DockerCLI/docs/reference/commandline/container_create.md

create

Create a new container

Aliases

docker container create, docker create

Options

Name	Type	Default	Description
--add-host	list		Add a custom host-to-IP mapping (host:ip)
--annotation	map	map[]	Add an annotation to the container (passed through to the OCI runtime)
-a, --attach	list		Attach to STDIN, STDOUT or STDERR
--blkio-weight	uint16	0	Block IO (relative weight), between 10 and 1000, or 0 to disable (default 0)
--blkio-weight-device	list		Block IO weight (relative device weight)
--cap-add	list		Add Linux capabilities
--cap-drop	list		Drop Linux capabilities
--cgroup-parent	string		Optional parent cgroup for the container
--cgroupns	string		Cgroup namespace to use (host|private) 'host': Run the container in the Docker host's cgroup namespace 'private': Run the container in its own private cgroup namespace '': Use the cgroup namespace as configured by the default-cgroupns-mode option on the daemon (default)
--cidfile	string		Write the container ID to the file
--cpu-count	int64	0	CPU count (Windows only)
--cpu-percent	int64	0	CPU percent (Windows only)
--cpu-period	int64	0	Limit CPU CFS (Completely Fair Scheduler) period
--cpu-quota	int64	0	Limit CPU CFS (Completely Fair Scheduler) quota
--cpu-rt-period	int64	0	Limit CPU real-time period in microseconds
--cpu-rt-runtime	int64	0	Limit CPU real-time runtime in microseconds
-c, --cpu-shares	int64	0	CPU shares (relative weight)
--cpus	decimal		Number of CPUs
--cpuset-cpus	string		CPUs in which to allow execution (0-3, 0,1)
--cpuset-mems	string		MEMs in which to allow execution (0-3, 0,1)
--device	list		Add a host device to the container
--device-cgroup-rule	list		Add a rule to the cgroup allowed devices list
--device-read-bps	list		Limit read rate (bytes per second) from a device
--device-read-iops	list		Limit read rate (IO per second) from a device
--device-write-bps	list		Limit write rate (bytes per second) to a device
--device-write-iops	list		Limit write rate (IO per second) to a device
--disable-content-trust	bool	true	Skip image verification
--dns	list		Set custom DNS servers
--dns-option	list		Set DNS options
--dns-search	list		Set custom DNS search domains
--domainname	string		Container NIS domain name
--entrypoint	string		Overwrite the default ENTRYPOINT of the image
-e, --env	list		Set environment variables
--env-file	list		Read in a file of environment variables
--expose	list		Expose a port or a range of ports
--gpus	gpu-request		GPU devices to add to the container ('all' to pass all GPUs)
--group-add	list		Add additional groups to join
--health-cmd	string		Command to run to check health
--health-interval	duration	0s	Time between running the check (ms|s|m|h) (default 0s)
--health-retries	int	0	Consecutive failures needed to report unhealthy
--health-start-interval	duration	0s	Time between running the check during the start period (ms|s|m|h) (default 0s)
--health-start-period	duration	0s	Start period for the container to initialize before starting health-retries countdown (ms|s|m|h) (default 0s)
--health-timeout	duration	0s	Maximum time to allow one check to run (ms|s|m|h) (default 0s)
--help			Print usage
-h, --hostname	string		Container host name
--init			Run an init inside the container that forwards signals and reaps processes
-i, --interactive			Keep STDIN open even if not attached
--io-maxbandwidth	bytes	0	Maximum IO bandwidth limit for the system drive (Windows only)
--io-maxiops	uint64	0	Maximum IOps limit for the system drive (Windows only)
--ip	string		IPv4 address (e.g., 172.30.100.104)
--ip6	string		IPv6 address (e.g., 2001:db8::33)
--ipc	string		IPC mode to use
--isolation	string		Container isolation technology
--kernel-memory	bytes	0	Kernel memory limit
-l, --label	list		Set meta data on a container
--label-file	list		Read in a line delimited file of labels
--link	list		Add link to another container
--link-local-ip	list		Container IPv4/IPv6 link-local addresses
--log-driver	string		Logging driver for the container
--log-opt	list		Log driver options
--mac-address	string		Container MAC address (e.g., 92:d0:c6:0a:29:33)
-m, --memory	bytes	0	Memory limit
--memory-reservation	bytes	0	Memory soft limit
--memory-swap	bytes	0	Swap limit equal to memory plus swap: '-1' to enable unlimited swap
--memory-swappiness	int64	-1	Tune container memory swappiness (0 to 100)
--mount	mount		Attach a filesystem mount to the container
--name	string		Assign a name to the container
--network	network		Connect a container to a network
--network-alias	list		Add network-scoped alias for the container
--no-healthcheck			Disable any container-specified HEALTHCHECK
--oom-kill-disable			Disable OOM Killer
--oom-score-adj	int	0	Tune host's OOM preferences (-1000 to 1000)
--pid	string		PID namespace to use
--pids-limit	int64	0	Tune container pids limit (set -1 for unlimited)
--platform	string		Set platform if server is multi-platform capable
--privileged			Give extended privileges to this container
-p, --publish	list		Publish a container's port(s) to the host
-P, --publish-all			Publish all exposed ports to random ports
--pull	string	missing	Pull image before creating (always, |missing, never)
-q, --quiet			Suppress the pull output
--read-only			Mount the container's root filesystem as read only
--restart	string	no	Restart policy to apply when a container exits
--rm			Automatically remove the container and its associated anonymous volumes when it exits
--runtime	string		Runtime to use for this container
--security-opt	list		Security Options
--shm-size	bytes	0	Size of /dev/shm
--stop-signal	string		Signal to stop the container
--stop-timeout	int	0	Timeout (in seconds) to stop a container
--storage-opt	list		Storage driver options for the container
--sysctl	map	map[]	Sysctl options
--tmpfs	list		Mount a tmpfs directory
-t, --tty			Allocate a pseudo-TTY
--ulimit	ulimit		Ulimit options
-u, --user	string		Username or UID (format: <name|uid>[:<group|gid>])
--userns	string		User namespace to use
--uts	string		UTS namespace to use
-v, --volume	list		Bind mount a volume
--volume-driver	string		Optional volume driver for the container
--volumes-from	list		Mount volumes from the specified container(s)
-w, --workdir	string		Working directory inside the container

Description

The docker container create (or shorthand: docker create) command creates a new container from the specified image, without starting it.

When creating a container, the Docker daemon 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 container start (or shorthand: docker start) 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's ready to start when you need it. The initial status of the new container is created.

The docker create command shares most of its options with the docker run command (which performs a docker create before starting it). Refer to the docker run CLI reference for details on the available flags and options.

Examples

Create and start a container

The following example creates an interactive container with a pseudo-TTY attached, then starts the container and attaches to it:

$ docker container create -i -t --name mycontainer alpine
6d8af538ec541dd581ebc2a24153a28329acb5268abe5ef868c1f1a261221752

$ docker container start --attach -i mycontainer
/ # echo hello world
hello world

The above is the equivalent of a docker run:

$ docker run -it --name mycontainer2 alpine
/ # echo hello world
hello world

Initialize volumes

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