Lazydocker Cheat Sheet

Overview

Lazydocker is a terminal-based user interface for managing Docker containers and Docker Compose stacks. It provides a visual dashboard for monitoring containers, images, volumes, and networks without needing to remember complex Docker CLI commands. Everything is accessible through keyboard-driven navigation with real-time updates.

Lazydocker displays container status, resource usage (CPU, memory), logs, environment variables, and configuration in a single terminal window. It supports common operations like starting, stopping, restarting, removing containers and images, attaching to shells, and viewing real-time log streams. It works with both standalone Docker containers and Docker Compose projects.

Installation

# macOS via Homebrew
brew install lazydocker

# Linux / macOS via Go
go install github.com/jesseduffield/lazydocker@latest

# Linux one-liner script
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jesseduffield/lazydocker/master/scripts/install_update_linux.sh | bash

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S lazydocker

# Nixpkgs
nix-env -iA nixpkgs.lazydocker

# Scoop (Windows)
scoop install lazydocker

# Chocolatey (Windows)
choco install lazydocker

# Docker (run lazydocker itself in Docker)
docker run --rm -it \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  -v ~/.config/lazydocker:/.config/jesseduffield/lazydocker \
  lazyteam/lazydocker

Quick Start

# Launch lazydocker
lazydocker

# Launch with a specific Docker Compose file
COMPOSE_FILE=docker-compose.prod.yml lazydocker

# Launch with a specific Docker context
DOCKER_CONTEXT=remote lazydocker

Interface Layout

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Lazydocker                                      │
├──────────┬─────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Left     │ Main Panel                          │
│ Panel    │                                     │
│          │ Shows details for selected item:    │
│ Projects │ - Logs                              │
│ Containers│ - Stats (CPU/Memory)              │
│ Images   │ - Config/Environment               │
│ Volumes  │ - Top (running processes)           │
│ Networks │                                     │
│          │                                     │
└──────────┴─────────────────────────────────────┘

Navigation

Global Keys

Key	Action
[ / ]	Switch between left panel sections
Tab	Switch between left and main panels
j / k	Move down / up in lists
h / l	Move left / right between panels
Enter	Focus / select item
q	Quit lazydocker
x	Open command menu for selected item
?	Show help / keybindings
/	Filter items in current list
Escape	Cancel / go back
+	Next Docker Compose project
-	Previous Docker Compose project

Container Panel

Key	Action
d	Stop container
s	Start/restart container
r	Restart container
a	Attach to container shell
m	View logs
E	Open shell in container
D	Remove container
S	Stop container
U	Start container
R	Rebuild and recreate (Compose)
b	View bulk commands
c	Run custom command

Image Panel

Key	Action
d	Remove image
D	Remove image (force)
p	Prune unused images

Volume Panel

Key	Action
d	Remove volume
p	Prune unused volumes

Network Panel

Key	Action
d	Remove network
p	Prune unused networks

Main Panel Tabs

When a container is selected, the main panel shows multiple tabs:

Tab	Content
Logs	Real-time container log stream
Stats	CPU, memory, network I/O, disk I/O
Config	Container configuration and environment
Top	Running processes inside the container

Log Navigation

Key	Action
j / k	Scroll down / up
G	Jump to bottom (latest)
g	Jump to top (oldest)
Ctrl+D	Page down
Ctrl+U	Page up
/	Search in logs
n	Next search match
N	Previous search match
f	Toggle follow mode
w	Toggle line wrap
t	Toggle timestamps
s	Toggle since filter

Configuration

Config File Location

# Linux
~/.config/lazydocker/config.yml

# macOS
~/Library/Application Support/lazydocker/config.yml

# Windows
%APPDATA%/lazydocker/config.yml

config.yml

gui:
  # Show all containers or just running
  showAllContainers: true

  # Scroll speed
  scrollHeight: 2

  # Language
  language: 'auto'

  # Theme (can be customized)
  theme:
    activeBorderColor:
      - green
      - bold
    inactiveBorderColor:
      - white
    selectedLineBgColor:
      - blue

  # Return to container after executing command
  returnImmediately: false

  # Wrap main panel content
  wrapMainPanel: true

logs:
  # Timestamps in logs
  timestamps: false

  # Number of log lines to show
  since: '60m'

  # Tail last N lines
  tail: ''

commandTemplates:
  # Docker top command
  dockerCompose: "docker compose"
  
  # Stop all containers
  stopAll: "docker stop $(docker ps -q)"
  
  # Remove all stopped containers
  pruneContainers: "docker container prune -f"

# Custom commands available via 'c' key
customCommands:
  containers:
    - name: "View full logs"
      attach: false
      command: "docker logs -f {{ .Container.ID }}"
      serviceNames: []

    - name: "Shell into container"
      attach: true
      command: "docker exec -it {{ .Container.ID }} /bin/sh"
      serviceNames: []

    - name: "View environment"
      attach: false
      command: "docker inspect --format='{{range .Config.Env}}{{println .}}{{end}}' {{ .Container.ID }}"
      serviceNames: []

  images:
    - name: "Show image history"
      command: "docker history {{ .Image.ID }}"
      attach: false

  volumes:
    - name: "Show volume details"
      command: "docker volume inspect {{ .Volume.Name }}"
      attach: false

Custom Commands

Custom commands use Go templates with access to the selected resource.

Available Template Variables

Context	Variables
Container	.Container.ID, .Container.Name, .Container.Image
Image	.Image.ID, .Image.Repository, .Image.Tag
Volume	.Volume.Name, .Volume.Driver
Network	.Network.Name, .Network.ID
Service	.Service.Name (Docker Compose)

Example Custom Commands

customCommands:
  containers:
    - name: "Copy file from container"
      command: "docker cp {{ .Container.ID }}:/path/in/container ./local/path"
      attach: false

    - name: "Export container"
      command: "docker export {{ .Container.ID }} > {{ .Container.Name }}.tar"
      attach: false

    - name: "View resource usage"
      command: "docker stats {{ .Container.ID }} --no-stream"
      attach: false

    - name: "Inspect container"
      command: "docker inspect {{ .Container.ID }} | less"
      attach: true

Docker Compose Integration

Lazydocker automatically detects Docker Compose projects and provides additional operations:

Feature	Description
Service grouping	Containers grouped by Compose service
Rebuild	Rebuild and recreate services (R key)
Up/Down	Start or stop entire Compose project
Logs	View logs for specific service or all
Project switching	Switch between Compose projects with +/-

Advanced Usage

Aliases

# Add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc
alias lzd='lazydocker'

# Launch for specific Compose project
alias lzd-prod='COMPOSE_FILE=docker-compose.prod.yml lazydocker'

Remote Docker Hosts

# Use Docker context
docker context create remote --docker "host=ssh://user@remote-host"
DOCKER_CONTEXT=remote lazydocker

# Or use DOCKER_HOST environment variable
DOCKER_HOST=ssh://user@remote-host lazydocker
DOCKER_HOST=tcp://remote-host:2376 lazydocker

Filtering

Press / in any list panel to filter items. The filter supports substring matching:

# Filter containers by name
/web

# Filter images
/nginx

# Clear filter
Press Escape

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
Cannot connect to Docker	Ensure Docker daemon is running; check socket permissions
Permission denied	Add user to docker group: sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
No containers showing	Check showAllContainers config; ensure Docker is running
Slow performance	Reduce log history with since config; limit tail lines
Custom commands not appearing	Check config.yml syntax; restart lazydocker
Key bindings not working	Check for terminal key mapping conflicts
Compose services not detected	Run lazydocker from the Compose project directory
Remote Docker not connecting	Verify Docker context or DOCKER_HOST is correct