lazydocker
A simple terminal UI for managing Docker containers and services with keyboard shortcuts and real-time metrics.
What is lazydocker?
Lazydocker is a terminal user interface (TUI) for Docker and Docker Compose that simplifies container management. It provides a centralized view of containers, services, logs, and metrics, allowing developers to perform common Docker operations with keyboard shortcuts instead of memorizing CLI commands. It solves the problem of juggling multiple terminal windows and complex Docker commands when debugging or managing containerized applications.
Developers and DevOps engineers who regularly work with Docker containers and want a faster, more visual way to manage and monitor their local or remote Docker environments without leaving the terminal.
Lazydocker reduces the cognitive load of Docker management by putting all essential information and actions in one terminal interface. Unlike browser-based tools, it runs entirely in the terminal, offers real-time metrics visualization, and enables quick keyboard-driven workflows, making it ideal for developers who prefer CLI efficiency.
Overview
The lazier way to manage everything docker
Use Cases
Best For
- Monitoring multiple Docker containers and their logs in real time
- Quickly restarting, rebuilding, or removing containers during development
- Inspecting Docker image layers and container ancestry
- Visualizing container resource usage with ASCII graphs
- Pruning unused Docker resources to free up disk space
- Managing Docker Compose services without switching terminal tabs
Not Ideal For
- Production environments requiring multi-node orchestration like Kubernetes or Docker Swarm
- Teams that prefer full GUI tools with drag-and-drop interfaces for Docker management
- Automated CI/CD pipelines where non-interactive, scriptable CLI tools are essential
- Users on systems without terminal access or who rely heavily on web-based dashboards
Pros & Cons
Pros
Shows real-time status of all Docker containers and services in a single terminal window, eliminating the need to switch between multiple sessions as highlighted in the elevator pitch.
Common actions like restarting or removing containers are accessible via single keypresses, reducing reliance on memorizing complex Docker CLI commands, as emphasized in the philosophy.
Allows viewing and following logs for individual containers directly within the interface, avoiding cluttered terminal tabs, which is a key feature from the README.
Displays ASCII graphs for CPU and memory usage, providing at-a-glance performance monitoring without external tools, as listed in the cool features section.
Cons
Lacks a graphical user interface, which may be less intuitive for users accustomed to web-based dashboards like Portainer, an alternative mentioned in the README.
When running lazydocker itself in a Docker container, accessing logs and metrics can be buggy, as admitted in the FAQ with 'it is a know bug, that you can't see logs or CPU usage.'
Does not support Docker Swarm or Kubernetes, making it unsuitable for advanced orchestration needs compared to alternatives like Portainer, which is noted in the alternatives section.
Text wrapping is disabled by default due to CPU issues, and mouse events require workarounds for text selection, as noted in the FAQ with 'gui.wrapMainPanel: true' causing problems.
Open Source Alternative To
lazydocker is an open-source alternative to the following products:
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Projects
diveA tool for exploring each layer in a docker image
ctopTop-like interface for container metrics
skopeoWork with remote images registries - retrieving information, images, signing content
docklyImmersive terminal interface for managing docker containers and services
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