odoo-devops-tools

Generate reproducible Odoo workspaces.

odoo-devops-tools is a small toolkit for Odoo development, testing, and simple deployment workflows. Its main command, odt-env, reads a project definition and generates an inspectable workspace:

ROOT/
├── odoo/                 # Odoo source
├── odoo-addons/          # Git or local addon sources
├── odoo-configs/         # generated Odoo configuration
├── odoo-scripts/         # run, test, shell, backup, restore, update
├── odoo-data/            # Odoo data directory
├── odoo-logs/            # runtime logs
├── odoo-backups/         # backups created by helper scripts
├── odoo-docker/          # generated Docker build context
├── wheelhouse/           # offline Python wheelhouse
├── venv/                 # Python virtual environment
├── compose.yml           # generated Docker Compose file, when requested
├── odoo-project.ini      # project definition
└── .odt-env/             # provisioning metadata and project snapshots

Use it when you want a repeatable Odoo setup for custom or third-party addons, onboarding new developers, offline installs, or lightweight deployment artifacts without introducing a full orchestration platform.

---

System requirements

• git: https://git-scm.com/install/
• uv: https://docs.astral.sh/uv/getting-started/installation/
• Docker: https://docs.docker.com/get-docker/ — optional, needed only for Docker image and Compose workflows.

---

Installation

Install the CLI with uv:

uv tool install -U odoo-devops-tools

Verify the installation:

odt-env --help

---

Quick start

Create odoo-project.ini from the default template and provision a new Odoo 18 workspace in one step:

odt-env --init-project --root ./odoo18-workspace --sync-all --create-venv \
  --set odoo:version=18.0 \
  --set config:db_host=127.0.0.1 \
  --set config:db_name=odoo \
  --set config:db_user=odoo \
  --set config:db_password=odoo

Note Make sure PostgreSQL is running at the configured host and the configured database user exists.

Start Odoo with the generated script:

cd odoo18-workspace
./odoo-scripts/run.sh

Odoo starts with the generated configuration from ./odoo-configs/odoo-server.conf and is available at http://localhost:8069.

---

Usage

The examples below continue from the workspace created in the Quick start section.

The generated odoo-project.ini is the main project definition:

[virtualenv]
managed_python = true
python_version =
build_constraints =
requirements =
requirements_ignore =

[odoo]
version = 18.0
repo = https://github.com/odoo/odoo.git
branch = 18.0
commit =
shallow = true

[docker]
target_image = local/odoo:18.0
base_image = odoo:18.0
addons_mode = deploy
compose_project_name =
db_service = db
odoo_service = odoo

[config]
db_host = 127.0.0.1
db_name = odoo
db_user = odoo
db_password = odoo

Edit this file when you want to add extra addons, change configuration values, pin repositories or adjust Python dependency handling.

1. Adding extra addons

To extend Odoo with additional functionality, add extra addons through [addons.<name>] sections in odoo-project.ini.

In this example, we add two Git-based addon repositories, OCA/web and OCA/helpdesk.

1.1. Update the project file

Edit odoo-project.ini in the workspace root and add these addon sections:

[addons.oca-web]
repo = https://github.com/OCA/web.git
branch = ${odoo:version}

[addons.oca-helpdesk]
repo = https://github.com/OCA/helpdesk.git
branch = ${odoo:version}

The rest of the generated project file can stay unchanged.

1.2. Update the workspace

After changing the project file, run odt-env again from the workspace root:

odt-env --sync-all --create-venv

This clones the addons into ROOT/odoo-addons/oca-web/ and ROOT/odoo-addons/oca-helpdesk/.

Addon directories are then added to the generated addons_path.

If any of these addon sources contains a requirements.txt file, odt-env automatically installs the listed dependencies into the Python virtual environment.

1.3. Install modules and run Odoo

After updating the workspace, start Odoo with modules from the newly added addon repositories:

./odoo-scripts/run.sh -i web_notify,helpdesk_mgmt

---

2. Using system Python instead of managed Python

By default, odt-env uses uv to install and manage the requested Python version.

If you already have a suitable system Python installed, you can disable managed Python.

2.1. Update the project file

Disable managed Python by adding python_version = 3.11 and managed_python = false to the odoo-project.ini file.

Note Set python_version to the Python version you want to use from your local system. In the example below, 3.11 is only illustrative.

[virtualenv]
managed_python = false
python_version = 3.11

2.2. Update the workspace

After changing the project file, run odt-env again from the workspace root:

odt-env --sync-all --create-venv

This recreates the virtual environment at ROOT/venv using the system Python.

---

3. Managing Python requirements

The [virtualenv] section can be used to add new Python packages, pin specific versions, and override packages collected from Odoo or addon repository requirements.txt files.

Use:

• requirements to add extra packages or pin an explicit version
• requirements_ignore to skip packages that would otherwise be collected from repository requirements files

When a package is listed in requirements, odt-env automatically gives that package priority by ignoring the same package name from collected repository requirements. This means you can usually pin a package version just by adding it to requirements.

3.1. Add or pin packages

Use requirements to install additional packages or to force a specific version:

[virtualenv]
requirements =
  requests==2.32.3
  boto3==1.35.99

In this example, both packages are added to the virtual environment and pinned to the specified versions.

3.2. Override a package with a different one

If you want to replace a package with a different distribution name, add the replacement to requirements and skip the original package with requirements_ignore.

Example:

[virtualenv]
requirements =
  psycopg2-binary==2.9.9
requirements_ignore =
  psycopg2

In this example, odt-env installs psycopg2-binary==2.9.9 and skips psycopg2 when collecting repository requirements.

---

4. Simple offline deployment using a prebuilt wheelhouse

This example shows a simple deployment workflow:

1. On an internet-connected build machine, prepare the workspace and build the wheelhouse.
2. Copy the prepared workspace to the target machine.
3. On the target machine, recreate the virtual environment strictly offline from the existing wheelhouse.

4.1. Prepare the workspace on the build machine

On the build machine, run odt-env from the workspace root:

odt-env --sync-all --create-venv

This syncs Odoo and addon repositories, resolves and locks Python dependencies, and builds ROOT/wheelhouse/ for offline installation.

After that, transfer the prepared workspace to the target machine. The simplest approach is to copy the entire ROOT/ directory.

4.2. Recreate the virtual environment on the target machine

On the target machine, from the copied workspace root, run:

odt-env --create-venv-from-wheelhouse

This recreates ROOT/venv, skips lock compilation and wheelhouse build, and performs a strict offline install from the existing ROOT/wheelhouse/.

5. Building a custom Docker image

This example shows how odt-env builds a custom image by extending the standard Odoo Docker image.

Note If your project file contains local database connection settings such as db_host, db_name, db_user, or db_password in [config], remove them before generating Docker artifacts.

5.1. Update the project file

Edit odoo-project.ini and set the Docker image name:

[docker]
target_image = mycompany/odoo:${odoo:version}

For this Docker Compose example, comment out local database connection settings from [config]:

[config]
# db_host = 127.0.0.1
# db_name = odoo
# db_user = odoo
# db_password = odoo

5.2. Build the image

From the workspace root, run:

odt-env --sync-addons --build-docker-image

After the command completes, the new Docker image is available under the name configured by [docker].target_image.

odt-env also generates a sample ROOT/compose.yml file:

name: mycompany-odoo-18.0

services:
  db:
    image: postgres:16
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: postgres
      POSTGRES_USER: odoo
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: odoo
    volumes:
      - odoo-db-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data

  odoo:
    image: mycompany/odoo:18.0
    restart: unless-stopped
    depends_on:
      - db
    ports:
      - "8069:8069"
      - "8072:8072"
    environment:
      HOST: db
      PORT: 5432
      USER: odoo
      PASSWORD: odoo
    volumes:
      - ./odoo-docker/configs:/etc/odoo:ro
      - odoo-data:/var/lib/odoo

volumes:
  odoo-db-data:
  odoo-data:

5.3. Docker dev mode with bind-mounted addons

For local Docker development, set [docker].addons_mode = dev.

In dev mode, odt-env still builds the configured Docker image so addon Python requirements can be installed, but addon source directories are not copied into the image. Instead, ROOT/compose.yml bind-mounts each configured addon source under the standard Odoo Docker addon location /mnt/extra-addons/, and ROOT/odoo-docker/configs/odoo.conf gets a Docker-specific addons_path that points to the mounted addon directories.

Example:

[docker]
target_image = mycompany/odoo-dev:${odoo:version}
addons_mode = dev

Generate the image and Compose file from the workspace root:

odt-env --sync-addons --build-docker-image

The generated Docker Odoo config contains addon paths similar to:

[options]
addons_path = /mnt/extra-addons/oca-web,/mnt/extra-addons/oca-helpdesk
data_dir = /var/lib/odoo

The generated Compose file contains bind mounts similar to:

services:
  odoo:
    image: mycompany/odoo-dev:18.0
    volumes:
      - ./odoo-docker/configs:/etc/odoo:ro
      - type: bind
        source: ./odoo-addons/oca-web
        target: /mnt/extra-addons/oca-web
      - type: bind
        source: ./odoo-addons/oca-helpdesk
        target: /mnt/extra-addons/oca-helpdesk
      - odoo-data:/var/lib/odoo

When addon source files change on the host, the running container sees those changes through the bind mounts. Rebuild the image only when addon Python requirements or Docker-level dependencies change.

5.4. Use the image with Docker Compose

The custom image can be used in the same way as a regular Odoo image.

Start the PostgreSQL service first:

docker compose up -d db

Initialize the Odoo database:

docker compose run --rm odoo -- -d odoo -i base --stop-after-init

After the database has been initialized, start the Odoo service:

docker compose up -d odoo

If the custom image is rebuilt under the same tag, recreate the Odoo service so the running container uses the new image:

docker compose up -d --force-recreate odoo

---

Command-line reference

Syntax

odt-env [INI] [OPTIONS]

If no arguments are specified, odt-env prints help and exits.

Positional arguments

• INI — project definition file. It can be:

  • a local filesystem path, for example:

    odt-env /path/to/odoo-project.ini --sync-all --create-venv

  • a remote INI loaded from a Git repository, for example:

    odt-env 'git+https://github.com/lck/odoo-devops-tools.git//examples/odoo-project.ini?ref=main' --sync-all --create-venv
    odt-env 'git+git@github.com:company/repo.git//examples/odoo-project.ini?ref=main' --sync-all --create-venv

    Syntax:

    git+REPO_URL//PATH/TO/PROJECT.ini?ref=REF
    

  • a remote INI loaded from a URL, for example:

    odt-env 'https://github.com/lck/odoo-devops-tools/blob/main/examples/odoo-project.ini' --sync-all --create-venv
    odt-env 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lck/odoo-devops-tools/main/examples/odoo-project.ini' --sync-all --create-venv

Default project file convention

If no positional INI file is provided and no -i/--include option is used, odt-env looks for ROOT/odoo-project.ini. This is similar to how Docker Compose uses compose.yml by convention.

For example, this command:

odt-env --root ./existing-workspace --sync-all --create-venv

is equivalent to passing the default project file explicitly:

odt-env ./existing-workspace/odoo-project.ini --sync-all --create-venv

INI includes

Use -i INI / --include INI to include additional project layers. The option can be repeated.

odt-env odoo-project.ini -i local-overrides.ini -i extra-addons.ini --sync-all --create-venv

Project layers are processed from left to right. Later layers override earlier layers. Validation is performed only after all layers have been merged. The merged project file is saved as ROOT/odoo-project.ini.

Paths and outputs

• --root ROOT — workspace root directory. Default: the directory containing a local INI file, or the current working directory for a remote INI or omitted INI. In include mode, the default is the directory of the first local source, or the current working directory when the first source is remote.
• --init-project — create ROOT/odoo-project.ini from the bundled default template if it does not already exist. This is only valid when INI is omitted and no -i/--include is provided. Existing project files are not overwritten.
• --include INI, -i INI — include an additional project INI layer; can be repeated. Later layers override earlier layers.
• --extra-var KEY=VALUE, -e KEY=VALUE — override or inject a value in the optional [vars] section; can be repeated
• --set SECTION:KEY=VALUE, -S SECTION:KEY=VALUE — override a value that is already present in the INI file; can be repeated. New options are allowed only in the [config] section.
• --no-configs — do not generate config files
• --no-scripts — do not generate helper scripts under ROOT/odoo-scripts/
• --no-data-dir — do not create the Odoo data directory
• --no-provisioning-log — do not write provisioning metadata under ROOT/.odt-env/
• --show-last-run — print metadata from ROOT/.odt-env/last-provisioning.json and exit without provisioning

Repository sync

• --sync-odoo — sync only the Git-managed Odoo source; when [odoo].path is used, the local path is reused and Git sync is skipped
• --sync-addons — sync only ROOT/odoo-addons/*
• --sync-all — sync both Odoo and addons

Note If any target repository contains local uncommitted changes, odt-env aborts the sync operation. Commit, stash, or discard the changes before running a sync command.

Python, virtual environment, and wheelhouse

Online virtual environment provisioning:

• --create-venv — recreate ROOT/venv and refresh the wheelhouse; if ROOT/venv already exists, it is deleted and created again

Offline deployment from a prebuilt wheelhouse:

• --create-venv-from-wheelhouse — recreate ROOT/venv from an existing ROOT/wheelhouse/ and all-requirements.lock.txt, install strictly offline, and skip lock compilation and wheelhouse build. This is useful after preparing dependencies on an internet-connected build machine and copying the workspace to a target machine without internet access.

Maintenance:

• --clear-pip-wheel-cache — remove all items from pip's wheel cache

Docker image generation

• --build-docker-image — generate ROOT/odoo-docker/, generate and overwrite ROOT/compose.yml, and build the image configured by [docker].target_image by extending [docker].base_image (default: odoo:${odoo:version})

Other options

• --version — show the installed odt-env version and exit

---

Project file reference

The odt-env project file is an INI file that describes the Odoo workspace to create.

At minimum, the project file must contain this section:

• [odoo]

The following sections are supported:

• [vars] — optional reusable variables for INI interpolation
• [virtualenv] — optional Python and dependency settings
• [odoo] — required Odoo source settings
• [addons.<name>] — optional addon sources
• [docker] — optional Docker image and Compose generation settings
• [config] — optional Odoo server configuration values

General rules

• The project file can have any filename when passed explicitly. When INI is omitted, odt-env uses the existing ROOT/odoo-project.ini; if it is missing, use --init-project to create it explicitly from the bundled default template. Remote INI sources and merged include layers are materialized as ROOT/odoo-project.ini.
• INI interpolation is supported, so values such as ${odoo:version} can be reused across sections.
• Multiple INI layers can be composed with -i/--include. Later layers override earlier layers; multi-line values are replaced as whole option values, not appended.
• The optional [vars] section is useful for reusable values referenced as ${vars:name}.
• Values from [vars] can be overridden or injected from the CLI with -e name=value / --extra-var name=value.
• Values that already exist in the INI file can be overridden directly with -S section:key=value / --set section:key=value.
• Multi-line values are used for lists such as requirements, build_constraints, and requirements_ignore.

[vars]

This section is optional.

Use it for reusable values that you want to interpolate in other sections.

A major advantage of [vars] is that its values can also be overridden directly from the CLI with -e KEY=VALUE / --extra-var KEY=VALUE. This makes it easy to keep a single project file and adjust things like Odoo version, branch, commit, or database name per run without editing the file.

Example:

[vars]
branch = 18.0
db = odoo

[odoo]
version = 18.0
branch = ${vars:branch}

[config]
db_name = ${vars:db}
db_user = odoo
db_password = odoo

CLI override example:

odt-env odoo-project.ini --sync-all --create-venv -e branch=dev -e db=odoo_dev

[virtualenv]

This section is optional.

• python_version — Python version for the virtual environment. If omitted, odt-env chooses a default version based on the selected Odoo version.
• managed_python — whether uv should install and manage Python automatically. Default: true.
• requirements — additional Python requirements to install. Multi-line list.
• build_constraints — additional build constraints used during dependency compilation. Multi-line list.
• requirements_ignore — package names to ignore when collecting requirements from addon repositories. Multi-line list.

Example:

[virtualenv]
managed_python = false
python_version = 3.11
requirements =
  lxml>=6
  psycopg2-binary==2.9.9
requirements_ignore =
  psycopg2

[odoo]

This section is required.

• version — Odoo version in X.0 format, for example 18.0. Required.
• path — local Odoo source directory. Relative paths are resolved relative to ROOT/.
• repo — Git repository URL for Odoo. Default: the official Odoo repository.
• branch — Git branch to check out. Default: the same value as version.
• commit — optional Git commit to check out after fetching the selected branch. When set, the repository is pinned to that exact revision.
• shallow — whether to use a shallow clone. Default: true. Ignored when commit is set.

Odoo must use exactly one of these source modes:

• local Odoo source: version + path
• Git-managed Odoo source: version + optional repo, branch, commit, and shallow

Git-managed example:

[odoo]
version = 18.0
repo = https://github.com/odoo/odoo.git
branch = 18.0
commit = e6ec487
shallow = true

Local source example:

[odoo]
version = 18.0
path = ../odoo

[addons.<name>]

Addon sections are optional. You can define as many as needed.

Each addon must use exactly one of these source types:

• local addon path: path
• git repository: repo + branch (+ optional commit and shallow)

Rules:

• For a local addon, use only path.
• For a git addon, repo and branch are required.
• commit is optional for a git addon. When set, the repository is pinned to that exact revision.
• shallow is optional for git addons and defaults to true. It is ignored when commit is set.
• Relative local paths are resolved relative to ROOT/.
• Git-based addons are cloned into ROOT/odoo-addons/<name>/.
• All configured addon directories are automatically appended to the generated addons_path.

Examples:

[addons.my-custom-addons]
path = odoo-addons/my-custom-addons

[addons.oca-web]
repo = https://github.com/OCA/web.git
branch = ${odoo:version}
commit = abcdef1

[docker]

This section is optional.

• target_image — Docker image name/tag to build. Required when --build-docker-image is used.
• base_image — Docker image used as the base image in the generated Dockerfile. Default: odoo:${odoo:version}.
• addons_mode — Docker addon mode. Supported values: deploy and dev. Default: deploy.
  • deploy copies addon modules into the image under /mnt/extra-addons/.
  • dev bind-mounts addon source directories in ROOT/compose.yml and writes Docker container paths into ROOT/odoo-docker/configs/odoo.conf.
• compose_project_name — optional top-level name written to ROOT/compose.yml.
• odoo_service — Docker Compose service name for Odoo. Default: odoo.
• db_service — Docker Compose service name for PostgreSQL. Default: db.

Example:

[odoo]
version = 18.0

[docker]
target_image = mycompany/odoo:${odoo:version}
addons_mode = deploy

[config]

This section is optional.

When present, it contains Odoo server configuration values written into ROOT/odoo-configs/odoo-server.conf. When omitted, odt-env still generates a valid config file with generated values such as addons_path and data_dir.

You can define standard Odoo configuration options here.

Special rules:

• addons_path must not be set in [config]. odt-env always generates it automatically.
• data_dir may be set in [config]. If provided, it overrides the default data directory location.

Example:

[config]
db_host = 127.0.0.1
db_port = 5432
db_name = odoo
db_user = odoo
db_password = odoo
http_port = 8069

---

Script reference

All generated scripts are available in both Unix (.sh) and Windows (.bat) variants. The examples below use the Unix form.

run

Starts Odoo in the foreground.

Any extra arguments are forwarded to the underlying command odoo-bin.

Examples:

./odoo-scripts/run.sh
./odoo-scripts/run.sh --dev=all
./odoo-scripts/run.sh -i sale,crm --without-demo=all

instance

Manages Odoo as a background service on Unix-like systems.

Logs are written to ROOT/odoo-logs/odoo-server.log and the PID is stored in ROOT/odoo-logs/odoo-server.pid.

Examples:

./odoo-scripts/instance.sh start
./odoo-scripts/instance.sh stop
./odoo-scripts/instance.sh restart
./odoo-scripts/instance.sh status

test

Runs Odoo tests.

The script always adds --test-enable --stop-after-init.

Any extra arguments are forwarded to the underlying command odoo-bin.

Examples:

./odoo-scripts/test.sh
./odoo-scripts/test.sh -i sale --test-tags /sale

shell

Opens an Odoo shell.

Examples:

./odoo-scripts/shell.sh

backup

Creates a timestamped ZIP backup under ROOT/odoo-backups/.

Any extra arguments are forwarded to the underlying command click-odoo-backupdb from click-odoo-contrib package.

Examples:

./odoo-scripts/backup.sh

restore

Restores a backup into the configured database.

The script always adds --copy --neutralize.

Any extra arguments are forwarded to the underlying command click-odoo-restoredb from click-odoo-contrib package.

Examples:

./odoo-scripts/restore.sh ./odoo-backups/odoo_20260331_221443.zip
./odoo-scripts/restore.sh ./odoo-backups/odoo_20260331_221443.zip --force

update

Updates an Odoo database automatically detecting addons to update based on a hash of their file content.

Any extra arguments are forwarded to the underlying command click-odoo-update from click-odoo-contrib package.

Examples:

./odoo-scripts/update.sh
./odoo-scripts/update.sh --update-all