Docker Cheat Sheet

docker version

# Display client and server version details.

docker info

# Display engine-wide diagnostic and configuration information.

docker --help

# Show top-level help and subcommands.

docker context ls

# List available Docker contexts.

docker context use default

# Switch the current Docker context.

docker login

# Authenticate to a registry such as Docker Hub or a private registry.

docker logout

# Remove stored registry credentials.

docker search nginx

# Search Docker Hub for images.

docker pull nginx:latest

# Download an image from a registry.

docker push ghcr.io/acme/web:1.0.0

# Upload an image to a registry.

docker images

# List local images.

docker image ls

# List local images using the image management namespace.

docker image history nginx:latest

# Show the layer history of an image.

docker image inspect nginx:latest

# Show low-level JSON metadata for an image.

docker image rm nginx:latest

# Delete a local image.

docker rmi -f nginx:latest

# Force-remove a local image.

docker image prune

# Remove dangling images.

docker image prune -a

# Remove all unused images.

docker tag myapp:dev ghcr.io/acme/myapp:1.0.0

# Create or update an image tag.

docker save -o myapp.tar myapp:1.0.0

# Export one or more images to a tar archive.

docker load -i myapp.tar

# Import images from a tar archive.

docker image import rootfs.tar myimage:rootfs

# Import a tarball as an image.

docker image build -t myapp:dev .

# Build an image from a Dockerfile.

docker commit mycontainer myimage:debug

# Create a new image from container changes.

docker image push --all-tags ghcr.io/acme/myapp

# Push all local tags for a repository name.

docker manifest inspect alpine:latest

# Inspect an image manifest or manifest list.

docker run nginx:latest

# Create and start a new container.

docker run -d --name web nginx:latest

# Run a container in the background.

docker run -it ubuntu:24.04 bash

# Run an interactive shell inside a new container.

docker run -d -p 8080:80 nginx:latest

# Publish a container port to the host.

docker run -e NODE_ENV=production myapp:latest

# Pass environment variables into the container.

docker run --env-file .env myapp:latest

# Load environment variables from a file.

docker run -v "$PWD":/app -w /app node:20 npm test

# Bind-mount a host directory into the container.

docker run --mount type=bind,src="$PWD",dst=/app myapp:latest

# Mount storage using long-form syntax.

docker run --rm alpine:latest echo hello

# Automatically remove the container after it exits.

docker create --name web nginx:latest

# Create a container but do not start it yet.

docker start web

# Start one or more stopped containers.

docker stop web

# Gracefully stop a running container.

docker kill web

# Force-stop a running container.

docker restart web

# Restart one or more containers.

docker pause web

# Suspend all processes in a container.

docker unpause web

# Resume a paused container.

docker ps

# List running containers.

docker ps -a

# List running and stopped containers.

docker container ls

# List running containers with the container namespace.

docker exec -it web sh

# Run a command in a running container.

docker attach web

# Attach local stdio to a running container.

docker logs web

# Print logs from a container.

docker logs -f --tail=100 web

# Follow container logs from the last 100 lines.

docker top web

# Display running processes inside a container.

docker stats

# Stream live CPU, memory, network, and block I/O usage.

docker cp ./config.yml web:/etc/myapp/config.yml

# Copy files from host to container.

docker cp web:/var/log/nginx/access.log ./access.log

# Copy files from container to host.

docker rename web web-old

# Rename an existing container.

docker rm web

# Remove one or more stopped containers.

docker rm -f web

# Force-remove a running container.

docker container prune

# Remove all stopped containers.

docker inspect web

# Show low-level JSON metadata for a container.

docker inspect -f '{{.NetworkSettings.IPAddress}}' web

# Render inspect output through a Go template.

docker diff web

# Show filesystem changes in a container since it started.

docker events

# Stream real-time events from the daemon.

docker events --filter type=container --filter event=start

# Filter real-time events by type or action.

docker port web

# List published ports for a container.

docker wait web

# Block until a container exits and print its exit code.

docker update --memory 512m --cpus 1.5 web

# Update resource limits on a running container.

docker events --since 1h

# Show events from the past hour and continue streaming.

docker network ls

# List Docker networks.

docker network create app-net

# Create a user-defined bridge network.

docker network create --subnet 172.20.0.0/16 app-net

# Create a network with a custom subnet.

docker network inspect app-net

# Show low-level details of a Docker network.

docker network connect app-net web

# Attach a running container to a network.

docker network disconnect app-net web

# Detach a container from a network.

docker network rm app-net

# Delete one or more unused networks.

docker network prune

# Remove all unused networks.

docker run -d --name api --network app-net myapi:latest

# Start a container attached to a chosen network.

docker volume ls

# List Docker volumes.

docker volume create pgdata

# Create a named volume.

docker volume inspect pgdata

# Show low-level details of a volume.

docker volume rm pgdata

# Delete a named volume.

docker volume prune

# Remove all unused local volumes.

docker run -d --name db -v pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data postgres:16

# Run a container with a named volume.

docker run --mount type=bind,src="$PWD/config",dst=/app/config,readonly myapp:latest

# Mount a host directory as read-only.

docker run --tmpfs /tmp:rw,noexec,nosuid,size=64m myapp:latest

# Mount an in-memory tmpfs inside the container.

docker system df

# Display disk usage by images, containers, volumes, and build cache.

docker system prune

# Remove stopped containers, unused networks, dangling images, and build cache.

docker system prune -a --volumes

# Aggressively remove unused images and volumes too.

docker builder prune

# Remove unused build cache.

docker builder prune -a

# Remove all unused build cache, not only dangling records.

docker pull nginx@sha256:<digest>

# Pull an image by immutable digest.

docker run nginx@sha256:<digest>

# Run a container from an immutable image digest.

docker image inspect nginx:latest --format '{{json .RepoDigests}}'

# Display the digests associated with a local image.

docker manifest create ghcr.io/acme/myapp:1.0.0 ghcr.io/acme/myapp:1.0.0-amd64 ghcr.io/acme/myapp:1.0.0-arm64

# Create a local manifest list from multiple platform images.

docker manifest annotate ghcr.io/acme/myapp:1.0.0 ghcr.io/acme/myapp:1.0.0-arm64 --arch arm64

# Annotate a manifest list entry with platform metadata.

docker manifest push ghcr.io/acme/myapp:1.0.0

# Push a manifest list to a registry.

docker context create prod --docker host=ssh://user@server

# Create a named context that targets a specific Docker endpoint.

docker context inspect prod

# Show the endpoint configuration for a context.

docker context rm prod

# Delete a Docker context.

docker trust inspect alpine:latest

# Inspect content trust metadata for an image.

docker trust sign acme/myapp:1.0.0

# Sign an image tag using Docker Content Trust.