Docker cheat sheet for developers

Docker is a containerization tool that enables you to deploy and configure services in isolated environments. To manage various aspects of this platform and the services running on top of it, you mainly use various Docker commands.

There are different Docker commands for specific tasks. Based on their purpose, they fall into these categories:

• Build commands. Create an image from a Dockerfile.
• Cleanup commands. Remove unused images and volumes to free up space.  
• Container interaction commands. Manage and communicate with containers. 
• Container inspection commands. Analyze and check the details of containers.
• Image management commands. Administer images. 
• Run commands. Build a container from an image and change its settings. 
• Registry commands. Interact with a remote Docker image registry, like Docker Hub. 
• Service commands. Manage all aspects of Docker services.
• Network commands. Configure, manage, and interact with the Docker network. 

Let’s dive deeper into each category to learn the commands in more detail, their variations, and their purposes. At the end, you’ll find a Docker cheat sheet that you can download and easily look back to when unsure what utilities to use.

Build commands

The build command in Docker is used to build images from a Dockerfile. There are some variations of this command used for different tasks, with the most common ones including:

Command	Explanation
docker build	Builds an image from a Dockerfile in the current directory
docker build https://github.com/docker/rootfs.git#container:docker	Builds an image from a remote Git repository
docker build -t imagename/tag	Builds and tags an image for easier tracking
docker build https://yourserver/file.tar.gz	Builds an image from a remote tar archive
docker build -t image:1.0 -<<EOF FROM busybox RUN echo "hello world"EOF	Builds an image via a Dockerfile that is passed through STDIN or standard input

Cleanup commands

The cleanup commands, as the name suggests, remove unused images, containers, and volumes to keep your system clean, as well as freeing up storage space. Here are operations you can do with it:

Command	Explanation
docker image prune	Deletes dangling or untagged images
docker image prune -a	Clears all images that aren’t being used by containers
docker system prune	Removes all stopped containers, all networks not used by containers, all dangling images, and all build cache
docker image rm image-name	Removes a specific image by name
docker rm container	Removes a running container
docker swarm leave	Leaves a Swarm
docker stack rm stackname	Deletes a Swarm
docker volume rm $(docker volume ls -f dangling=true -q)	Removes all dangling volumes
docker rm $(docker ps -a -q)	Clears all stopped containers
docker kill $(docker ps -q)	Stops all running containers

Container interaction commands

The container interaction commands are used to build and manage applications running on isolated environments. Here are some of the most common ones:

Command	Explanation
docker start container	Starts a new container
docker stop container	Stops a container
docker pause container	Pauses a container
docker unpause container	Unpauses a container
docker restart container	Restarts a container
docker export container	Exports container contents to a tar archive
docker attach container	Attaches to a running container
docker wait container	Waits until the container is terminated and shows the exit code
docker commit -m “commit message” -a "author" container username/image_name: tag	Saves a running container as an image
docker logs -ft container	Follows container logs
docker exec -ti container script.sh	Runs a command in a container
docker commit container image	Creates a new image from a container
docker create image	Creates a new container from an image

Container inspection commands

The container inspection commands are helpful for checking details of the isolated environments, which is commonly done for quality assurance or troubleshooting purposes. Here are some commands that help you get an overview of what different containers are doing:

Command	Explanation
docker ps	Lists all running containers
docker ps -a	Lists all containers, regardless of their statuses
docker diff container	Inspects changes to directories and files in the container filesystem
docker top container	Shows all running processes in an existing container
docker inspect container	Displays low-level information about a container
docker logs container	Gathers the logs for a container
docker stats container	Shows container resource usage statistics

Image management commands

The image management commands enable you to modify and inspect images that will be used to build containers. The most common utilities for this purpose include:

Command	Explanation
docker image ls	Lists images
docker image rm mysql	Removes an image
docker tag	Tags an image
docker history image	Displays the image history
docker inspect image	Displays low-level information about an image

Run command

The run command in Docker is used to create containers from provided images. The default syntax for this utility looks like:

docker run (options) image (command) (arg...)

You can add the following flags to modify the command behavior and build containers using specific settings:

Flag	Explanation
--detach , -d	Runs the container in the background and prints the container ID
--env , -e	Sets environment variables for the container
--hostname , -h	Gives the container a specific hostname
--label , -l	Creates a metadata label for the container
--name	Assigns a name to a container
--network	Connects the container to a Docker network
--rm	Removes container when it stops
--read-only	Sets the container filesystem as read-only
--workdir , -w	Sets a working directory in the container

Registry commands

Docker registry commands enable you to interact with remote image repositories, such as the official Docker Hub or a self-hosted registry running on a private server:

Command	Explanation
docker login	Logs in to a registry
docker logout	Logs out from a registry
docker pull mysql	Pulls an image from a registry
docker push repo/rhel-httpd:latest	Pushes an image to a registry
docker search term	Searches Docker Hub for images with the specified term

Service commands

The service commands are used to manage a Docker Swarm service — an image for a microservice within the context of a larger application. These include:

Command	Explanation
docker service ls	Lists all services running in a swarm
docker stack services stackname	Lists all running services
docker service ps servicename	Lists the tasks of a service
docker service update servicename	Updates a service
docker service create image	Creates a new service
docker service scale servicename=10	Scales one or more replicated services
docker service logs servicename	Lists all service logs

Network commands

The network commands are used to manage your Docker application’s network, which defines how containers communicate with each other and external systems. Here are some of the most common ones:

Command	Explanation
docker network create network-name	Creates a new network
docker network rm network-name	Removes a specified network
docker network ls	Lists all networks
docker network connect network-name container	Connects a container to a network
docker network disconnect network-name container	Disconnects a container from a network
docker network inspect network-name	Displays detailed information about a network

Understanding how to use Docker

Commands you have learned in this cheat sheet are used to interact with various entities in the broader Docker ecosystem, specifically the server, client, container, image, and registry.

If you’re new to Docker, master running and inspecting containers first (docker run, docker ps, docker logs, docker exec), then progress to building images (docker build, docker tag, docker push). Advanced networking and Swarm commands are only needed for specific deployment scenarios.

To learn these concepts in detail and understand their relationship to the commands, refer to our Docker tutorial. 

Remembering all the commands can be challenging so below you’ll find a downloadable Docker cheat sheet that you can download and print out for a handy reference when using the container platform. 

Download free docker cheat sheet

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