How to Enable HTTPS in Your Local Docker Environment

HTTPS is no longer optional — even in local development.
While we often skip setting it up during development, there are real benefits to running HTTPS locally.

Why bother with HTTPS in your local environment?

• You’ll mirror your production setup more closely.

• Some APIs (like OAuth or payment gateways) require HTTPS and simply won’t work over HTTP.

• Certain browser features (like access to device’s microphone) only work over secure connections.

Let’s dive straight into setting it up.

Assumptions

• You have custom domain setup in /etc/hosts

• You current local environment is working fine with http

Create new folder under nginx folder named certs:

docker-compose.yml
nginx/
    certs/
        // your certificates will go here

Install mkcert on your computer

For Linux:

sudo apt install mkcert

For MacOs:

brew install mkcert

For Windows (Using Choco):

choco install mkcert

Create certificates

Make sure to replace “yourdomain” with your actual domain you have setup localy! 😄

Now open your terminal and go to certs/ directory you created.

Run:

mkcert -install
mkcert "*.yourdomain.test"

This will create 2 files:

_wildcard.yourdomain.test-key.pem
_wildcard.yourdomain.test.pem

Add mapping of certificates

Open docker-compose.yml file and add following lines:

Three dots (“…”) represent your existing settings, don’t add them. 😄

services:
  nginx:
    ...
    ports:
      - ...
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - ...
      - ./nginx/certs:/etc/nginx/ssl

Add nginx configuration for domain

Open yourdomain.test.conf.

Mine is located :

nginx/
    certs/
    sites/
        yourdomain.test.conf

You probably already have content in this file something like below:

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;

    ...
}

You need to copy your config and paste it below and change ports and add certificates (so you have 2 server blocks one above the other):

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    listen [::]:443 ssl http2;

    ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/ssl/_wildcard.yourdomain.test.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/_wildcard.yourdomain.test-key.pem;

    ...
}

Rebuild nginx container and restart containers

docker compose build nginx
docker compose down && docker compose up -d