docker-running
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Probe ID | docker-running |
| Category | docker |
| Severity | error |
| Inferred from | Dockerfile family, docker-compose.yml family (any of: docker-compose.yml, docker-compose.yaml, compose.yml, compose.yaml) |
What it means
The repo expects Docker (or has a Dockerfile / compose file) and either the docker CLI isn’t installed or the daemon isn’t running. The two failure modes look identical to docker compose up (“Cannot connect to the Docker daemon”) but their fixes are completely different — one is install, the other is start. This probe distinguishes them so the recipe is correct.
How it’s detected
- The probe applies only if the repo contains a Dockerfile or compose file (
HasDockerSignals). Facts.HasTool("docker")— if false, the CLI is missing. Emits the cli-missing finding.- Otherwise,
docker infois exec’d with a 3-second timeout. If it errors or times out, the daemon isn’t running. Emits the daemon-down finding.
The 3-second cap matters: a hung daemon connection can take minutes to fail by default; envdoctor’s 2-second budget would blow if we let it spin.
Common causes
cli-missing
- Fresh dev machine — never installed Docker Desktop / Colima.
- Linux distro where
dockerwas uninstalled in favor ofpodman.
daemon-down
- Docker Desktop closed; restart it from Applications.
- Colima not started —
colima startafter a reboot. - Linux:
systemctl is-active dockerreturns inactive. - WSL2 with Docker Desktop not configured to integrate with the running distro.
Recipes
Two separate recipes — docker-cli-missing for the install path, docker-daemon-down for the start-the-daemon path. The probe attaches whichever matches the finding it emitted. See the YAML source for docker-cli-missing and docker-daemon-down.
docker-cli-missing
| Fix | Class | When | Fallback |
|---|---|---|---|
brew-cask-docker | shared | os=darwin, has_tool=brew | |
apt-install-docker | privileged | os=linux, has_tool=apt | yes |
docker-daemon-down
| Fix | Class | When | Fallback |
|---|---|---|---|
colima-start | safe | has_tool=colima | |
open-docker-desktop | safe | os=darwin | |
systemctl-start-docker | privileged | os=linux | yes |