Deployment

The pilot ships as a Docker Compose stack: AXIS gate, PostgreSQL and the Control Plane. This page covers the standard deployment, the extended stacks (production-like, reviewer), and what changes in each mode.

Standard stack

services:
  axis:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "6543:6543"
    environment:
      - LISTEN_ADDR=0.0.0.0:6543
      - DATABASE_URL=postgres://axis_executor:CHANGE_ME@db:5432/axis_demo
      - OPERATING_MODE=enforce
      - AXIS_POLICY_DIR=./policies
      - AXIS_POLICY_MANIFEST=./policies/policy_manifest.json
      - AUDIT_WAL_PATH=/data/audit.wal
      - AUDIT_LOG_PATH=/data/audit.log
      - AXIS_APPROVAL_DB_PATH=/data/approvals.sqlite
      - AXIS_OPERATOR_TOKEN=${AXIS_OPERATOR_TOKEN:-}
    volumes:
      - ./data:/data
      - ./policies:/app/policies
    depends_on:
      - db
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:6543/health"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 3s
      retries: 5

  db:
    image: postgres:16
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_USER=axis_executor
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=CHANGE_ME
      - POSTGRES_DB=axis_demo
    ports:
      - "5432:5432"
    volumes:
      - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data

  control-plane:
    build: ./control-plane
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      - AXIS_BACKEND_URL=http://axis:6543
      - NEXTAUTH_URL=http://localhost:3000

volumes:
  pgdata:

Start: docker compose up --build then verify with curl http://localhost:6543/health and curl http://localhost:6543/policy/status.

Database setup

• PostgreSQL runs with the axis_executor role, which the AXIS gate uses for protected execution.
• Revoke public DDL/DML capabilities from the executor role as far as the demo allows; production deployments should lock the role to the tables AXIS must manage.
• Keep the database reachable only from the AXIS network segment; direct client access is the documented bypass.

Runtime profiles

Extended stacks

Deployment controls

• Set a real AXIS_OPERATOR_TOKEN; unset tokens keep local dev unblocked but report operator_auth_enabled: false.
• Mount policies as read-only volumes; keep the manifest and active policy hash-stable.
• Persist /data (WAL, JSONL, approvals) outside containers.
• Health check on /health must return status: ok before traffic is served.
• Production readiness requires the mTLS and TLS review gates (see mTLS & Network).

Related: Installation · Configuration · Operations