🐳

Docker

Container lifecycle, compose, volumes, networking & production patterns

9sections

78commands

Basics & Install Verify

5 commands

$docker version

Docker version check

$docker info

System-wide Docker info

$docker compose version

Compose version check

$docker run hello-world

Test installation

$docker run "color: #00d4ffcc">-it ubuntu bash

Interactive Ubuntu container

Image Commands

9 commands

$docker pull nginx

Download image from registry

$docker images

List all local images

$docker image ls

List images (new syntax)

$docker rmi image-name

Remove an image

$docker image prune

Remove dangling images

$docker image prune "color: #00d4ffcc">-a

Remove ALL unused imagesDANGER

$docker build "color: #00d4ffcc">-t myapp:1.0 .

Build image from Dockerfile

$docker build "color: #00d4ffcc">--no-cache "color: #00d4ffcc">-t myapp .

Fresh build, no cache

$docker build "color: #00d4ffcc">-f Dockerfile.prod "color: #00d4ffcc">-t myapp:prod .

Custom Dockerfile

Container Lifecycle

12 commands

$docker run "color: #00d4ffcc">-d "color: #00d4ffcc">--name myapp nginx

Run detached with name

$docker run "color: #00d4ffcc">-p 3000:3000 myapp

Map host:container port

$docker run "color: #00d4ffcc">-e NODE_ENV=production myapp

Set env variable

$docker run "color: #00d4ffcc">--env-file .env myapp

Load .env file

$docker run "color: #00d4ffcc">--user 1000:1000 myapp

Run as specific UID (NTFS fix)TIP

$docker run "color: #00d4ffcc">--restart unless-stopped myapp

Auto-restart policy

$docker run "color: #00d4ffcc">--memory 512m "color: #00d4ffcc">--cpus 1.5 myapp

Resource limits

$docker start myapp

Start stopped container

$docker stop myapp

Graceful stop (SIGTERM)

$docker restart myapp

Stop then start

$docker rm myapp

Remove container

$docker rm "color: #00d4ffcc">-f myapp

Force remove running containerDANGER

Inspect & Debug

15 commands

$docker ps

List running containers

$docker ps "color: #00d4ffcc">-a

List all containers (including stopped)

$docker ps "color: #00d4ffcc">--format "table {{.Names}}\t{{.Status}}\t{{.Ports}}"

Clean table format

$docker logs myapp

Container logs

$docker logs "color: #00d4ffcc">-f myapp

Follow live logs

$docker logs "color: #00d4ffcc">--tail 50 myapp

Last 50 lines

$docker logs "color: #00d4ffcc">--since 10m myapp

Logs from last 10 mins

$docker inspect myapp

Full container JSON config

$docker stats

Live CPU/RAM/Network usage

$docker top myapp

Processes inside container

$docker exec "color: #00d4ffcc">-it myapp bash

Shell into running container

$docker exec "color: #00d4ffcc">-it myapp sh

Use sh if bash not available

$docker run "color: #00d4ffcc">--rm "color: #00d4ffcc">-it "color: #00d4ffcc">--entrypoint bash myapp

Override entrypoint to debugTIP

$docker cp myapp:/app/logs ./logs

Copy from container to host

$docker cp ./config.json myapp:/app/

Copy from host to container

Volumes

7 commands

$docker volume create mydata

Create named volume

$docker volume ls

List all volumes

$docker volume inspect mydata

Volume details & mountpoint

$docker volume rm mydata

Remove volume

$docker volume prune

Remove unused volumesWARN

$docker run "color: #00d4ffcc">-v mydata:/app/data myapp

Mount named volume

$docker run "color: #00d4ffcc">-v $(pwd):/app myapp

Bind mount current directory

Networks

6 commands

$docker network create mynet

Create custom network

$docker network ls

List networks

$docker network inspect mynet

Network details

$docker network connect mynet myapp

Connect container to network

$docker network disconnect mynet myapp

Disconnect container

$docker run "color: #00d4ffcc">--network mynet myapp

Run in specific network

Docker Compose

12 commands

$docker compose up

Start all services

$docker compose up "color: #00d4ffcc">-d

Start in background (detached)

$docker compose up "color: #00d4ffcc">--build

Rebuild images then start

$docker compose down

Stop and remove containers

$docker compose down "color: #00d4ffcc">-v

Also remove volumesWARN

$docker compose ps

Service status

$docker compose logs "color: #00d4ffcc">-f

Follow all service logs

$docker compose logs api

Specific service logs

$docker compose exec api bash

Shell into service

$docker compose restart api

Restart single service

$docker compose pull

Pull latest images

$docker compose config

Validate & view parsed config

Registry & Push

6 commands

$docker login

$docker tag myapp:latest vikash/myapp:1.0

Tag image for registry

$docker push vikash/myapp:1.0

Push to DockerHub

$docker pull vikash/myapp:1.0

Pull from DockerHub

$docker save "color: #00d4ffcc">-o myapp.tar myapp:latest

Export image to tar

$docker load "color: #00d4ffcc">-i myapp.tar

Import image from tar

Cleanup & Space

6 commands

$docker system df

Show Docker disk usage

$docker system prune

Remove stopped containers + dangling images

$docker system prune "color: #00d4ffcc">-a

Remove ALL unused resourcesDANGER

$docker container prune

Remove stopped containers

$docker image prune "color: #00d4ffcc">-a

Remove unused images

$docker volume prune

Remove unused volumes