Docker Commands Cheat Sheet

Quick reference for everyday Docker CLI commands: container lifecycle, image builds, logs / exec, networking, volumes, Compose, registry and housekeeping — with common options and practical examples.

46 commands

Container Lifecycle

docker run <image>

Create and start a new container from an image.

-d detached; -it interactive TTY; --name assign name; -p host:container publish port; -v mount volume; -e KEY=VAL env; --rm auto-remove on exit; --restart=always|unless-stopped|on-failure

docker run -d --name web -p 8080:80 -v $PWD:/usr/share/nginx/html:ro nginx:alpine

docker start|stop|restart <container>

Start, stop or restart an existing container (by name or id).

-t N seconds to wait before kill (default 10)

docker restart web && docker logs --tail 50 web

docker rm <container>

Remove one or more stopped containers.

-f force-remove running; -v also remove anonymous volumes

docker rm -f $(docker ps -aq)

docker ps

List containers (default: only running).

-a all; -q quiet (ids only); -s with size; --format go-template; --filter status|name=...

docker ps --format 'table {{.Names}}\t{{.Image}}\t{{.Status}}\t{{.Ports}}'

docker rename <c> <new>

Rename a container.

docker rename web-1 gateway-web

docker update <c>

Update a container's resource limits or restart policy at runtime.

--cpus N; --memory SIZE; --memory-swap SIZE; --restart policy

docker update --cpus 1.5 --memory 1g api

docker wait <c>

Block until the container stops, then print its exit code.

docker wait db && echo "db stopped"

docker top <c>

Show running processes inside a container (ps of the host PID namespace).

docker top web

Logs & Exec

docker logs <c>

Fetch logs of a container.

-f follow; --tail N; --since timestamp|duration; -t with timestamps; --details

docker logs -f --tail 200 -t api | grep ERROR

docker exec -it <c> <cmd>

Run a command inside a running container (commonly an interactive shell).

-i keep STDIN open; -t allocate a pseudo-TTY; -u user; -w workdir; -e KEY=VAL

docker exec -it -u postgres db psql -U postgres app_production

docker attach <c>

Attach local STDIN/STDOUT to a running container (same as `docker start -i`).

--sig-proxy proxy signals; --no-stdin

docker attach web && Ctrl-p Ctrl-q to detach

docker cp <c>:<src> <dest>

Copy files/folders between a container and the local filesystem.

-L follow symlink; -a archive mode

docker cp db:/var/lib/postgresql/data ./pgdata

Inspection

docker inspect <obj>

Return low-level info on Docker objects (container, image, volume, network).

-f go-template; --type container|image|network|volume; -s size

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

docker stats

Live stream of CPU / memory / network / disk usage for running containers.

--no-stream one shot; -a all (incl stopped); --format; --no-trunc

docker stats --format 'table {{.Name}}\t{{.CPUPerc}}\t{{.MemUsage}}'

docker diff <c>

Inspect changes (added / changed / deleted) on a container's filesystem.

docker diff web | head -20

Image Operations

docker pull <image>[:tag]

Pull an image (or repository) from a registry.

-a all tagged images; --platform linux/amd64; -q quiet; --disable-content-trust

docker pull --platform linux/amd64 nginx:1.27-alpine

docker images

List images on the local daemon.

-a all (incl intermediate); -q ids only; --digests; --filter dangling=true

docker images --format '{{.Repository}}:{{.Tag}}\t{{.Size}}' | sort -k2 -h | tail -20

docker build <path>

Build an image from a Dockerfile.

-t name:tag; -f Dockerfile path; --no-cache; --build-arg KEY=VAL; --target stage; --progress=plain; --platform

docker build -t myapp:dev --build-arg NODE_ENV=development --progress=plain .

docker tag <src> <dest>

Create a tag that points to an existing image (alias / push target).

docker tag myapp:dev registry.example.com/team/myapp:1.2.0

docker push <image>

Upload an image (or repository) to a registry.

--disable-content-trust; -a all tagged variants; --quiet

docker push registry.example.com/team/myapp:1.2.0

docker rmi <image>

Remove one or more images.

-f force (untag also when children); --no-prune keep untagged parents

docker rmi -f $(docker images --filter 'dangling=true' -q)

docker image prune / docker save / docker load

Reclaim space (filter dangling/older than Xh); save/load image to/from tar.

-a all; --filter 'until=24h'; -o file.tar; -i file.tar

docker image prune -af --filter 'until=72h' && docker save -o nginx.tar nginx:alpine

docker history <image>

Show the layers / intermediate history of an image.

--no-trunc; --human; -q ids

docker history --no-trunc --human myapp:dev

Network

docker network ls

List networks.

--filter driver=bridge|overlay; -q ids; --format

docker network ls --filter driver=bridge --format '{{.Name}}'

docker network create <name>

Create a user-defined bridge network for service discovery & DNS.

--driver bridge|overlay|macvlan; --subnet CIDR; --gateway; --ipv6; --internal

docker network create --driver bridge --subnet 10.20.0.0/24 mynet

docker network connect|disconnect <net> <c>

Attach / detach a running container to a network.

--ip IPV4; --ip6 IPV6; --alias hostname alias; --link container

docker network connect mynet web

docker network rm / docker network prune

Remove one or more networks / clean up unused.

-f force; --filter 'until=24h'

docker network prune -f

Volume & Storage

docker volume ls

List volumes.

--filter dangling=true|driver|name; -q ids; --format

docker volume ls --filter dangling=true -q

docker volume create <name>

Create a named volume (managed by Docker, out of container's UFS).

--driver local; --opt type=nfs; --opt o=addr; --opt device=:/path

docker volume create --driver local --opt type=nfs --opt o=addr=10.0.0.1 --opt device=:/exports/data pgdata

docker volume rm / docker volume prune

Remove one or more volumes / clean up unused.

-f force; --filter 'label=...'

docker volume rm $(docker volume ls -q --filter dangling=true)

docker volume inspect <vol>

Show low-level details of a volume (mountpoint, driver, options).

docker volume inspect pgdata --format '{{.Mountpoint}}'

Docker Compose

docker compose up

Build (if needed), create and start services from compose.yaml.

-d detached; --build force build; --force-recreate; --pull always|missing|never; -f file

docker compose -f compose.prod.yaml up -d --pull always

docker compose down

Stop and remove containers, networks; default also removes anonymous volumes.

--volumes named vols too; --rmi all|local; --remove-orphans; -t N timeout

docker compose down --rmi local --remove-orphans

docker compose ps / logs

List Compose services / view logs.

ps -q ids only; logs -f follow; --tail N; --since

docker compose ps --format json | jq '.[] | {Name, State}' && docker compose logs -f --tail 100 api

docker compose exec / run

Run a command in a running / new service container.

exec --user; exec -e VAR=val; run --rm removes container after

docker compose exec db psql -U postgres app && docker compose run --rm api npm run migrate

docker compose build / pull / push

Build images / pull images from registry / push images to registry for a Compose project.

--no-cache; --pull; --quiet; --parallel

docker compose build --no-cache api worker

docker compose restart / stop / start / scale

Lifecycle shortcuts for services; scale adjusts the number of replicas.

restart <svc>; stop <svc>; start <svc>; scale api=4 worker=2

docker compose restart api && docker compose up -d --scale worker=4

Registry & Hub

docker login [server]

Authenticate to a registry. Use `docker login` for Docker Hub.

-u user; -p password; --password-stdin

echo "$REGISTRY_TOKEN" | docker login ghcr.io -u myuser --password-stdin

docker logout [server]

Remove credentials for a registry from config.

docker logout && docker info 2>/dev/null | head

docker search <term>

Search Docker Hub for images.

--filter stars=N; --limit N; --format

docker search --filter stars=100 --limit 5 postgres

System & Cleanup

docker system df

Show docker disk usage (images, containers, volumes, build cache).

-v verbose

docker system df -v | sort -k7 -h | tail

docker system prune

Remove all stopped containers, dangling images, unused networks.

-a all images; --volumes also volumes; --filter 'until=24h'; -f force

docker system prune -af --volumes --filter 'until=72h'

docker builder prune

Clean the build cache (free disk space from old layers).

-af; --filter 'until=72h'; --keep-storage SIZE

docker builder prune -af --filter 'until=72h'

docker context ls / use

Manage Docker contexts — for multi-host / multi-daemon (incl remote contexts over SSH).

ls --format json; use myctx

docker context create myhost --docker host=ssh://user@server && docker context use myhost && docker ps

docker info

Display system-wide information; useful when debugging.

--format

docker info -f '{{.DriverStatus}}'

docker port <c>

List port mappings (host ↔ container) for a container.

docker port web 80

Cheatsheet version 1.0.0

Covers Docker Engine 24.0+