docker
Open SourceAPIBuild, ship, and run any application anywhere
www.docker.comLast updated: April 2026
Docker is the leading container platform used by 24M+ developers to build, share, and run secure, portable applications from development to production.
About
Docker is the world's most widely adopted container platform, trusted by over 24 million developers and powering more than 11 billion monthly downloads from Docker Hub. It provides a complete ecosystem of tools designed to accelerate application development, simplify deployment, and secure the software supply chain — from a developer's laptop all the way to production.
Docker Desktop is the primary developer tool, offering a unified local environment to build, test, and run containerized applications on macOS, Windows, and Linux. It integrates natively with popular IDEs, includes a built-in container runtime, and now supports MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers — making it the fastest path from idea to running software, whether developers are building traditional applications or AI-powered agents. Docker Desktop also enables developers to spin up and connect to containerized MCP servers like GitHub or Browserbase in seconds, streamlining the development of next-generation agentic workflows.
Docker Hub is the world's largest container registry, hosting over 14 million images and serving as the central hub where developers find, publish, and share container images, MCP servers, AI models, and agent blueprints. Docker Scout provides continuous vulnerability analysis and software supply chain insights directly within the development workflow, while Docker Build Cloud accelerates build times dramatically by offloading builds to cloud infrastructure.
A major focus for Docker in 2026 is Docker Hardened Images (DHI) — a catalog of 1,000+ free, Apache 2.0-licensed, distroless container images built with near-zero CVEs, complete SBOMs, SLSA Level 3 provenance, and FIPS/STIG compliance. These hardened images reduce the attack surface by up to 97% and give every developer a trusted, secure starting point — with enterprise options for SLA-backed CVE remediation and extended lifecycle support for end-of-life images, as adopted by organizations like Adobe and Cloudflare.
Whether teams are building microservices, deploying Kubernetes workloads via Helm charts, or developing AI agents powered by MCP, Docker provides the foundational platform that makes containerized software development faster, safer, and more consistent across every environment.
Positioning
Docker pioneered containerization and remains the standard for packaging, distributing, and running applications in isolated environments. While Kubernetes handles orchestration at scale, Docker provides the fundamental building block — the container.
For developers, Docker means consistent environments from laptop to production. For operations teams, it means standardized deployment units that work the same everywhere.
What You Get
- Docker Engine
The runtime that builds and runs containers on any Linux, Windows, or macOS system - Docker Desktop
Development environment with GUI, Kubernetes, and extension marketplace - Docker Hub
Public and private container registry with millions of pre-built images - Docker Compose
Define and run multi-container applications with YAML configuration - Docker Scout
Security analysis and vulnerability scanning for container images
Core Areas
Container Runtime
Build, run, and manage containers with the industry-standard engine
Image Management
Create, store, and distribute container images via registries
Development Workflow
Local development environments that mirror production
Security
Image scanning, SBOM generation, and supply chain security
Why It Matters
Containers solved one of the most persistent problems in software — the gap between development and production environments. Docker made containers accessible and standardized, creating an ecosystem that now powers most modern software deployment.
Whether you are running microservices, legacy applications, or CI/CD pipelines, Docker containers provide the isolation and portability that modern infrastructure demands.
Reviews
1 reviewDocker has completely standardized our development and deployment workflow. Every developer runs the same environment locally, and our CI/CD pipeline builds identical images that run in production. Docker Compose makes local development with multiple services painless.
— Sophie L., DevOps Engineer
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