions ?
I guess I have the same issue. When I run the compose.yml from the docker hub readme
# compose.yaml
name: influxdb3
services:
influxdb3-core:
container_name: influxdb3-core
image: influxdb:3-core
ports:
- 8181:8181
command:
- influxdb3
- serve
- --node-id=node0
- --object-store=file
- --data-dir=/var/lib/influxdb3/data
- --plugin-dir=/var/lib/influxdb3/plugins
volumes:
- type: bind
source: ~/.influxdb3/core/data
target: /var/lib/influxdb3/data
- type: bind
source: ~/.influxdb3/core/plugins
target: /var/lib/influxdb3/plugins
I get
influxdb3-core: 2025-11-12T12:44:00.281516Z INFO influxdb3_lib::commands::serve: InfluxDB 3 Core server starting node_id=node0 git_hash=7e07b134f4e91b2bbf492b22be99b2bb748a6172 version=3.6.0 uuid=a674140c-ec53-44df-8f1a-6d24138e854d num_cpus=16
influxdb3-core: 2025-11-12T12:44:00.281677Z INFO influxdb3_clap_blocks::object_store: Object Store db_dir="/var/lib/influxdb3/data" object_store_type="Directory"
influxdb3-core: 2025-11-12T12:44:00.281922Z INFO influxdb3_lib::commands::serve: Creating shared query executor num_threads=16
influxdb3-core: 2025-11-12T12:44:00.298695Z INFO influxdb3_catalog::object_store::versions::v2: catalog not found, creating a new one catalog_uuid=34d4cf05-a110-4fd6-b4b3-656187710464
influxdb3-core: 2025-11-12T12:44:00.298809Z ERROR influxdb3_catalog::object_store::versions::v2: failed to persist catalog checkpoint file error=Generic { store: "LocalFileSystem", source: UnableToCreateDir { source: Os { code: 13, kind: PermissionDenied, message: "Permission denied" }, path: "/var/lib/influxdb3/data/node0/catalog/v2" } }
influxdb3-core: 2025-11-12T12:44:00.298862Z WARN executor: DedicatedExecutor dropped without calling shutdown()
influxdb3-core: 2025-11-12T12:44:00.298877Z WARN executor: DedicatedExecutor dropped without waiting for worker termination
influxdb3-core: 2025-11-12T12:44:00.299304Z WARN executor: DedicatedExecutor dropped without calling shutdown()
influxdb3-core: 2025-11-12T12:44:00.299313Z WARN executor: DedicatedExecutor dropped without waiting for worker termination
influxdb3-core: 2025-11-12T12:44:00.300342Z INFO influxdb3_cache::parquet_cache: cache request handler closed
influxdb3-core: Serve command failed: failed to initialize catalog: object store error: ObjectStore(Generic { store: "LocalFileSystem", source: UnableToCreateDir { source: Os { code: 13, kind: PermissionDenied, message: "Permission denied" }, path: "/var/lib/influxdb3/data/node0/catalog/v2" } })
When I then create the directories myself, it can’t open the file
dataloggeringester-influxdb3-core-1: Serve command failed: failed to initialize catalog: object store error: ObjectStore(Generic { store: "LocalFileSystem", source: UnableToOpenFile { source: Os { code: 13, kind: PermissionDenied, message: "Permission denied" }, path: "/var/lib/influxdb3/data/node0/catalog/v2/snapshot#1" } })
The same thing happens when I change the volume configuration to
volumes:
- influxdb3-data:/var/lib/influxdb3/data
- influxdb3-plugins:/var/lib/influxdb3/plugins
volumes:
influxdb3-data:
influxdb3-plugins:
It seems the permission errors you are seeing when running InfluxDB 3 Core in Docker are caused by the container not having write access to the mounted data directory, so you need to ensure the host directory you mount (e.g., ~/.influxdb3/core/data) is writable by the container’s user.
How do I find out what the right user is?
Edit: I thing I got it. I changed the permissions of a directory that get mounted into the container to 767 and created a file from inside the container. On the outside it showed the owner as “1500”. So I set the owner of the directories to that. I guess the cause for the issue is that the user inside the container is not root like with a lot of other docker containers
Correct re UID=1500 and GID=1500.
You need to set permissions in your influxdb 3 data directory to those numbers, ie.
chown -R 1500:1500 ~/.influxdb3/core/data
chmod -R u=rwX,g=rwX,o=rX ~/.influxdb3/core/data
same for plugins folder etc.
I’m really interested in how to do things from inside a container that’s constantly crashing? How did you do that?
Btw on my system the corresponding influxdb3-directory on the host has rights 0775. This is how I did it on every f*cking container I created with no problem.
So what’s wrong with influxdb?
EDIT: I changed directories on the host to 0777 with owner root[0]. Container log is still babbling something about “access denied”, which is a lie.
I’m really frustrated.
Like t05d9vhd5, I am using named volumes, so I mounted them on another container (at /tmp/influxdb3), which I have for the purpose of… manual intervention… and did the chown -vR 1500:1500 /tmp/influxdb3. In other words, I do not do things inside a container that’s constantly crashing. I agree that there is something abnormal about the way the influxdb container is creating its volumes.
Could you please file a GitHub issue here so engineers can look at it: GitHub · Where software is built Thanks!
