Your first image

Before you start

You need Docker with Compose, access to your supplied zorkaImgTune image, an activation key and a source image directory. The image and key are supplied for your deployment; these examples do not create a license or grant registry access.

Download compose.yaml and config.yaml. Save the configuration as deploy/config.yaml next to Compose, and the activation key as secrets/license.key.

1. Set your paths and image

Create .env next to compose.yaml:

# Replace this with your supplied image and pinned tag or digest.
ZORKA_IMAGE=registry.example.com/team/zorka:RELEASE
ZORKA_CONFIG=./deploy/config.yaml
ZORKA_LICENSE_KEY_FILE=./secrets/license.key
UPLOAD_DIR=/srv/website/upload
ZORKA_PORT=8088
ZORKA_ADMIN_PORT=9090

Container user 10001 must be able to read the configuration, activation key and source files. The image directory is mounted read-only. Keep real keys and .env files out of Git.

2. Start the service

docker compose up -d
curl --fail http://127.0.0.1:8088/ready

/ready checks readiness to serve requests. A licensed distribution requires an active license and connectivity to the license server configured for that distribution.

3. Fetch your first image

Place photo.jpg in UPLOAD_DIR, then run:

curl --fail -D /tmp/zorka-headers.txt   -H 'Accept: image/webp'   http://127.0.0.1:8088/upload/photo.jpg   -o /tmp/zorka-test.webp

Inspect Content-Type, file size and visual quality. Repeat the request: X-Image-Cache tells you which layer served it. Source dimensions are preserved.

4. Connect a test page

Route image requests through your reverse proxy. Start with a small set of images, compare results, then expand the rollout. Terminate TLS at the external proxy and keep the admin port on loopback.

Next: integrations, configuration and troubleshooting.