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The Docker extension makes it easy to build, manage and deploy containerized applications from Visual Studio Code.

This page provides an overview of the Docker extension capabilities; use the side menu to learn more about topics of interest.

Installation

Install Docker on your machine and add it to the system path.

On Linux, you should also enable Docker CLI for the non-root user account that will be used to run VS Code.

To install the extension, open Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X), search for docker to filter results and select Docker extension authored by Microsoft.

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Editing Docker files

Rich IntelliSense (completions) are provided for Dockerfile and docker-compose.yml files:

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In addition, common errors for Dockerfile and docker-compose.yml files are detected and reported in the Problems panel.

Generating Docker files

Docker: Add Docker Files to Workspace command will generate Dockerfile, docker-compose.yml, docker-compose.debug.yml and .dockerignore files to your workspace. The extension recognizes workspaces that use most popular development languages (C#, Node.js, Python, Ruby, Go and Java) and customizes Docker files accordingly.

Docker view

The Docker extension contributes a Docker view to VS Code. The Docker view lets you examine and manage Docker assets: containers, images, volumes, networks, and container registries. If the Azure Account extension is installed, you can browse your Azure Container Registries as well.

The right-click menu provides access to commonly-used commands for each type of asset.

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You can rearrange the Docker view panes by dragging them up or down with a mouse and use the context menu to hide or show them.

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Docker commands

Many of the most common Docker commands are built right into the Command Palette:

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Covered areas include images, networks, volumes, container registries and Docker Compose. In addition, the Docker: Prune System custom command will remove stopped containers, dangling images, and unused networks and volumes.

Using container registries

You can display the content and push/pull/delete images from Docker Hub and Azure Container Registries:

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An image in an Azure Container Registry can be deployed to Azure App Service directly from VS Code—see Deploy images to Azure App Service page. For more information about how to authenticate to and work with registries see Work with container registries page.

Debugging services running inside a container

Services build using .NET (C#) and Node.js can be debugged when running inside a container. The extension offers custom tasks that help with launching a service under the debugger and with attaching the debugger to a running service instance. For more information see Debug container application and Customize container build and execution with tasks pages.

Azure CLI integration

The extension adds Docker Images: Run Azure CLI command that launches Azure CLI inside a standalone, Linux-based Docker container. This allows access to full Azure CLI command set in an isolated environment. See Get started with Azure CLI page for more information on available commands.