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LiteLLM Docker Compose System Integration

This document explains the usage and logic of the deploy-litellm-systemd.sh script, which installs and configures a systemd unit to automatically start a Docker Compose stack for LiteLLM on system boot.

Download file here

📄 Script Overview

The script performs the following:

  1. Validates necessary paths, binaries, and user presence.
  2. Generates a systemd unit file for Docker Compose-based service.
  3. Enables the unit for autostart on boot.
  4. Uses qcuser as the execution user for the service.
  5. Must be configured by root or sudo user.

🧹 Prerequisites

Ensure the following:

  • Docker is installed and available at /usr/bin/docker
  • The Docker Compose project is located at: /home/qcuser/litellm/
  • The qcuser user exists and owns the project folder
  • Systemd is present (all Debian/Ubuntu systems have it)

📁 Directory Structure

Expected directory layout:

/home/qcuser/litellm/
├── docker-compose.yml
├── other-compose-files.yml (optional)

⚙️ Script Content and Explanation

#!/bin/bash
set -e
  • set -e: Exit immediately if any command fails.

🔧 Configuration Variables

SERVICE_NAME="litellm-root.service"
SERVICE_PATH="/etc/systemd/system/$SERVICE_NAME"
COMPOSE_DIR="/home/qcuser/litellm"
DOCKER_COMPOSE_BIN="/usr/bin/docker"

Defines systemd service name, its path, working directory, and the Docker binary location.

✅ Checks

if [ ! -d "$COMPOSE_DIR" ]; then ...
  • Verifies the Docker Compose project directory exists.
  • Checks if qcuser exists.
  • Confirms Docker binary is accessible.

⚠️ Overwrite Confirmation

if [ -f "$SERVICE_PATH" ]; then ...
  • If the unit already exists, prompts the user before overwriting it.

📄 systemd Unit Creation

Creates a unit file with docker compose up -d as the ExecStart and docker compose down as the ExecStop.

[Unit]
Description=LiteLLM Docker Compose Autostart
After=network.target docker.service
Requires=docker.service

[Service]
Type=oneshot
WorkingDirectory=/home/qcuser/litellm
ExecStart=/usr/bin/docker compose up -d
ExecStop=/usr/bin/docker compose down
RemainAfterExit=true
User=qcuser
Group=qcuser

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

🔄 Enable and Reload systemd

sudo systemctl daemon-reexec
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable "$SERVICE_NAME"

Reloads systemd configuration and enables the unit for autostart.

🚀 Final Output

Systemd unit litellm-root.service is ready and enabled for autostart.
Current running containers will not be affected.

Confirms that the unit is ready and won't interrupt currently running containers.

🥪 Usage

To start the service:

sudo systemctl start litellm-root.service

To stop the service:

sudo systemctl stop litellm-root.service

To check status:

systemctl status litellm-root.service

To view logs:

journalctl -u litellm-root.service

Changelog

Date Author Message
2026-02-25 aresnikowa Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/master'