This article starts a small series focused on building a fully local Oracle development stack using Docker. The goal is a clean, reproducible environment with:

• Oracle Database 26ai (Free)

• Oracle APEX

• Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS)

Everything runs locally.

Prerequisites

• Docker Desktop installed and running

• At least 16 GB RAM recommended (32 GB preferred)

References:

• https://www.oracle.com/uk/database/free/get-started/

• https://www.avonture.be/blog/docker-oracle-database-server/

• https://container-registry.oracle.com/ords/f?p=113:10::::::

Required Pre-Steps

Before pulling Oracle images, you must:

1. Create a free Oracle account

2. Accept the Oracle Container Registry licenses

3. Generate an auth token

4. Configure Docker to use that token

I strongly recommend this article: https://www.avonture.be/blog/docker-oracle-database-server/

Running Oracle Database with Docker

Log in to Oracle Container Registry

First, accept the license in your browser for the Oracle Database Free repository.
Then authenticate via Docker:

docker login container-registry.oracle.com

Use your Oracle account credentials. The username is case-sensitive.

Pull the Oracle Database 26ai image

docker pull container-registry.oracle.com/database/free:latest

Run Oracle Database 26ai

docker run -d \
  --name oracle26 \
  -p 1521:1521 \
  -p 5500:5500 \
  -e ORACLE_PWD=StrongPassword123 \
  container-registry.oracle.com/database/free:latest

Wait until the database is ready

docker logs -f oracle26

At this point, you can already see the container running in Docker Desktop.

Why not test it now:

I personally use Ctrl + S to run statements—small shortcut, big gamechanger ;)

Initial Database Setup

Connect as SYS (inside the container)

docker exec -it oracle26 sqlplus / as sysdba

Note:
SQL Developer or application work should never use SYS. This is setup only.

Switch to the PDB and create an application user

ALTER SESSION SET CONTAINER=FREEPDB1;

CREATE USER app_user IDENTIFIED BY app_password;
GRANT CONNECT, RESOURCE TO app_user;
ALTER USER app_user QUOTA UNLIMITED ON USERS;

Exit SQL*Plus:

exit

---

Install Oracle APEX

This command opens an interactive shell inside the running Oracle container:

docker exec -it oracle26 bash

Download and unpack Oracle APEX

cd /tmp
curl -L -o apex.zip https://download.oracle.com/otn_software/apex/apex-latest.zip
unzip apex.zip
ls apex

Connect to the database as SYS (inside the container)

sqlplus / as sysdba

You should see the SQL> prompt.

Once you are at SQL>, run only the following to confirm the PDB:

SHOW CON_NAME;

Expected result:

Good. You are in CDB$ROOT. We must switch to FREEPDB1 and install APEX there.

Switch to FREEPDB1 and start the APEX install

At the SQL> prompt, run these commands exactly:

ALTER SESSION SET CONTAINER=FREEPDB1;
SHOW CON_NAME;

You must now see FREEPDB1:

Then run:

@/tmp/apex/apexins.sql SYSAUX SYSAUX TEMP /i/

If there are errors, probably, you are running this in wrong working directory, to fix this:
Cancel the script run and exit SQL*Plus

At the Enter value for cdb_root: prompt, do:

1. Press Ctrl+C (once)

2. Then at SQL> run:

exit

---

Re-enter SQL*Plus from the APEX directory and re-run install

Back at the container shell (bash-4.4$), run:

cd /tmp/apex
sqlplus / as sysdba

At SQL> run:

ALTER SESSION SET CONTAINER=FREEPDB1;
@apexins.sql SYSAUX SYSAUX TEMP /i/

Installation should take few minutes

APEX is installed correctly in FREEPDB1.
What you are missing now (and this is expected) is ORDS, which is required to expose APEX in a browser.

We will proceed one step at a time.

---

Set the APEX admin password

You are still connected as SYS in FREEPDB1. Run:

@apxchpwd.sql

When prompted:

• Enter a strong password for the APEX admin user

• Confirm it

This password is only for the APEX web UI, not database users.

After it completes, exit SQL*Plus:

exit

Installing ORDS (Separate Container)

Downloading ORDS manually inside the database container requires Java 17+, which complicates things (in my case).

Instead, I run ORDS in its own container.

Therefore, I’ll create another container for this (not inside the oracle26 container terminal)

Note:
This setup uses SYS for simplicity in a local environment only.

Run ORDS

docker run -d \
  --name ords \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -e DB_HOST=host.docker.internal \
  -e DB_PORT=1521 \
  -e DB_SERVICE=FREEPDB1 \
  -e DB_USER=SYS \
  -e DB_PASSWORD=YOUR_SYS_PASSWORD \
  container-registry.oracle.com/database/ords:latest

Verification

Check ORDS status

docker ps --filter name=ords
docker logs -n 80 ords

At this point, you can already see the container running in Docker Desktop.

You can visit the localhost:8080/ords/apex_admin, you should see the:

After creating a workspace, you can build and run your first Oracle APEX application:

That’s It (For Now)

You now have:

• Oracle Database 26ai

• APEX installed in a PDB

• ORDS serving APEX via Docker

• A fully local Oracle development stack

The next article in this series will focus on running Ollama locally with Docker to add a free, local LLM into the stack.