CLI Reference

This is a comprehensive reference for the Docker CLI (docker) and Docker Compose CLI (docker compose). Commands are organized by category for quick lookup.

Docker CLI Syntax

docker [global-options] command [subcommand] [options] [arguments]

Global Options

Option	Short	Description
--config		Location of client config files
--context	-c	Context to use
--debug	-D	Enable debug mode
--host	-H	Daemon socket to connect to
--log-level	-l	Logging level (debug, info, warn, error, fatal)
--tls		Use TLS
--tlscacert		Trust certs signed by this CA
--tlscert		Path to TLS certificate
--tlskey		Path to TLS key
--version	-v	Print version information

Container Commands

docker run

docker run [OPTIONS] IMAGE [COMMAND] [ARG...]

Option	Short	Description	Example
--detach	-d	Run in background	-d
--interactive	-i	Keep STDIN open	-i
--tty	-t	Allocate pseudo-TTY	-t
--name		Container name	--name web
--rm		Auto-remove on exit	--rm
--publish	-p	Port mapping	-p 8080:80
--volume	-v	Volume mount	-v data:/app
--mount		Mount specification	--mount type=bind,src=.,dst=/app
--env	-e	Environment variable	-e NODE_ENV=prod
--env-file		Env file	--env-file .env
--network		Network	--network my-net
--workdir	-w	Working directory	-w /app
--user	-u	User	-u 1000:1000
--memory	-m	Memory limit	-m 512m
--cpus		CPU limit	--cpus 1.5
--restart		Restart policy	--restart unless-stopped
--platform		Platform	--platform linux/amd64
--read-only		Read-only root FS	--read-only
--privileged		Extended privileges	--privileged
--cap-add		Add capability	--cap-add NET_BIND_SERVICE
--cap-drop		Drop capability	--cap-drop ALL
--security-opt		Security option	--security-opt no-new-privileges
--tmpfs		tmpfs mount	--tmpfs /tmp
--dns		Custom DNS	--dns 8.8.8.8
--hostname	-h	Container hostname	-h myhost
--add-host		Custom host entry	--add-host host:IP
--init		Use init process	--init
--pid		PID namespace	--pid host
--ipc		IPC namespace	--ipc host
--log-driver		Logging driver	--log-driver json-file
--label	-l	Container label	-l env=prod
--entrypoint		Override entrypoint	--entrypoint /bin/sh
--gpus		GPU access	--gpus all
--device		Host device access	--device /dev/sda:/dev/xvdc
--ulimit		Set ulimits	--ulimit nofile=1024:2048
--pids-limit		PID limit	--pids-limit 100
--stop-signal		Stop signal	--stop-signal SIGTERM
--stop-timeout		Stop timeout	--stop-timeout 30

Common Run Patterns

# Interactive container
docker run -it --rm ubuntu:22.04 /bin/bash

# Background web server
docker run -d --name nginx -p 80:80 nginx:latest

# Development with live reload
docker run -d -p 3000:3000 -v $(pwd):/app -w /app node:20 npm run dev

# Database with persistent storage
docker run -d --name db -v db-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data \
  -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=secret postgres:16

# Secure production container
docker run -d --name app \
  --read-only --tmpfs /tmp \
  --cap-drop ALL --cap-add NET_BIND_SERVICE \
  --security-opt no-new-privileges \
  --memory 512m --cpus 1.0 \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -u 1000:1000 -p 3000:3000 \
  my-app:1.0

docker container

docker container ls [OPTIONS]           # List containers (alias: docker ps)
docker container create [OPTIONS] IMAGE # Create a container
docker container start CONTAINER        # Start a container
docker container stop CONTAINER         # Stop a container
docker container restart CONTAINER      # Restart a container
docker container rm CONTAINER           # Remove a container
docker container pause CONTAINER        # Pause a container
docker container unpause CONTAINER      # Unpause a container
docker container kill CONTAINER         # Kill a container
docker container logs CONTAINER         # View logs
docker container inspect CONTAINER      # Inspect details
docker container exec CONTAINER CMD     # Execute command
docker container cp SRC DST             # Copy files
docker container stats [CONTAINER]      # Resource usage
docker container top CONTAINER          # Running processes
docker container port CONTAINER         # Port mappings
docker container diff CONTAINER         # Filesystem changes
docker container wait CONTAINER         # Wait for exit
docker container rename OLD NEW         # Rename a container
docker container update CONTAINER       # Update resource limits
docker container attach CONTAINER       # Attach to STDIN/STDOUT
docker container commit CONTAINER IMAGE # Create image from container
docker container export CONTAINER       # Export filesystem as tar
docker container prune                  # Remove stopped containers

docker exec

docker exec [OPTIONS] CONTAINER COMMAND [ARG...]

Option	Short	Description
--interactive	-i	Keep STDIN open
--tty	-t	Allocate pseudo-TTY
--detach	-d	Run in background
--env	-e	Set environment variable
--user	-u	Run as user
--workdir	-w	Working directory
--privileged		Give extended privileges

# Interactive shell
docker exec -it my-container /bin/bash
docker exec -it my-container /bin/sh

# Run as root
docker exec -u root my-container apt-get update

# Run command with env var
docker exec -e DEBUG=1 my-container npm test

# Run in specific directory
docker exec -w /app my-container ls -la

docker logs

docker logs [OPTIONS] CONTAINER

Option	Short	Description
--follow	-f	Follow log output (stream)
--tail	-n	Number of lines from end
--since		Show logs since timestamp
--until		Show logs before timestamp
--timestamps	-t	Show timestamps
--details		Show extra details

docker logs my-container                  # All logs
docker logs -f my-container               # Stream logs
docker logs --tail 100 my-container       # Last 100 lines
docker logs --since 2h my-container       # Last 2 hours
docker logs --since "2025-01-01" my-app   # Since date
docker logs -f --tail 0 my-container      # Only new logs
docker logs -t my-container               # With timestamps

Image Commands

docker image ls [OPTIONS]                # List images
docker image pull IMAGE[:TAG]            # Pull an image
docker image push IMAGE[:TAG]            # Push an image
docker image build [OPTIONS] PATH        # Build an image
docker image tag SOURCE TARGET           # Tag an image
docker image rm IMAGE                    # Remove an image
docker image inspect IMAGE               # Inspect details
docker image history IMAGE               # Show layer history
docker image save -o FILE IMAGE          # Save to tar
docker image load -i FILE                # Load from tar
docker image prune [OPTIONS]             # Remove unused images
docker image import FILE [REPO[:TAG]]    # Import from tar

# Common image operations
docker images                             # List all local images
docker pull nginx:1.25                    # Pull specific version
docker build -t my-app:1.0 .             # Build from Dockerfile
docker tag my-app:1.0 registry/app:1.0   # Tag for registry
docker push registry/app:1.0             # Push to registry
docker rmi my-app:1.0                    # Remove image
docker image prune -a                    # Remove all unused
docker save my-app:1.0 > app.tar         # Export to file
docker load < app.tar                    # Import from file
docker history my-app:1.0                # View layers

Volume Commands

docker volume create [OPTIONS] [NAME]    # Create a volume
docker volume ls [OPTIONS]               # List volumes
docker volume inspect NAME               # Inspect a volume
docker volume rm NAME                    # Remove a volume
docker volume prune [OPTIONS]            # Remove unused volumes

Network Commands

docker network create [OPTIONS] NAME     # Create a network
docker network ls [OPTIONS]              # List networks
docker network inspect NAME              # Inspect a network
docker network connect NET CONTAINER     # Connect container
docker network disconnect NET CONTAINER  # Disconnect container
docker network rm NAME                   # Remove a network
docker network prune [OPTIONS]           # Remove unused networks

System Commands

docker system info                       # System information
docker system df                         # Disk usage
docker system df -v                      # Verbose disk usage
docker system prune                      # Remove unused data
docker system prune -a --volumes         # Remove everything unused
docker system events                     # Real-time events
docker version                           # Version information
docker info                              # System-wide info

Docker Buildx Commands

docker buildx build [OPTIONS] PATH       # Build with BuildKit
docker buildx create [OPTIONS]           # Create builder instance
docker buildx use NAME                   # Switch builder
docker buildx inspect [NAME]             # Inspect builder
docker buildx ls                         # List builders
docker buildx rm NAME                    # Remove builder
docker buildx prune                      # Remove build cache
docker buildx du                         # Disk usage
docker buildx imagetools inspect IMAGE   # Inspect multi-platform manifest
docker buildx imagetools create          # Create/update manifest

# Multi-platform build
docker buildx build --platform linux/amd64,linux/arm64 -t app:1.0 --push .

# Build with cache
docker buildx build --cache-from type=gha --cache-to type=gha,mode=max -t app:1.0 .

Docker Compose Commands

docker compose up [OPTIONS] [SERVICE]    # Create and start services
docker compose down [OPTIONS]            # Stop and remove services
docker compose ps [OPTIONS]              # List services
docker compose logs [OPTIONS] [SERVICE]  # View logs
docker compose build [OPTIONS] [SERVICE] # Build services
docker compose pull [SERVICE]            # Pull images
docker compose push [SERVICE]            # Push images
docker compose restart [SERVICE]         # Restart services
docker compose stop [SERVICE]            # Stop services
docker compose start [SERVICE]           # Start services
docker compose pause [SERVICE]           # Pause services
docker compose unpause [SERVICE]         # Unpause services
docker compose exec SERVICE CMD          # Execute in service
docker compose run SERVICE CMD           # One-off command
docker compose cp SRC DST               # Copy files
docker compose top [SERVICE]             # Running processes
docker compose config                    # Validate and view config
docker compose events [SERVICE]          # Service events
docker compose port SERVICE PORT         # Port mapping
docker compose images [SERVICE]          # List images
docker compose version                   # Compose version
docker compose kill [SERVICE]            # Kill services
docker compose create [SERVICE]          # Create services
docker compose rm [SERVICE]              # Remove stopped services

Compose Up Options

Option	Description
-d, --detach	Detached mode
--build	Build images before starting
--force-recreate	Recreate even if unchanged
--no-deps	Don't start dependencies
--no-build	Don't build images
--remove-orphans	Remove orphaned containers
--scale SERVICE=N	Scale to N instances
--wait	Wait for services to be healthy
--timeout N	Timeout in seconds

Compose Down Options

Option	Description
-v, --volumes	Remove named volumes
--rmi all	Remove all images
--rmi local	Remove only locally built images
--remove-orphans	Remove orphaned containers
-t, --timeout	Timeout in seconds

Docker Swarm Commands

docker swarm init [OPTIONS]              # Initialize swarm
docker swarm join [OPTIONS] HOST:PORT    # Join a swarm
docker swarm leave [OPTIONS]             # Leave the swarm
docker swarm update [OPTIONS]            # Update swarm
docker swarm join-token [worker|manager] # Manage tokens
docker swarm unlock                      # Unlock the swarm
docker swarm unlock-key                  # Manage unlock key

docker node ls                           # List nodes
docker node inspect NODE                 # Inspect node
docker node update [OPTIONS] NODE        # Update node
docker node rm NODE                      # Remove node
docker node promote NODE                 # Promote to manager
docker node demote NODE                  # Demote to worker

docker service create [OPTIONS] IMAGE    # Create a service
docker service ls                        # List services
docker service ps SERVICE                # List service tasks
docker service inspect SERVICE           # Inspect service
docker service update [OPTIONS] SERVICE  # Update service
docker service scale SERVICE=N           # Scale a service
docker service rollback SERVICE          # Rollback service
docker service rm SERVICE                # Remove service
docker service logs SERVICE              # View service logs

docker stack deploy -c FILE NAME         # Deploy a stack
docker stack ls                          # List stacks
docker stack services NAME               # List stack services
docker stack ps NAME                     # List stack tasks
docker stack rm NAME                     # Remove a stack

docker secret create NAME FILE           # Create a secret
docker secret ls                         # List secrets
docker secret inspect NAME               # Inspect secret
docker secret rm NAME                    # Remove a secret

docker config create NAME FILE           # Create a config
docker config ls                         # List configs
docker config inspect NAME               # Inspect config
docker config rm NAME                    # Remove a config

Quick Reference

Task	Command
Run a container	docker run -d -p 80:80 --name web nginx
Stop a container	docker stop web
Remove a container	docker rm web
View logs	docker logs -f web
Shell into container	docker exec -it web sh
Build an image	docker build -t app:1.0 .
Push an image	docker push user/app:1.0
Start Compose stack	docker compose up -d
Stop Compose stack	docker compose down
View disk usage	docker system df
Clean everything	docker system prune -a --volumes

Next Steps

• Dockerfile Reference — Complete Dockerfile instruction reference
• Compose File Format — Complete Compose file reference
• CLI Commands Reference — Detailed CLI usage guide
• Docker Engine Architecture — How CLI commands are processed
• Introduction to Docker — Getting started with Docker