# Adding new modules to an existing Weaviate Docker instance

**URL:** <https://forum.weaviate.io/t/adding-new-modules-to-an-existing-weaviate-docker-instance/437>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [August 1, 2023, 2:08pm UTC](https://forum.weaviate.io/t/adding-new-modules-to-an-existing-weaviate-docker-instance/437 "2023-08-01T14:08:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Keith\_Hall](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/forum.weaviate.io/keith_hall/32/330_2.png) [@Keith\_Hall](https://forum.weaviate.io/u/Keith_Hall)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2023, 2:08pm UTC](https://forum.weaviate.io/t/adding-new-modules-to-an-existing-weaviate-docker-instance/437/1 "2023-08-01T14:08:44Z")

</div>

I’m busy exploring Weaviate using a docker instance based on the Summarization example found at

> **[Summarization | Weaviate - vector database](https://weaviate.io/developers/weaviate/modules/reader-generator-modules/sum-transformers)**
>
> In short

Not sure if this is the correct place to answer this, but is it possible to add for example the qna-transformers module to the already existing environment or would it require a new build?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jphwang](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/forum.weaviate.io/jphwang/32/38_2.png) [@jphwang](https://forum.weaviate.io/u/jphwang)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2023, 11:06pm UTC](https://forum.weaviate.io/t/adding-new-modules-to-an-existing-weaviate-docker-instance/437/2 "2023-08-01T23:06:55Z")

</div>

Hi Keith, you can add the transformers module to the [Docker config file](https://weaviate.io/developers/weaviate/installation/docker-compose), but yes, I believe it will require a restart.

Do you have [data persistence](https://weaviate.io/developers/weaviate/configuration/persistence) set up? Then you should be able to just restart with the updated config and your old data should be there.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Keith\_Hall](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/forum.weaviate.io/keith_hall/32/330_2.png) [@Keith\_Hall](https://forum.weaviate.io/u/Keith_Hall)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 9:47am UTC](https://forum.weaviate.io/t/adding-new-modules-to-an-existing-weaviate-docker-instance/437/3 "2023-08-02T09:47:58Z")

</div>

Thanks, that looks like it worked, at least it’s pulled the qna model. I added the qna-transformers to the docker-compose.yml file, restarted and it’s pulled the qna-transformers model. Docker shows the qna container running with the the others, so just need to test it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jphwang](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/forum.weaviate.io/jphwang/32/38_2.png) [@jphwang](https://forum.weaviate.io/u/jphwang)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 10:21am UTC](https://forum.weaviate.io/t/adding-new-modules-to-an-existing-weaviate-docker-instance/437/4 "2023-08-02T10:21:03Z")

</div>

Great! Glad to hear that - let us know if you have any other issues 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Keith\_Hall](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/forum.weaviate.io/keith_hall/32/330_2.png) [@Keith\_Hall](https://forum.weaviate.io/u/Keith_Hall)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 10:35am UTC](https://forum.weaviate.io/t/adding-new-modules-to-an-existing-weaviate-docker-instance/437/5 "2023-08-02T10:35:06Z")

</div>

I had  
PERSISTENCE\_DATA\_PATH: ‘/var/lib/weaviate’ but I’m getting issues with searching until I dropped and reimported my data again. The qna worked fine after that. Fortunately it’s just a test at present so no real harm done. Perhaps I should explore backing up and restoring data next.
