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Apicurio via Docker

Apicurio Registry is an open-source registry for storing and retrieving API artifacts such as OpenAPI definitions, AsyncAPI definitions, Avro schemas, JSON Schema, and more. This guide explains how to install and run Apicurio (both backend and UI) using Docker.

Prerequisites

  • Docker installed on your system
  • Ensure that ports 8080 (backend) and 8888 (UI) are free before starting
  • You can check if a port is in use with:
lsof -i:8080  
lsof -i:8888

Step 1 — Install Docker (MacOS example with Homebrew)

brew install docker

Step 2 — Run the Backend

  1. Pull the Apicurio Registry backend image:

docker pull apicurio/apicurio-registry:3.0.6

  1. Run the backend container:

docker run -it -p 8080:8080 apicurio/apicurio-registry:3.0.6

  1. Open your browser and navigate to: http://localhost:8080

Step 3 — Run the UI

  1. Pull the Apicurio Registry UI image:

docker pull apicurio/apicurio-registry-ui:3.0.6

  1. Run the UI container:

docker run -it -p 8888:8080 apicurio/apicurio-registry-ui:3.0.6

  1. Open your browser and navigate to: http://localhost:8888

Step 4 — Upload and Validate API Artifacts

Once the UI is connected to the backend:

  1. Go to the UI (http://localhost:8888)
  2. Use the Upload feature to add your API definition file (e.g., OpenAPI, Avro, JSON Schema).
  3. Explore detailed documentation, validation results, and example payloads.

Note: Postman does not provide schema-level validation and example previews for these formats — using Apicurio UI is more powerful for this purpose.

Step 5 — Stopping Containers

To stop the backend:

docker ps # find the container ID for the backend
docker stop <container_id>

To stop the UI:

docker ps # find the container ID for the UI
docker stop <container_id>