---
title: "context create"
description: "The context create command description and usage"
keywords: "context, create"
---

# context create

```markdown
Usage:  docker context create [OPTIONS] CONTEXT

Create a context

Docker endpoint config:

NAME                DESCRIPTION
from                Copy Docker endpoint configuration from an existing context
host                Docker endpoint on which to connect
ca                  Trust certs signed only by this CA
cert                Path to TLS certificate file
key                 Path to TLS key file
skip-tls-verify     Skip TLS certificate validation

Example:

$ docker context create my-context \
      --description "some description" \
      --docker "host=tcp://myserver:2376,ca=~/ca-file,cert=~/cert-file,key=~/key-file"

Options:
      --description string                  Description of the context
      --docker stringToString               set the docker endpoint
                                            (default [])
      --from string                         Create the context from an existing context
```

## Description

Creates a new `context`. This allows you to quickly switch the cli
configuration to connect to different clusters or single nodes.

## Examples

### <a name=docker></a> Create a context with a docker endpoint (--docker)

To create a context from scratch provide the docker and, if required,
kubernetes options. The example below creates the context `my-context`
with a docker endpoint of `/var/run/docker.sock`:

```console
$ docker context create \
    --docker host=unix:///var/run/docker.sock \
    my-context
```

### <a name=from></a> Create a context based on an existing context (--from)

Use the `--from=<context-name>` option to create a new context from
an existing context. The example below creates a new context named `my-context`
from the existing context `existing-context`:

```console
$ docker context create --from existing-context my-context
```

If the `--from` option is not set, the `context` is created from the current context:

```console
$ docker context create my-context
```

This can be used to create a context out of an existing `DOCKER_HOST` based script:

```console
$ source my-setup-script.sh
$ docker context create my-context
```

To source the `docker` endpoint configuration from an existing context
use the `--docker from=<context-name>` option. The example below creates a
new context named `my-context` using the docker endpoint configuration from
the existing context `existing-context`:

```console
$ docker context create \
    --docker from=existing-context \
    my-context
```

Docker endpoints configurations, as well as the description can be modified with
`docker context update`.

Refer to the [`docker context update` reference](context_update.md) for details.