Docker CLI Handbook

1# Ubuntu / Debian
2sudo apt update
3sudo apt install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin
4
5# Fedora
6sudo dnf install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin
7
8# macOS (Homebrew cask)
9brew install --cask docker
10
11# Verify installation
12docker --version
13docker compose version

1sudo groupadd docker
2sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
3newgrp docker                        # Apply group membership without logout
4docker run hello-world               # Test without sudo

1# Bash
2mkdir -p ~/.local/share/bash-completion/completions
3docker completion bash > ~/.local/share/bash-completion/completions/docker
4
5# Zsh
6mkdir -p ~/.docker/completions
7docker completion zsh > ~/.docker/completions/_docker
8echo 'fpath=(~/.docker/completions $fpath)' >> ~/.zshrc
9echo 'autoload -Uz compinit && compinit' >> ~/.zshrc
10
11# Fish
12mkdir -p ~/.config/fish/completions
13docker completion fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/docker.fish

1alias d=docker
2alias dc='docker compose'
3alias dps='docker ps'
4alias dpsa='docker ps -a'
5alias di='docker images'
6alias dex='docker exec -it'
7alias dlogs='docker logs -f'
8alias drm='docker rm'
9alias drmi='docker rmi'

1/etc/docker/daemon.json              # Daemon config (create if missing)
2~/.docker/config.json                # Client config (auth, proxies, plugins)
3~/.docker/                           # Client config directory

1~/.docker/daemon.json                # Daemon config (also editable via Docker Desktop → Settings → Docker Engine)
2~/.docker/config.json                # Client config (auth, proxies, plugins)
3~/Library/Group Containers/group.com.docker/settings-store.json  # Docker Desktop settings
4~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/  # Docker Desktop application data

1/var/lib/docker/                     # Docker root directory (images, containers, volumes)
2/var/lib/docker/containers/          # Container metadata and per-container logs
3/var/lib/docker/image/               # Image layer metadata
4/var/lib/docker/volumes/             # Named volumes data
5/var/lib/docker/overlay2/            # OverlayFS storage driver layers (default)
6/var/lib/docker/network/             # Network configuration files
7/var/lib/docker/buildkit/            # BuildKit build cache
8/var/lib/docker/tmp/                 # Temporary files during builds/pulls

1# Docker Desktop runs a Linux VM — data is stored inside the VM's virtual disk:
2~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/vms/0/data/  # VM virtual disk image
3# Named volumes, images, containers are all inside this VM disk.
4# You access them via Docker CLI, not filesystem paths.
5
6# Docker Desktop disk image location:
7~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/vms/0/data/Docker.raw  # Raw disk format (default)

1# Container logs (json-file driver — default)
2/var/lib/docker/containers/<container-id>/<container-id>-json.log
3
4# Docker daemon logs
5journalctl -xu docker.service        # systemd (Ubuntu 16.04+, Fedora, RHEL 7+)
6/var/log/syslog                      # Debian / Ubuntu (fallback / non-systemd)
7/var/log/messages                    # RHEL / Fedora / CentOS (fallback / non-systemd)

1# Docker daemon logs
2~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/log/vm/dockerd.log
3
4# Containerd logs
5~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/log/vm/containerd.log
6
7# Docker Desktop application logs
8~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/log/host/
9
10# Container logs — access via CLI only:
11docker logs <container>              # Container logs live inside the Linux VM

1DOCKER_HOST=tcp://192.168.1.10:2376  # Connect to remote Docker daemon
2DOCKER_HOST=unix:///var/run/docker.sock  # Default socket (Linux)
3DOCKER_HOST=unix://$HOME/.docker/run/docker.sock  # Default socket (macOS Docker Desktop)
4DOCKER_TLS_VERIFY=1                  # Enable TLS verification
5DOCKER_CERT_PATH=~/.docker/certs     # Path to TLS certificates
6DOCKER_CONFIG=~/.docker              # Client config directory
7DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1                    # Enable BuildKit (default in modern Docker)
8COMPOSE_FILE=compose.yaml            # Compose file path
9COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=myproject       # Override project name

1docker version                       # Client and server version details
2docker info                          # System-wide information (containers, images, storage)
3docker system df                     # Show disk usage by Docker objects
4docker system df -v                  # Verbose disk usage (per image/container/volume)
5docker system events                 # Real-time events from daemon
6docker system events --since=1h      # Events from the last hour
7docker system prune                  # Remove all unused data (containers, networks, images)
8docker system prune -a               # Also remove unused images (not just dangling)
9docker system prune -a --volumes     # Remove everything including volumes

1docker run nginx                                  # Run container (foreground)
2docker run -d nginx                               # Run in detached (background) mode
3docker run -d --name my-nginx nginx               # Run with custom name
4docker run -d -p 8080:80 nginx                    # Map host port 8080 → container port 80
5docker run -d -p 127.0.0.1:8080:80 nginx          # Bind to specific host interface
6docker run -d -P nginx                            # Map all exposed ports to random host ports
7docker run -it ubuntu /bin/bash                   # Interactive shell
8docker run --rm alpine echo "hello"               # Remove container after exit
9docker run -d --restart=unless-stopped nginx       # Restart policy
10docker run -d -e MY_VAR=value nginx               # Set environment variable
11docker run -d --env-file .env nginx               # Load env vars from file
12docker run -d -v mydata:/data nginx               # Mount named volume
13docker run -d -v $(pwd):/app nginx                # Bind mount current directory
14docker run -d --network my-net nginx              # Connect to specific network
15docker run --memory=512m --cpus=1.5 nginx         # Set resource limits
16docker run -d -w /app node:20 npm start           # Set working directory
17docker run -d --user 1000:1000 nginx              # Run as specific user/group
18docker run -d --read-only nginx                   # Read-only root filesystem
19docker run -d --pid=host nginx                    # Share host PID namespace

1docker ps                            # List running containers
2docker ps -a                         # List all containers (including stopped)
3docker ps -q                         # List only container IDs
4docker ps -aq                        # All container IDs (useful for batch operations)
5docker ps -s                         # Show container sizes
6docker ps -l                         # Show last created container
7docker ps --format "table {{.ID}}\t{{.Names}}\t{{.Status}}\t{{.Ports}}"  # Custom format
8docker ps -f status=exited           # Filter by status
9docker ps -f name=my-app             # Filter by name
10docker ps -f ancestor=nginx          # Filter by image
11docker container ls                  # Same as docker ps

1docker start my-container            # Start a stopped container
2docker start -ai my-container        # Start and attach with interactive TTY
3docker stop my-container             # Graceful stop (SIGTERM → SIGKILL after 10s)
4docker stop -t 30 my-container       # Custom grace period (30 seconds)
5docker restart my-container          # Restart container
6docker pause my-container            # Pause all processes (freeze)
7docker unpause my-container          # Unpause container
8docker kill my-container             # Force stop (SIGKILL)
9docker kill -s SIGHUP my-container   # Send specific signal
10docker wait my-container             # Block until container stops, print exit code

1docker rm my-container               # Remove a stopped container
2docker rm -f my-container            # Force remove (even if running)
3docker rm -v my-container            # Remove with associated anonymous volumes
4docker rm $(docker ps -aq)           # Remove all stopped containers
5docker rm $(docker ps -aq -f status=exited)  # Remove all exited containers
6docker container prune               # Remove all stopped containers
7docker container prune -f            # Remove without confirmation

1docker exec my-container ls /        # Run command in container
2docker exec -it my-container /bin/sh        # Interactive shell
3docker exec -it my-container /bin/bash      # Interactive bash
4docker exec -it -u root my-container sh     # Exec as root
5docker exec -e MY_VAR=value my-container env  # With environment variable
6docker exec -w /app my-container pwd        # With working directory

1docker inspect my-container                             # Full container details (JSON)
2docker inspect -f '{{.State.Status}}' my-container      # Get specific field
3docker inspect -f '{{.NetworkSettings.IPAddress}}' my-container   # Get container IP
4docker inspect -f '{{.HostConfig.RestartPolicy.Name}}' my-container  # Get restart policy
5docker inspect -f '{{json .Mounts}}' my-container       # Volume mounts (JSON)
6docker stats                         # Live resource usage (CPU, memory, I/O)
7docker stats --no-stream             # One-time snapshot of stats
8docker stats my-container            # Stats for specific container
9docker top my-container              # Running processes inside container
10docker diff my-container             # Changed files in container filesystem
11docker port my-container             # Show port mappings

1docker cp file.txt my-container:/tmp/file.txt   # Host → Container
2docker cp my-container:/tmp/file.txt ./file.txt  # Container → Host
3docker cp my-container:/var/log/ ./logs/         # Copy directory

1docker images                        # List local images
2docker images -a                     # Include intermediate images
3docker images -q                     # IDs only
4docker images --digests              # Show digests
5docker images --format "table {{.Repository}}\t{{.Tag}}\t{{.Size}}"  # Custom format
6docker images --filter dangling=true           # Show dangling images
7docker images --filter reference=nginx         # Filter by name
8docker search nginx                  # Search Docker Hub
9docker search --limit 5 nginx       # Limit search results
10docker search --filter is-official=true nginx   # Official images only

1docker pull nginx                    # Pull latest tag
2docker pull nginx:1.27               # Pull specific tag
3docker pull nginx:1.27@sha256:abc... # Pull by digest
4docker pull --all-tags nginx         # Pull all tags
5docker push myuser/myimage:latest    # Push to registry
6docker push myuser/myimage:v1.0      # Push specific tag

1docker build -t myapp:latest .                   # Build from Dockerfile in current dir
2docker build -t myapp:v1.0 -f Dockerfile.prod .  # Use specific Dockerfile
3docker build --no-cache -t myapp .               # Build without cache
4docker build --build-arg VERSION=1.0 -t myapp .  # Pass build argument
5docker build --target builder -t myapp .         # Multi-stage: build specific target
6docker build --platform linux/amd64 -t myapp .   # Build for specific platform
7docker buildx build --push -t myuser/myapp .     # Build and push (BuildKit)
8docker buildx build --platform linux/amd64,linux/arm64 -t myuser/myapp --push .  # Multi-arch

1docker tag myapp:latest myuser/myapp:v1.0        # Tag an image
2docker tag myapp:latest registry.example.com/myapp:v1.0  # Tag for private registry
3docker rmi myapp:latest              # Remove an image
4docker rmi $(docker images -q)       # Remove all images
5docker rmi $(docker images -f dangling=true -q)  # Remove dangling images
6docker image prune                   # Remove dangling images
7docker image prune -a                # Remove all unused images

1docker save -o myapp.tar myapp:latest            # Export image to tar file
2docker save myapp:latest | gzip > myapp.tar.gz   # Export compressed
3docker load -i myapp.tar             # Import image from tar file
4docker load < myapp.tar.gz           # Import compressed
5docker export my-container > container.tar       # Export container filesystem
6docker import container.tar myimage:latest       # Import as image

1docker history myapp:latest          # Show image layers and commands
2docker history --no-trunc myapp      # Full command output (not truncated)
3docker manifest inspect nginx:latest # Inspect image manifest (multi-arch info)

1docker volume create mydata          # Create a named volume
2docker volume ls                     # List all volumes
3docker volume inspect mydata         # Show volume details (mountpoint, driver)
4docker volume rm mydata              # Remove a volume
5docker volume rm $(docker volume ls -q)  # Remove all volumes
6docker volume prune                  # Remove all unused volumes
7docker volume prune -f               # Remove without confirmation

1# Named volume
2docker run -d -v mydata:/var/lib/data postgres
3
4# Bind mount (host directory)
5docker run -d -v /host/path:/container/path nginx
6
7# Read-only mount
8docker run -d -v mydata:/data:ro nginx
9
10# tmpfs mount (in-memory, Linux only)
11docker run -d --tmpfs /tmp:rw,size=100m nginx
12
13# Mount syntax (modern — preferred)
14docker run -d --mount source=mydata,target=/data nginx
15docker run -d --mount type=bind,source=$(pwd),target=/app nginx
16docker run -d --mount type=tmpfs,target=/tmp,tmpfs-size=100m nginx

1docker network create my-net                     # Create bridge network (default driver)
2docker network create --driver bridge my-net      # Explicit bridge driver
3docker network create --driver overlay my-net     # Overlay network (Swarm)
4docker network create --subnet=172.20.0.0/16 my-net  # Custom subnet
5docker network ls                    # List all networks
6docker network inspect my-net        # Show network details
7docker network rm my-net             # Remove a network
8docker network prune                 # Remove all unused networks

1docker network connect my-net my-container       # Add container to network
2docker network disconnect my-net my-container    # Remove container from network
3
4# Run container on specific network
5docker run -d --network my-net --name app1 nginx
6
7# Container DNS — containers on same user-defined network resolve each other by name
8docker run -d --network my-net --name db postgres
9docker run -d --network my-net --name app nginx
10# Inside "app": ping db  → resolves to the db container's IP

1docker logs my-container             # Show all logs (stdout + stderr)
2docker logs -f my-container          # Follow/stream logs
3docker logs --tail 100 my-container  # Last 100 lines
4docker logs --since 1h my-container  # Logs from last hour
5docker logs --since 30m my-container # Logs from last 30 minutes
6docker logs --until 2h my-container  # Logs up to 2 hours ago
7docker logs -t my-container          # Show timestamps
8docker logs --details my-container   # Show extra attributes (log tags)
9docker logs my-container 2>&1 | grep "error"  # Filter logs with grep

1# Inspect container state
2docker inspect my-container
3docker inspect -f '{{.State.ExitCode}}' my-container    # Check exit code
4docker inspect -f '{{.State.OOMKilled}}' my-container   # Check if OOM killed
5
6# Check events
7docker events                        # Real-time events from daemon
8docker events --filter container=my-container   # Events for specific container
9docker events --filter type=container           # Container events only
10docker events --filter event=die                # Only "die" events
11
12# Resource usage
13docker stats                         # Live CPU, memory, I/O for all containers
14docker top my-container              # Show running processes
15docker diff my-container             # Show filesystem changes
16
17# Debug with temporary container
18docker run --rm -it --network container:my-container nicolaka/netshoot  # Network debugging
19docker run --rm -it --pid container:my-container busybox ps aux         # Process debugging

1# Container won't start?
2docker logs my-container             # Check application logs
3docker inspect my-container          # Check State.Error and State.ExitCode
4
5# Container keeps restarting?
6docker inspect -f '{{.RestartCount}}' my-container      # Check restart count
7docker logs --tail 50 my-container                       # Check recent logs
8
9# Can't connect to container?
10docker port my-container             # Verify port mappings
11docker inspect -f '{{.NetworkSettings.IPAddress}}' my-container  # Get container IP
12docker network inspect bridge        # Check network config
13
14# Disk space issues?
15docker system df                     # Check Docker disk usage
16docker system prune -a --volumes     # Clean up everything unused
17
18# Docker daemon issues?
19journalctl -xu docker.service        # Check daemon logs (Linux)
20sudo systemctl status docker         # Check daemon status
21sudo systemctl restart docker        # Restart daemon

1docker compose up                    # Start all services (foreground)
2docker compose up -d                 # Start in detached mode
3docker compose up -d --build         # Build images before starting
4docker compose up -d --force-recreate  # Recreate containers even if unchanged
5docker compose up -d --no-deps web   # Start specific service without dependencies
6docker compose down                  # Stop and remove containers, networks
7docker compose down -v               # Also remove volumes
8docker compose down --rmi all        # Also remove images
9docker compose stop                  # Stop services (don't remove)
10docker compose start                 # Start stopped services
11docker compose restart               # Restart all services
12docker compose restart web           # Restart specific service

1docker compose build                 # Build all services
2docker compose build web             # Build specific service
3docker compose build --no-cache      # Build without cache
4docker compose pull                  # Pull all service images
5docker compose push                  # Push all service images

1docker compose ps                    # List running services
2docker compose ps -a                 # List all services (including stopped)
3docker compose logs                  # View logs from all services
4docker compose logs -f               # Follow logs
5docker compose logs web              # Logs for specific service
6docker compose logs --tail 50 web    # Last 50 lines
7docker compose logs --since 1h       # Logs from last hour
8docker compose top                   # Show running processes

1docker compose exec web sh           # Shell into running service
2docker compose exec web bash         # Bash into running service
3docker compose exec -u root web sh   # Shell as root
4docker compose run web npm test      # Run one-off command in new container
5docker compose run --rm web npm test # Run and remove after

1docker compose up -d --scale web=3   # Scale service to 3 instances
2docker compose config                # Validate and show resolved config
3docker compose config --services     # List service names
4docker compose config --volumes      # List volume names
5docker compose convert               # Convert compose file to canonical format

1docker compose -f compose.prod.yaml up -d          # Use specific compose file
2docker compose -f compose.yaml -f compose.override.yaml up -d  # Merge multiple files
3docker compose --env-file .env.prod up -d           # Use specific env file
4docker compose -p myproject up -d                   # Set project name

1docker login                         # Login to Docker Hub (interactive)
2docker login -u myuser               # Login with username
3docker login registry.example.com    # Login to private registry
4docker logout                        # Logout from Docker Hub
5docker logout registry.example.com   # Logout from private registry

1# Docker Hub
2docker pull nginx:latest
3docker push myuser/myapp:v1.0
4
5# Private registry
6docker pull registry.example.com/myapp:latest
7docker push registry.example.com/myapp:latest
8
9# Run a local registry
10docker run -d -p 5000:5000 --name registry registry:2
11docker tag myapp localhost:5000/myapp:latest
12docker push localhost:5000/myapp:latest

1# Build stage
2FROM node:20-alpine AS builder
3WORKDIR /app
4COPY package*.json ./
5RUN npm ci
6COPY . .
7RUN npm run build
8
9# Production stage
10FROM node:20-alpine
11WORKDIR /app
12COPY --from=builder /app/dist ./dist
13COPY --from=builder /app/node_modules ./node_modules
14EXPOSE 3000
15USER node
16CMD ["node", "dist/index.js"]

1docker container prune               # Remove stopped containers
2docker image prune                   # Remove dangling images
3docker image prune -a                # Remove all unused images
4docker volume prune                  # Remove unused volumes
5docker network prune                 # Remove unused networks
6docker builder prune                 # Remove BuildKit cache
7docker system prune                  # Remove all unused objects
8docker system prune -a --volumes     # Nuclear option — remove everything unused

1docker system df                     # Summary of disk usage
2docker system df -v                  # Detailed disk usage per object

1# In Dockerfile
2HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=5s --retries=3 \
3  CMD curl -f http://localhost/ || exit 1
4
5# In docker run
6docker run -d --health-cmd="curl -f http://localhost/ || exit 1" \
7  --health-interval=30s --health-timeout=5s --health-retries=3 nginx
8
9# Check health status
10docker inspect -f '{{.State.Health.Status}}' my-container

1docker run -d --memory=256m nginx                # Memory limit
2docker run -d --memory=256m --memory-swap=512m nginx  # Memory + swap
3docker run -d --cpus=1.5 nginx                   # CPU limit (1.5 cores)
4docker run -d --cpu-shares=512 nginx             # Relative CPU weight
5docker run -d --pids-limit=100 nginx             # Process count limit

1docker run -d --restart=unless-stopped nginx
2docker update --restart=always my-container      # Update running container

1# Custom container list
2docker ps --format "table {{.ID}}\t{{.Names}}\t{{.Status}}\t{{.Ports}}"
3
4# Get all container IPs
5docker inspect -f '{{.Name}} - {{.NetworkSettings.IPAddress}}' $(docker ps -q)
6
7# Image sizes sorted
8docker images --format "{{.Repository}}:{{.Tag}} {{.Size}}" | sort -k2 -h
9
10# JSON output for scripting
11docker inspect --format '{{json .Config.Env}}' my-container | jq .