Using docker with eDock

eDock's engine speaks the Docker Engine API on a unix socket:

~/.edock/run/docker.sock

Anything that talks to Docker can talk to eDock: the docker CLI, Compose, buildx, Testcontainers, IDE plugins, docker-py, and the Go and Java clients. You only need to point it there.

The `edock` context

The simplest way is a docker context:

docker context create edock --docker host=unix://$HOME/.edock/run/docker.sock
docker context use edock

Or let edock setup do it and more (below): the app's Engine › Command line › Set up runs it. Switching between eDock and another engine is then docker context use edock or docker context use orbstack.

A single command can name the socket instead:

docker --host unix://$HOME/.edock/run/docker.sock ps
DOCKER_HOST=unix://$HOME/.edock/run/docker.sock docker compose up

`edock setup`

/Applications/eDock.app/Contents/MacOS/edock setup [--use] [--no-agent] [--no-domains]

It makes this Mac use eDock the way an installer would, without touching anything another engine owns:

What	Notes
An `edock` docker context	`--use` also makes it the current one
A LaunchAgent that starts `edock daemon` at login	`--no-agent` skips it
The `docker` CLI, Compose and buildx	Downloaded the first time, at the versions eDock pins, each checked against its SHA-256, into `~/Library/Application Support/eDock/cli`. No package manager needed.
`docker` and `edock` in `~/.edock/bin`	A marked line in your shell profiles (zsh, bash, fish) adds it to the end of PATH, so a docker CLI you already have keeps priority. Also `/usr/local/bin/edock` when that folder is yours.
`edock` as docker's default context	Only on a Mac with no other Docker engine
A buildx builder, `edock-build`	It loads what it builds into eDock (see Builds)
`*.edock.local` names for containers	Writes `/etc/resolver/edock.local` and asks for an administrator password once. `--no-domains` skips it; `--domains` does only this.
`/var/run/docker.sock` linked to eDock	See below

edock setup --uninstall removes exactly those, plus the edock kubectl context.

Compose

Compose works as usual: up, down, ps, logs, exec, several networks, and events. In the app, a project's containers are grouped together, and the whole project can be started, stopped, restarted or removed at once.

Builds

docker build and docker buildx build run on BuildKit inside an eDock container. That is buildx's docker-container driver, through the edock-build builder. The builder is paused after 5 minutes without a build, and the next build resumes it (Engine › Builds & import, or idle_secs in ~/.edock/builder.json).

On Apple silicon, amd64 build steps run through Rosetta.

Which builder a plain docker build uses:

edock build-with edock    # eDock's BuildKit builder
edock build-with docker   # docker's classic builder (DOCKER_BUILDKIT=0)

One known limit: --add-host name:host-gateway fails with BuildKit, because buildx refuses host-gateway for docker-container builders. Use the address itself (198.19.248.254 on a Mac), or DOCKER_BUILDKIT=0.

amd64 images

Images built only for amd64 (Intel) run through Rosetta inside the VM. --platform linux/amd64 is honoured. Most official images have an arm64 build, and those run natively.

Container domains

Every container gets a name you can open in a browser without any setup:

http://<container-name>.edock.localhost

After edock setup (or edock setup --domains), containers also answer at:

http://<name>.edock.local
<service>.<project>.edock.local for Compose services
the names in a container's app.edock.domain=api.myapp label, which sets its own names

HTTPS works too, with a certificate authority of eDock's own in ~/.edock/tls. Its name constraints allow only *.edock.local and *.edock.localhost, so it can't vouch for any other site.

Ports

-p 8080:80 publishes on every interface, as Docker does. Use -p 127.0.0.1:8080:80 to keep a port on the Mac only. Published ports show in the app, and a click opens them.

Files from the Mac

Bind mounts of Mac folders (-v $PWD:/app) use virtiofs.
Container files are at ~/eDock in Finder. This is a read-only NFS mount, always current.
The SSH agent is forwarded at /run/host-services/ssh-auth.sock.

`/var/run/docker.sock`

Some tools ignore docker contexts and use /var/run/docker.sock directly: docker-py, Go's client.FromEnv, docker-java, Testcontainers and IDE plugins. edock setup --docker-socket links that path to eDock's socket, but only when no other engine has it. It asks for an administrator password and installs a LaunchDaemon that puts the link back after a restart.

Until then, or if you decline the password, eDock points Testcontainers at itself through ~/.testcontainers.properties, unless you have a file of your own there.

Moving from OrbStack or Docker Desktop

edock import --list            # what would come over
edock import orbstack          # images, volumes and containers from OrbStack
edock import desktop-linux     # … or from Docker Desktop

Docker's commands as `edock` commands

Docker's commands also work as edock commands, and these always go to eDock, whatever docker context is current:

edock run --rm alpine echo hi
edock ps
edock compose up -d