Docker¶

Build, run, ship. The commands you reach for daily.

Build¶

Build an image from the current directory:

docker build -t myapp:latest .

Build with a specific Dockerfile and build arg:

docker build -f Dockerfile.prod --build-arg NODE_ENV=production -t myapp:prod .

Run a container interactively with port mapping:

docker run -it -p 3000:3000 myapp:latest

Run detached with a name and auto-remove on exit:

docker run -d --rm --name myapp -p 8080:8080 myapp:latest

Run with a volume mount (bind mount for development):

docker run -v $(pwd)/src:/app/src -p 3000:3000 myapp:latest

Open a shell in a running container:

docker exec -it myapp /bin/sh

Run a one-off command:

docker exec myapp cat /app/config.json

Start all services defined in docker-compose.yml:

docker compose up -d

Rebuild and start:

docker compose up -d --build

View logs for a specific service:

docker compose logs -f api

Stop and remove everything (containers, networks):

docker compose down

Stop and remove everything including volumes:

docker compose down -v

List running containers:

docker ps

List all containers (including stopped):

docker ps -a

View container logs:

docker logs -f --tail 100 myapp

Inspect a container's network, mounts, config:

docker inspect myapp

Remove all stopped containers:

docker container prune

Remove all unused images:

docker image prune -a

Nuclear option — reclaim all unused space:

docker system prune -a --volumes

Warning

docker system prune -a --volumes removes all unused images, containers, networks, and volumes. Make sure you don't need any of them.

Show disk usage:

docker system df

Most Docker commands work identically with podman:

podman build -t myapp .
podman run -it -p 3000:3000 myapp
podman compose up -d

Install: brew install podman · apt install podman · winget install RedHat.Podman