DockerCLI/docs/reference/commandline/import.md

import

Usage: docker import URL|- [REPOSITORY[:TAG]]

Create an empty filesystem image and import the contents of the
tarball (.tar, .tar.gz, .tgz, .bzip, .tar.xz, .txz) into it, then
optionally tag it.

  -c, --change=[]     Apply specified Dockerfile instructions while importing the image

URLs must start with http and point to a single file archive (.tar, .tar.gz, .tgz, .bzip, .tar.xz, or .txz) containing a root filesystem. If you would like to import from a local directory or archive, you can use the - parameter to take the data from STDIN.

The --change option will apply Dockerfile instructions to the image that is created. Supported Dockerfile instructions: CMD|ENTRYPOINT|ENV|EXPOSE|ONBUILD|USER|VOLUME|WORKDIR

Examples

Import from a remote location:

This will create a new untagged image.

$ docker import http://example.com/exampleimage.tgz

Import from a local file:

Import to docker via pipe and STDIN.

$ cat exampleimage.tgz | docker import - exampleimagelocal:new

Import from a local directory:

$ sudo tar -c . | docker import - exampleimagedir

Import from a local directory with new configurations:

$ sudo tar -c . | docker import --change "ENV DEBUG true" - exampleimagedir

Note the sudo in this example – you must preserve the ownership of the files (especially root ownership) during the archiving with tar. If you are not root (or the sudo command) when you tar, then the ownerships might not get preserved.