It seemed like the public mode was the default when I set it up. If so, that’s a fairly dangerous default as keeping a “clean” history with no secrets leaked seems neigh impossible.

The default configuration binds only to localhost, and a fresh installation starts with an empty database/index. Could you clarify which specific attack surface you are concerned about in that scenario?

I’m not concerned about an attack scenario. I’m just saying that using the docker image, if someone (or their agent) isn’t careful, they could expose their browsing history publicly fairly easily. It might just be nice to default to at least a user and pass login rather than just wide open.