How to Build and Deploy a Dify LLM Application Platform on CentOS

Introduction

Dify is an open‑source large language model (LLM) application development platform that combines Backend‑as‑Service and LLMOps to simplify creation and deployment of generative AI applications.

Application Scenarios

Content creation and generation – automated writing, creative inspiration.

Intelligent customer service – chatbots, virtual assistants.

Data analysis and forecasting – data interpretation, predictive models.

Business automation – task automation, workflow optimization.

Personalized recommendation and marketing – user profiling, content recommendation.

Core Features

Multi‑model integration: supports hundreds of proprietary and open‑source LLMs (GPT, Claude, Llama, etc.) and any OpenAI‑compatible model.

Prompt orchestration & IDE: visual prompt editor, comparison tools, text‑to‑speech extensions.

RAG pipeline: built‑in retrieval‑augmented generation for document‑based knowledge.

Agent framework: agents can call over 50 built‑in tools (Google Search, DALL·E, Stable Diffusion, WolframAlpha) and custom tools.

Workflow management: sequential, conditional, and parallel execution.

Model management: upload, configure, train, fine‑tune, and continuous LLMOps iteration.

Low‑code/no‑code UI: drag‑and‑drop design for non‑technical users.

Cloud and self‑hosted deployment: cloud service or Docker‑Compose/self‑hosted options.

API & SDK: easy integration into third‑party systems.

Data security: RAG pipeline and encryption protect private data.

Scalable and extensible architecture.

Preparation

Operating system: CentOS 7.9 (or any Linux/Windows). Minimum requirements: CPU ≥ 2 cores, RAM ≥ 4 GiB.

Docker Installation

curl -o /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo http://mirrors.aliyun.com/repo/Centos-7.repo

yum install -y yum-utils device-mapper-persistent-data lvm2

yum-config-manager --add-repo http://mirrors.aliyun.com/docker-ce/linux/centos/docker-ce.repo

yum install docker-ce -y

Configure Docker registry mirrors in /etc/docker/daemon.json (example JSON omitted for brevity).

systemctl start docker

Docker‑Compose Installation

Download the desired version (e.g., v2.33.1) from the official GitHub releases, rename, add execution permission and move to /usr/bin/:

mv docker-compose-linux-x86_64 docker-compose

chmod +x docker-compose

mv docker-compose /usr/bin/

docker-compose --version

Install Dify

git clone https://github.com/langgenius/dify.git

Enter the Docker directory, copy the example environment file, and start the services:

cd dify/docker/

cp .env.example .env

docker-compose up -d

Verify containers are running with docker ps. Access the web UI via the server’s address to confirm successful installation.