doro-docker-essentials_skill

Overview

This skill collects essential Docker commands and workflows for container management, image operations, networking, volumes, debugging, and Compose. It provides concise, ready-to-run examples for common tasks and recurring workflows used in development and production. Use it as a quick-reference to run, inspect, build, and clean containers and images efficiently.

How this skill works

The skill organizes Docker operations by topic (container lifecycle, inspection, images, Compose, networking, volumes, and system management) and presents command snippets with common flags and patterns. It highlights practical workflows like development containers, databases, multi-stage builds, and quick debugging steps so you can copy-paste commands and adapt them to your environment. Useful flags and cleanup commands are included to help maintain a tidy Docker host.

When to use it

• When you need a quick reference for everyday Docker commands and flags
• While building, tagging, and pushing images during CI or local development
• When debugging container issues: logs, exec, inspect, and file copy
• When setting up multi-container apps with docker-compose
• During host maintenance to prune unused resources and free disk space

Best practices

• Use .dockerignore to keep build contexts small and secure
• Tag images with explicit versions and use latest only for ephemeral cases
• Combine RUN steps and use multi-stage builds to reduce image size
• Run one-off tasks with --rm and use named volumes for persistent data
• Regularly prune unused images, containers, and volumes to reclaim space

Example use cases

• Run a development Node container with mounted source, mapped port, and live dev script
• Start a reproducible Postgres test database with volume-backed storage and env vars
• Shell into a running service to inspect processes, environment, or logs for debugging
• Build and tag a production image using build args and push it to a registry
• Use docker-compose to scale web service replicas and view aggregated logs