Docker Cheat Sheet
Docker cheatsheet providing an advanced, structured reference for Docker CLI, container lifecycle management, image handling, Dockerfile instructions, volumes, networking, inspection, cleanup, and Docker Compose.
Docker Architecture
Docker packages applications into images which are instantiated as containers running on the Docker Engine.
Image -> Container -> Runtime
docker info
docker run
Create and start a new container from an image.
docker run [OPTIONS] IMAGE[:TAG] [COMMAND]
docker run -d -p 8080:80 --name web nginx
docker ps
List running or all containers.
docker ps
docker ps --all
docker ps --all
CONTAINER ID IMAGE STATUS NAMES
e91c1f2d3a4b nginx Up 2 minutes web
docker stop
Stop a running container.
docker stop CONTAINER
docker stop web
docker start
Start an existing container.
docker start CONTAINER
docker start web
docker rm
Remove containers.
docker rm CONTAINER
docker rm -f CONTAINER
docker rm web
docker exec
Execute a command inside a running container.
docker exec [OPTIONS] CONTAINER COMMAND
docker exec -it web bash
docker logs
View container logs.
docker logs CONTAINER
docker logs -f CONTAINER
docker logs -f web
docker images
List local images.
docker images
docker images
REPOSITORY TAG IMAGE ID SIZE
nginx latest a6bd71f48f68 187MB
docker pull
Download an image.
docker pull IMAGE[:TAG]
docker pull nginx:latest
docker push
Upload an image to a registry.
docker push IMAGE
docker push user/app:1.0
docker build
Build an image from a Dockerfile.
docker build [OPTIONS] PATH
docker build -t app:1.0 .
docker rmi
Remove images.
docker rmi IMAGE
docker rmi nginx
docker image prune
Remove unused images.
docker image prune
docker image prune -a
docker image prune -a
docker inspect
Inspect Docker objects.
docker inspect OBJECT
docker inspect web
docker stats
Display resource usage.
docker stats
docker stats
CONTAINER CPU % MEM USAGE
web 0.10% 6MiB
docker system prune
Remove unused Docker data.
docker system prune
docker system prune -a
docker system prune -a
Docker Volumes
Volumes persist data beyond container lifecycle.
docker volume ls
docker volume create VOLUME
docker volume create app_data
docker run -v app_data:/data nginx
Docker Networking
Networks enable container communication.
docker network ls
docker network create NETWORK
docker network create backend
docker run --network backend nginx
Dockerfile Instructions
Dockerfile defines how images are built.
FROM image
RUN command
CMD ["exec","param"]
ENTRYPOINT ["exec","param"]
ENV key=value
EXPOSE port
COPY src dest
WORKDIR path
VOLUME path
USER user
ARG name
LABEL key=value
HEALTHCHECK CMD command
FROM nginx:latest
WORKDIR /app
COPY . .
EXPOSE 80
CMD ["nginx","-g","daemon off;"]
docker compose up
Create and start services.
docker compose up
docker compose up -d
docker compose up -d
docker compose down
Stop and remove services.
docker compose down
docker compose down