Docker CLI cheatsheet

docker pull debian:bookworm-slim
docker pull redis:7

Downloads an image from a registry. docker run pulls missing images automatically.

docker run -it debian:bookworm-slim /bin/bash
docker run -d --name web -p 5000:5000 myapp:1.0
docker run --rm -it -v "$PWD":/app -w /app node:22 npm test

Creates and starts a container from an image.

Options

docker run [options] IMAGE [COMMAND] [ARG...]
  -a, --attach               # attach STDIN/STDOUT/STDERR
  -i, --interactive          # keep STDIN open
  -t, --tty                  # allocate a pseudo-TTY
      --name NAME            # container name
  -d, --detach               # run in the background
      --rm                   # remove when it exits
  -p, --publish 5000:5000    # host:container port map
  -P, --publish-all          # publish all exposed ports
      --expose 5432          # expose without publishing
  -v, --volume "$PWD":/app   # bind mount (absolute path)
      --env-file .env        # read env vars from a file
  -e, --env NAME=hello       # set an env var
      --network NETWORK      # connect to a network

docker create takes the same options except -d/--detach, and doesn't start the container.

docker ps                 # running containers
docker ps -a              # include stopped containers
docker ps -q              # IDs only
docker ps --format 'table {{.Names}}\t{{.Status}}'

docker logs web
docker logs -f web              # follow output
docker logs --tail 100 web      # last 100 lines
docker logs --since 10m web     # since a duration

docker exec -it web /bin/bash
docker exec web tail -f log/development.log

Runs a command in a running container. Use -it for interactive shells.

docker build -t myapp:1.0 .
docker build --build-arg APP_HOME=/app -t myapp:1.0 .

Builds an image from a Dockerfile in the current directory.

docker images
docker images -a     # include intermediate and dangling images
docker image ls      # alias

docker tag myapp:1.0 me/myapp:1.0
docker tag myapp:1.0 registry.example.com/myapp:1.0

The part after the colon is the tag (defaults to latest).

docker login registry.example.com
docker push registry.example.com/myapp:1.0

The image name determines which registry it is pushed to.

docker rmi myapp:1.0
docker rmi b750fe78269d

docker create --name cache --expose 6379 redis:7

Creates a container without starting it. Use docker start to run it.

docker start web
docker stop web
docker restart web
docker kill web          # stop immediately (SIGKILL)

docker rm web
docker rm -f web         # stop and remove

docker system prune

Removes stopped containers, unused networks, dangling images, and unused build cache.

docker system prune -a

Also removes all unused images (not just dangling ones) and all build cache.

docker system prune --volumes

Also removes anonymous volumes.

docker container prune

Removes all stopped containers.

docker image prune        # dangling images
docker image prune -a     # all unused images

docker volume prune       # anonymous volumes
docker volume prune -a    # all unused volumes

docker system df

Shows disk usage by images, containers, volumes, and build cache.

docker system events

Streams real-time daemon events. Alias for docker events.