DockerCLI/docs/reference/commandline/create.md

create

Creates a new container.

Usage: docker create [OPTIONS] IMAGE [COMMAND] [ARG...]

Create a new container

  -a, --attach=[]               Attach to STDIN, STDOUT or STDERR
  --add-host=[]                 Add a custom host-to-IP mapping (host:ip)
  --blkio-weight=0              Block IO weight (relative weight)
  -c, --cpu-shares=0            CPU shares (relative weight)
  --cap-add=[]                  Add Linux capabilities
  --cap-drop=[]                 Drop Linux capabilities
  --cgroup-parent=""            Optional parent cgroup for the container
  --cidfile=""                  Write the container ID to the file
  --cpu-period=0                Limit CPU CFS (Completely Fair Scheduler) period
  --cpu-quota=0                 Limit CPU CFS (Completely Fair Scheduler) quota
  --cpuset-cpus=""              CPUs in which to allow execution (0-3, 0,1)
  --cpuset-mems=""              Memory nodes (MEMs) in which to allow execution (0-3, 0,1)
  --device=[]                   Add a host device to the container
  --disable-content-trust=true  Skip image verification
  --dns=[]                      Set custom DNS servers
  --dns-opt=[]                  Set custom DNS options
  --dns-search=[]               Set custom DNS search domains
  -e, --env=[]                  Set environment variables
  --entrypoint=""               Overwrite the default ENTRYPOINT of the image
  --env-file=[]                 Read in a file of environment variables
  --expose=[]                   Expose a port or a range of ports
  --group-add=[]                Add additional groups to join
  -h, --hostname=""             Container host name
  --help=false                  Print usage
  -i, --interactive=false       Keep STDIN open even if not attached
  --ipc=""                      IPC namespace to use
  --kernel-memory=""            Kernel memory limit
  -l, --label=[]                Set metadata on the container (e.g., --label=com.example.key=value)
  --label-file=[]               Read in a line delimited file of labels
  --link=[]                     Add link to another container
  --log-driver=""               Logging driver for container
  --log-opt=[]                  Log driver specific options
  --lxc-conf=[]                 Add custom lxc options
  -m, --memory=""               Memory limit
  --mac-address=""              Container MAC address (e.g. 92:d0:c6:0a:29:33)
  --memory-reservation=""       Memory soft limit
  --memory-swap=""              Total memory (memory + swap), '-1' to disable swap
  --memory-swappiness=""        Tune a container's memory swappiness behavior. Accepts an integer between 0 and 100.
  --name=""                     Assign a name to the container
  --net="default"               Set the Network mode for the container
  --oom-kill-disable=false      Whether to disable OOM Killer for the container or not
  -P, --publish-all=false       Publish all exposed ports to random ports
  -p, --publish=[]              Publish a container's port(s) to the host
  --pid=""                      PID namespace to use
  --privileged=false            Give extended privileges to this container
  --read-only=false             Mount the container's root filesystem as read only
  --restart="no"                Restart policy (no, on-failure[:max-retry], always, unless-stopped)
  --security-opt=[]             Security options
  --stop-signal="SIGTERM"       Signal to stop a container
  -t, --tty=false               Allocate a pseudo-TTY
  -u, --user=""                 Username or UID
  --ulimit=[]                   Ulimit options
  --uts=""                      UTS namespace to use
  -v, --volume=[]               Bind mount a volume
  --volumes-from=[]             Mount volumes from the specified container(s)
  -w, --workdir=""              Working directory inside the container

The docker create command creates a writeable container layer over the specified image and prepares it for running the specified command. The container ID is then printed to STDOUT. This is similar to docker run -d except the container is never started. You can then use the docker start <container_id> command to start the container at any point.

This is useful when you want to set up a container configuration ahead of time so that it is ready to start when you need it. The initial status of the new container is created.

Please see the run command section and the Docker run reference for more details.

Examples

$ docker create -t -i fedora bash
6d8af538ec541dd581ebc2a24153a28329acb5268abe5ef868c1f1a261221752
$ docker start -a -i 6d8af538ec5
bash-4.2#

As of v1.4.0 container volumes are initialized during the docker create phase (i.e., docker run too). For example, this allows you to create the data volume container, and then use it from another container:

$ docker create -v /data --name data ubuntu
240633dfbb98128fa77473d3d9018f6123b99c454b3251427ae190a7d951ad57
$ docker run --rm --volumes-from data ubuntu ls -la /data
total 8
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root 4096 Dec  5 04:10 .
drwxr-xr-x 48 root root 4096 Dec  5 04:11 ..

Similarly, create a host directory bind mounted volume container, which can then be used from the subsequent container:

$ docker create -v /home/docker:/docker --name docker ubuntu
9aa88c08f319cd1e4515c3c46b0de7cc9aa75e878357b1e96f91e2c773029f03
$ docker run --rm --volumes-from docker ubuntu ls -la /docker
total 20
drwxr-sr-x  5 1000 staff  180 Dec  5 04:00 .
drwxr-xr-x 48 root root  4096 Dec  5 04:13 ..
-rw-rw-r--  1 1000 staff 3833 Dec  5 04:01 .ash_history
-rw-r--r--  1 1000 staff  446 Nov 28 11:51 .ashrc
-rw-r--r--  1 1000 staff   25 Dec  5 04:00 .gitconfig
drwxr-sr-x  3 1000 staff   60 Dec  1 03:28 .local
-rw-r--r--  1 1000 staff  920 Nov 28 11:51 .profile
drwx--S---  2 1000 staff  460 Dec  5 00:51 .ssh
drwxr-xr-x 32 1000 staff 1140 Dec  5 04:01 docker