Docker Container Management

Manage Docker containers, images, volumes, and networks using the Docker CLI or Dockerode (Node.js Docker API client already in DevOS).

When to Use

• User wants to list running or stopped containers
• User wants to start, stop, or restart a container
• User wants to pull, build, or remove Docker images
• User wants to view container logs
• User wants to inspect container resource usage

How to Use

1. List containers

powershell
# Running containers
docker ps

# All containers including stopped
docker ps -a --format "table {{.Names}}\t{{.Status}}\t{{.Image}}\t{{.Ports}}"

2. Start, stop, and restart containers

powershell
docker start  my-container
docker stop   my-container
docker restart my-container

# Stop all running containers
docker stop $(docker ps -q)

3. View container logs

powershell
# Last 100 lines
docker logs my-container --tail 100

# Follow live output
docker logs my-container --follow --tail 50

4. Manage images

powershell
# List images
docker images

# Pull latest image
docker pull nginx:latest

# Remove image
docker rmi nginx:latest

# Build from Dockerfile in current directory
docker build -t my-app:v1 .

5. Container resource usage

powershell
# Live resource stats (CPU, memory, network)
docker stats --no-stream

# Inspect a specific container
docker inspect my-container | python -m json.tool

6. Manage volumes and networks

powershell
# List volumes
docker volume ls

# List networks
docker network ls

# Remove unused volumes (reclaim disk)
docker volume prune -f

# Remove stopped containers, unused images, and networks
docker system prune -f

7. Execute commands inside a container

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

# Run a single command
docker exec my-container cat /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

8. Docker Compose operations

powershell
# Start all services defined in docker-compose.yml
docker compose up -d

# View logs for all services
docker compose logs -f

# Stop and remove containers
docker compose down

# Rebuild and restart a specific service
docker compose up -d --build api

9. Use Dockerode API (Node.js)

javascript
// Already available in DevOS dependencies
const Dockerode = require('dockerode')
const docker    = new Dockerode()

const containers = await docker.listContainers({ all: true })
containers.forEach(c => console.log(c.Names[0], c.State, c.Image))

const container = docker.getContainer('my-container')
await container.restart()
console.log('Restarted')

Examples

"Show me all running containers and their ports" → Use step 1 with docker ps and the format string.

"The nginx container seems slow — show me its CPU and memory usage" → Use step 5 with docker stats --no-stream filtered to the nginx container.

"Rebuild and restart the API service after my code change" → Use step 8: docker compose up -d --build api.

Cautions

• docker system prune removes ALL stopped containers, unused images, and networks — confirm with the user first
• docker stop $(docker ps -q) stops ALL running containers — confirm which containers to stop
• Bind mounts expose host filesystem paths to containers — check paths before mounting
• For production deployments, prefer docker compose or Kubernetes over direct docker run commands
• Container logs can grow very large — use --tail to limit output for inspection