How-To: Run Dapr in self-hosted mode without Docker

    Initialize Dapr without containers

    The Dapr CLI provides an option to initialize Dapr using slim init, without the default creation of a development environment with a dependency on Docker. To initialize Dapr with slim init, after installing the Dapr CLI, use the following command:

    Two different binaries are installed:

    • placement

    The binary is needed to enable in a Dapr self-hosted installation.

    In slim init mode, no default components (such as Redis) are installed for state management or pub/sub. This means that, aside from service invocation, no other building block functionality is available “out-of-the-box” on install. Instead, you can set up your own environment and custom components.

    Actor-based service invocation is possible if a state store is configured, as explained in the following sections.

    Enable state management or pub/sub

    See documentation around to enable a local state store or pub/sub broker for messaging.

    To enable actor placement:

    By default, the placement binary is installed in:

    Now, to run an application with actors enabled, you can follow the sample example created for:

    Update the state store configuration files to match the Redis host and password with your setup.

    Enable it as a actor state store by making the metadata piece similar to the sample Java Redis component definition.

    Clean up

    When finished, remove the binaries by following Uninstall Dapr in a self-hosted environment to remove the binaries.