# Complete Docker Guide - How to start with Grafana Loki and Alloy | Migrate existing Promtail configurations to Alloy

**URL:** <https://community.grafana.com/t/complete-docker-guide-how-to-start-with-grafana-loki-and-alloy-migrate-existing-promtail-configurations-to-alloy/162085>\
**Category:** How To\
**Tags:** opentelemetry, logs, docker, loki, alloy\
**Created:** [March 12, 2026, 1:20pm UTC](https://community.grafana.com/t/complete-docker-guide-how-to-start-with-grafana-loki-and-alloy-migrate-existing-promtail-configurations-to-alloy/162085 "2026-03-12T13:20:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![usman.ahmad](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/grafana/user_avatar/community.grafana.com/usman.ahmad/32/29706_2.png) [@usman.ahmad](https://community.grafana.com/u/usman.ahmad)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2026, 1:20pm UTC](https://community.grafana.com/t/complete-docker-guide-how-to-start-with-grafana-loki-and-alloy-migrate-existing-promtail-configurations-to-alloy/162085/1 "2026-03-12T13:20:19Z")

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⚠ If you are using **Docker with Grafana Loki** to visualize container log files, then you need to migrate from Promtail (default agent for Loki) to Alloy as Promtail is now End-of-Life (EOL).

> Source of Announcement: [Official Promtail Page](https://grafana.com/docs/loki/latest/send-data/promtail/)

It means that:

- No releases of any security patches
- No Bug fixes or new improvements

The only way to move forward is to replace Promtail with Grafana Alloy :alloy:

I have created this video tutorial that explains very detailed step-by-step instructions on how to migrate your existing Promtail configuration files (for your Grafana Loki deployments) to Grafana Alloy :alloy: :grafana_loki: :grafana: in Docker environments and be able to keep using Loki without re-creating your dashboards or queries.

This tutorial is also for those users who are new to Grafana Alloy :alloy: and want to get started with Docker Compose deployments with minimal effort.

## Link to the article:

Here is the [link](https://medium.com/@syed_usman_ahmed/docker-users-who-use-grafana-loki-with-promtail-need-to-migrate-to-grafana-alloy-as-promtail-the-a20a98ee2f15) to the complete article.

## Link to the video:

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/3W99Go4S39E/maxresdefault.jpg "Docker Tutorial: Getting started with Grafana Loki and Alloy | Complete Promtail Migration Guide") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W99Go4S39E)

**Docker Tutorial: Getting started with Grafana Loki and Alloy | Complete Promtail Migration Guide**

> 💡 All the important links are available in the video description.

The video contains the following sections:

1. Starting with fundamentals for new users ✅

2. Why Promtail is going EOL ❓

3. Intro. to Grafana Alloy :alloy: (advantages, features)

4. Demo Docker Compose Setup 🐋

5. Migration Setup for your Loki :grafana_loki:

6. Understanding Configuration 🔍

7. Advanced Debugging/Troubleshooting 🧰 🪛 ⚙

8. Bonus Exercise

Please share, if you have any questions. Hope you will find this helpful 🙂