page_title: Remote API v1.10
page_description: API Documentation for Docker
page_keywords: API, Docker, rcli, REST, documentation
# Docker Remote API v1.10
## 1. Brief introduction
- The Remote API has replaced rcli
- The daemon listens on `unix:///var/run/docker.sock` but you can bind
Docker to another host/port or a Unix socket.
- The API tends to be REST, but for some complex commands, like `attach`
or `pull`, the HTTP connection is hijacked to transport `stdout, stdin`
and `stderr`
# 2. Endpoints
## 2.1 Containers
### List containers
`GET /containers/json`
List containers
**Example request**:
GET /containers/json?all=1&before=8dfafdbc3a40&size=1 HTTP/1.1
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
[
{
"Id": "8dfafdbc3a40",
"Image": "base:latest",
"Command": "echo 1",
"Created": 1367854155,
"Status": "Exit 0",
"Ports":[{"PrivatePort": 2222, "PublicPort": 3333, "Type": "tcp"}],
"SizeRw":12288,
"SizeRootFs":0
},
{
"Id": "9cd87474be90",
"Image": "base:latest",
"Command": "echo 222222",
"Created": 1367854155,
"Status": "Exit 0",
"Ports":[],
"SizeRw":12288,
"SizeRootFs":0
},
{
"Id": "3176a2479c92",
"Image": "base:latest",
"Command": "echo 3333333333333333",
"Created": 1367854154,
"Status": "Exit 0",
"Ports":[],
"SizeRw":12288,
"SizeRootFs":0
},
{
"Id": "4cb07b47f9fb",
"Image": "base:latest",
"Command": "echo 444444444444444444444444444444444",
"Created": 1367854152,
"Status": "Exit 0",
"Ports":[],
"SizeRw":12288,
"SizeRootFs":0
}
]
Query Parameters:
- **all** – 1/True/true or 0/False/false, Show all containers.
Only running containers are shown by default
- **limit** – Show `limit` last created
containers, include non-running ones.
- **since** – Show only containers created since Id, include
non-running ones.
- **before** – Show only containers created before Id, include
non-running ones.
- **size** – 1/True/true or 0/False/false, Show the containers
sizes
Status Codes:
- **200** – no error
- **400** – bad parameter
- **500** – server error
### Create a container
`POST /containers/create`
Create a container
**Example request**:
POST /containers/create HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/json
{
"Hostname":"",
"User":"",
"Memory":0,
"MemorySwap":0,
"AttachStdin":false,
"AttachStdout":true,
"AttachStderr":true,
"PortSpecs":null,
"Tty":false,
"OpenStdin":false,
"StdinOnce":false,
"Env":null,
"Cmd":[
"date"
],
"Image":"base",
"Volumes":{
"/tmp": {}
},
"WorkingDir":"",
"NetworkDisabled": false,
"ExposedPorts":{
"22/tcp": {}
}
}
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 201 OK
Content-Type: application/json
{
"Id":"e90e34656806"
"Warnings":[]
}
Json Parameters:
- **config** – the container's configuration
Query Parameters:
- **name** – Assign the specified name to the container. Must
match `/?[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+`.
Status Codes:
- **201** – no error
- **404** – no such container
- **406** – impossible to attach (container not running)
- **500** – server error
### Inspect a container
`GET /containers/(id)/json`
Return low-level information on the container `id`
**Example request**:
GET /containers/4fa6e0f0c678/json HTTP/1.1
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
{
"Id": "4fa6e0f0c6786287e131c3852c58a2e01cc697a68231826813597e4994f1d6e2",
"Created": "2013-05-07T14:51:42.041847+02:00",
"Path": "date",
"Args": [],
"Config": {
"Hostname": "4fa6e0f0c678",
"User": "",
"Memory": 0,
"MemorySwap": 0,
"AttachStdin": false,
"AttachStdout": true,
"AttachStderr": true,
"PortSpecs": null,
"Tty": false,
"OpenStdin": false,
"StdinOnce": false,
"Env": null,
"Cmd": [
"date"
],
"Image": "base",
"Volumes": {},
"WorkingDir":""
},
"State": {
"Running": false,
"Pid": 0,
"ExitCode": 0,
"StartedAt": "2013-05-07T14:51:42.087658+02:01360",
"Ghost": false
},
"Image": "b750fe79269d2ec9a3c593ef05b4332b1d1a02a62b4accb2c21d589ff2f5f2dc",
"NetworkSettings": {
"IpAddress": "",
"IpPrefixLen": 0,
"Gateway": "",
"Bridge": "",
"PortMapping": null
},
"SysInitPath": "/home/kitty/go/src/github.com/docker/docker/bin/docker",
"ResolvConfPath": "/etc/resolv.conf",
"Volumes": {},
"HostConfig": {
"Binds": null,
"ContainerIDFile": "",
"LxcConf": [],
"Privileged": false,
"PortBindings": {
"80/tcp": [
{
"HostIp": "0.0.0.0",
"HostPort": "49153"
}
]
},
"Links": null,
"PublishAllPorts": false
}
}
Status Codes:
- **200** – no error
- **404** – no such container
- **500** – server error
### List processes running inside a container
`GET /containers/(id)/top`
List processes running inside the container `id`
**Example request**:
GET /containers/4fa6e0f0c678/top HTTP/1.1
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
{
"Titles":[
"USER",
"PID",
"%CPU",
"%MEM",
"VSZ",
"RSS",
"TTY",
"STAT",
"START",
"TIME",
"COMMAND"
],
"Processes":[
["root","20147","0.0","0.1","18060","1864","pts/4","S","10:06","0:00","bash"],
["root","20271","0.0","0.0","4312","352","pts/4","S+","10:07","0:00","sleep","10"]
]
}
Query Parameters:
- **ps\_args** – ps arguments to use (e.g., aux)
Status Codes:
- **200** – no error
- **404** – no such container
- **500** – server error
### Inspect changes on a container's filesystem
`GET /containers/(id)/changes`
Inspect changes on container `id` 's filesystem
**Example request**:
GET /containers/4fa6e0f0c678/changes HTTP/1.1
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
[
{
"Path":"/dev",
"Kind":0
},
{
"Path":"/dev/kmsg",
"Kind":1
},
{
"Path":"/test",
"Kind":1
}
]
Status Codes:
- **200** – no error
- **404** – no such container
- **500** – server error
### Export a container
`GET /containers/(id)/export`
Export the contents of container `id`
**Example request**:
GET /containers/4fa6e0f0c678/export HTTP/1.1
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/octet-stream
{{ STREAM }}
Status Codes:
- **200** – no error
- **404** – no such container
- **500** – server error
### Start a container
`POST /containers/(id)/start`
Start the container `id`
**Example request**:
POST /containers/(id)/start HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/json
{
"Binds":["/tmp:/tmp"],
"LxcConf":{"lxc.utsname":"docker"},
"PortBindings":{ "22/tcp": [{ "HostPort": "11022" }] },
"PublishAllPorts":false,
"Privileged":false
"Dns": ["8.8.8.8"],
"VolumesFrom": ["parent", "other:ro"]
}
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
Content-Type: text/plain
Json Parameters:
- **hostConfig** – the container's host configuration (optional)
Status Codes:
- **204** – no error
- **404** – no such container
- **500** – server error
### Stop a container
`POST /containers/(id)/stop`
Stop the container `id`
**Example request**:
POST /containers/e90e34656806/stop?t=5 HTTP/1.1
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 204 OK
Query Parameters:
- **t** – number of seconds to wait before killing the container
Status Codes:
- **204** – no error
- **404** – no such container
- **500** – server error
### Restart a container
`POST /containers/(id)/restart`
Restart the container `id`
**Example request**:
POST /containers/e90e34656806/restart?t=5 HTTP/1.1
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 204 OK
Query Parameters:
- **t** – number of seconds to wait before killing the container
Status Codes:
- **204** – no error
- **404** – no such container
- **500** – server error
### Kill a container
`POST /containers/(id)/kill`
Kill the container `id`
**Example request**:
POST /containers/e90e34656806/kill HTTP/1.1
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 204 OK
Query Parameters
- **signal** - Signal to send to the container: integer or string like "SIGINT".
When not set, SIGKILL is assumed and the call will waits for the container to exit.
Status Codes:
- **204** – no error
- **404** – no such container
- **500** – server error
### Attach to a container
`POST /containers/(id)/attach`
Attach to the container `id`
**Example request**:
POST /containers/16253994b7c4/attach?logs=1&stream=0&stdout=1 HTTP/1.1
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/vnd.docker.raw-stream
{{ STREAM }}
Query Parameters:
- **logs** – 1/True/true or 0/False/false, return logs. Default
false
- **stream** – 1/True/true or 0/False/false, return stream.
Default false
- **stdin** – 1/True/true or 0/False/false, if stream=true, attach
to stdin. Default false
- **stdout** – 1/True/true or 0/False/false, if logs=true, return
stdout log, if stream=true, attach to stdout. Default false
- **stderr** – 1/True/true or 0/False/false, if logs=true, return
stderr log, if stream=true, attach to stderr. Default false
Status Codes:
- **200** – no error
- **400** – bad parameter
- **404** – no such container
- **500** – server error
**Stream details**:
When using the TTY setting is enabled in
[`POST /containers/create`
](../docker_remote_api_v1.9/#post--containers-create "POST /containers/create"),
the stream is the raw data from the process PTY and client's stdin.
When the TTY is disabled, then the stream is multiplexed to separate
stdout and stderr.
The format is a **Header** and a **Payload** (frame).
**HEADER**
The header will contain the information on which stream write the
stream (stdout or stderr). It also contain the size of the
associated frame encoded on the last 4 bytes (uint32).
It is encoded on the first 8 bytes like this:
header := [8]byte{STREAM_TYPE, 0, 0, 0, SIZE1, SIZE2, SIZE3, SIZE4}
`STREAM_TYPE` can be:
- 0: stdin (will be written on stdout)
- 1: stdout
- 2: stderr
`SIZE1, SIZE2, SIZE3, SIZE4` are the 4 bytes of
the uint32 size encoded as big endian.
**PAYLOAD**
The payload is the raw stream.
**IMPLEMENTATION**
The simplest way to implement the Attach protocol is the following:
1. Read 8 bytes
2. chose stdout or stderr depending on the first byte
3. Extract the frame size from the last 4 byets
4. Read the extracted size and output it on the correct output
5. Goto 1)
### Wait a container
`POST /containers/(id)/wait`
Block until container `id` stops, then returns
the exit code
**Example request**:
POST /containers/16253994b7c4/wait HTTP/1.1
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
{"StatusCode":0}
Status Codes:
- **200** – no error
- **404** – no such container
- **500** – server error
### Remove a container
`DELETE /containers/(id*)
: Remove the container `id` from the filesystem
**Example request**:
DELETE /containers/16253994b7c4?v=1 HTTP/1.1
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 204 OK
Query Parameters:
- **v** – 1/True/true or 0/False/false, Remove the volumes
associated to the container. Default false
- **force** – 1/True/true or 0/False/false, Removes the container
even if it was running. Default false
Status Codes:
- **204** – no error
- **400** – bad parameter
- **404** – no such container
- **500** – server error
### Copy files or folders from a container
`POST /containers/(id)/copy`
Copy files or folders of container `id`
**Example request**:
POST /containers/4fa6e0f0c678/copy HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/json
{
"Resource":"test.txt"
}
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/octet-stream
{{ STREAM }}
Status Codes:
- **200** – no error
- **404** – no such container
- **500** – server error
### 2.2 Images
### List Images
`GET /images/json`
**Example request**:
GET /images/json?all=0 HTTP/1.1
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
[
{
"RepoTags": [
"ubuntu:12.04",
"ubuntu:precise",
"ubuntu:latest"
],
"Id": "8dbd9e392a964056420e5d58ca5cc376ef18e2de93b5cc90e868a1bbc8318c1c",
"Created": 1365714795,
"Size": 131506275,
"VirtualSize": 131506275
},
{
"RepoTags": [
"ubuntu:12.10",
"ubuntu:quantal"
],
"ParentId": "27cf784147099545",
"Id": "b750fe79269d2ec9a3c593ef05b4332b1d1a02a62b4accb2c21d589ff2f5f2dc",
"Created": 1364102658,
"Size": 24653,
"VirtualSize": 180116135
}
]
### Create an image
`POST /images/create`
Create an image, either by pull it from the registry or by importing
it
**Example request**:
POST /images/create?fromImage=base HTTP/1.1
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
{"status":"Pulling..."}
{"status":"Pulling", "progress":"1 B/ 100 B", "progressDetail":{"current":1, "total":100}}
{"error":"Invalid..."}
...
When using this endpoint to pull an image from the registry, the
`X-Registry-Auth` header can be used to include
a base64-encoded AuthConfig object.
Query Parameters:
- **fromImage** – name of the image to pull
- **fromSrc** – source to import, - means stdin
- **repo** – repository
- **tag** – tag
- **registry** – the registry to pull from
Request Headers:
- **X-Registry-Auth** – base64-encoded AuthConfig object
Status Codes:
- **200** – no error
- **500** – server error
### Insert a file in an image
`POST /images/(name)/insert`
Insert a file from `url` in the image
`name` at `path`
**Example request**:
POST /images/test/insert?path=/usr&url=myurl HTTP/1.1
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
{"status":"Inserting..."}
{"status":"Inserting", "progress":"1/? (n/a)", "progressDetail":{"current":1}}
{"error":"Invalid..."}
...
Status Codes:
- **200** – no error
- **500** – server error
### Inspect an image
`GET /images/(name)/json`
Return low-level information on the image `name`
**Example request**:
GET /images/base/json HTTP/1.1
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
{
"id":"b750fe79269d2ec9a3c593ef05b4332b1d1a02a62b4accb2c21d589ff2f5f2dc",
"parent":"27cf784147099545",
"created":"2013-03-23T22:24:18.818426-07:00",
"container":"3d67245a8d72ecf13f33dffac9f79dcdf70f75acb84d308770391510e0c23ad0",
"container_config":
{
"Hostname":"",
"User":"",
"Memory":0,
"MemorySwap":0,
"AttachStdin":false,
"AttachStdout":false,
"AttachStderr":false,
"PortSpecs":null,
"Tty":true,
"OpenStdin":true,
"StdinOnce":false,
"Env":null,
"Cmd": ["/bin/bash"]
"Image":"base",
"Volumes":null,
"WorkingDir":""
},
"Size": 6824592
}
Status Codes:
- **200** – no error
- **404** – no such image
- **500** – server error
### Get the history of an image
`GET /images/(name)/history`
Return the history of the image `name`
**Example request**:
GET /images/base/history HTTP/1.1
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
[
{
"Id":"b750fe79269d",
"Created":1364102658,
"CreatedBy":"/bin/bash"
},
{
"Id":"27cf78414709",
"Created":1364068391,
"CreatedBy":""
}
]
Status Codes:
- **200** – no error
- **404** – no such image
- **500** – server error
### Push an image on the registry
`POST /images/(name)/push`
Push the image `name` on the registry
**Example request**:
POST /images/test/push HTTP/1.1
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
{"status":"Pushing..."}
{"status":"Pushing", "progress":"1/? (n/a)", "progressDetail":{"current":1}}}
{"error":"Invalid..."}
...
Query Parameters:
- **registry** – the registry you wan to push, optional
Request Headers:
- **X-Registry-Auth** – include a base64-encoded AuthConfig
object.
Status Codes:
- **200** – no error
- **404** – no such image
- **500** – server error
### Tag an image into a repository
`POST /images/(name)/tag`
Tag the image `name` into a repository
**Example request**:
POST /images/test/tag?repo=myrepo&force=0 HTTP/1.1
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 201 OK
Query Parameters:
- **repo** – The repository to tag in
- **force** – 1/True/true or 0/False/false, default false
Status Codes:
- **201** – no error
- **400** – bad parameter
- **404** – no such image
- **409** – conflict
- **500** – server error
### Remove an image
`DELETE /images/(name*)
: Remove the image `name` from the filesystem
**Example request**:
DELETE /images/test HTTP/1.1
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-type: application/json
[
{"Untagged":"3e2f21a89f"},
{"Deleted":"3e2f21a89f"},
{"Deleted":"53b4f83ac9"}
]
Query Parameters:
- **force** – 1/True/true or 0/False/false, default false
- **noprune** – 1/True/true or 0/False/false, default false
Status Codes:
- **200** – no error
- **404** – no such image
- **409** – conflict
- **500** – server error
### Search images
`GET /images/search`
Search for an image on [Docker Hub](https://hub.docker.com).
> **Note**:
> The response keys have changed from API v1.6 to reflect the JSON
> sent by the registry server to the docker daemon's request.
**Example request**:
GET /images/search?term=sshd HTTP/1.1
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
[
{
"description": "",
"is_official": false,
"is_trusted": false,
"name": "wma55/u1210sshd",
"star_count": 0
},
{
"description": "",
"is_official": false,
"is_trusted": false,
"name": "jdswinbank/sshd",
"star_count": 0
},
{
"description": "",
"is_official": false,
"is_trusted": false,
"name": "vgauthier/sshd",
"star_count": 0
}
...
]
Query Parameters:
- **term** – term to search
Status Codes:
- **200** – no error
- **500** – server error
### 2.3 Misc
### Build an image from Dockerfile via stdin
`POST /build`
Build an image from Dockerfile via stdin
**Example request**:
POST /build HTTP/1.1
{{ STREAM }}
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
{"stream":"Step 1..."}
{"stream":"..."}
{"error":"Error...", "errorDetail":{"code": 123, "message": "Error..."}}
The stream must be a tar archive compressed with one of the
following algorithms: identity (no compression), gzip, bzip2, xz.
The archive must include a file called `Dockerfile`
at its root. It may include any number of other files,
which will be accessible in the build context (See the [*ADD build
command*](/reference/builder/#dockerbuilder)).
Query Parameters:
- **t** – repository name (and optionally a tag) to be applied to
the resulting image in case of success
- **q** – suppress verbose build output
- **nocache** – do not use the cache when building the image
- **rm** - remove intermediate containers after a successful build
Request Headers:
- **Content-type** – should be set to
`"application/tar"`.
- **X-Registry-Config** – base64-encoded ConfigFile object
Status Codes:
- **200** – no error
- **500** – server error
### Check auth configuration
`POST /auth`
Get the default username and email
**Example request**:
POST /auth HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/json
{
"username":"hannibal",
"password:"xxxx",
"email":"hannibal@a-team.com",
"serveraddress":"https://index.docker.io/v1/"
}
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Status Codes:
- **200** – no error
- **204** – no error
- **500** – server error
### Display system-wide information
`GET /info`
Display system-wide information
**Example request**:
GET /info HTTP/1.1
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
{
"Containers":11,
"Images":16,
"Debug":false,
"NFd": 11,
"NGoroutines":21,
"MemoryLimit":true,
"SwapLimit":false,
"IPv4Forwarding":true
}
Status Codes:
- **200** – no error
- **500** – server error
### Show the docker version information
`GET /version`
Show the docker version information
**Example request**:
GET /version HTTP/1.1
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
{
"Version":"0.2.2",
"GitCommit":"5a2a5cc+CHANGES",
"GoVersion":"go1.0.3"
}
Status Codes:
- **200** – no error
- **500** – server error
### Create a new image from a container's changes
`POST /commit`
Create a new image from a container's changes
**Example request**:
POST /commit?container=44c004db4b17&m=message&repo=myrepo HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/json
{
"Hostname":"",
"User":"",
"Memory":0,
"MemorySwap":0,
"AttachStdin":false,
"AttachStdout":true,
"AttachStderr":true,
"PortSpecs":null,
"Tty":false,
"OpenStdin":false,
"StdinOnce":false,
"Env":null,
"Cmd":[
"date"
],
"Volumes":{
"/tmp": {}
},
"WorkingDir":"",
"NetworkDisabled": false,
"ExposedPorts":{
"22/tcp": {}
}
}
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 201 OK
Content-Type: application/vnd.docker.raw-stream
{"Id":"596069db4bf5"}
Json Parameters:
- **config** - the container's configuration
Query Parameters:
- **container** – source container
- **repo** – repository
- **tag** – tag
- **m** – commit message
- **author** – author (e.g., "John Hannibal Smith
<[hannibal@a-team.com](mailto:hannibal%40a-team.com)>")
Status Codes:
- **201** – no error
- **404** – no such container
- **500** – server error
### Monitor Docker's events
`GET /events`
Get events from docker, either in real time via streaming, or via
polling (using since)
**Example request**:
GET /events?since=1374067924
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
{"status":"create","id":"dfdf82bd3881","from":"base:latest","time":1374067924}
{"status":"start","id":"dfdf82bd3881","from":"base:latest","time":1374067924}
{"status":"stop","id":"dfdf82bd3881","from":"base:latest","time":1374067966}
{"status":"destroy","id":"dfdf82bd3881","from":"base:latest","time":1374067970}
Query Parameters:
- **since** – timestamp used for polling
Status Codes:
- **200** – no error
- **500** – server error
### Get a tarball containing all images and tags in a repository
`GET /images/(name)/get`
Get a tarball containing all images and metadata for the repository
specified by `name`.
**Example request**
GET /images/ubuntu/get
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/x-tar
Binary data stream
Status Codes:
- **200** – no error
- **500** – server error
### Load a tarball with a set of images and tags into docker
`POST /images/load`
Load a set of images and tags into the docker repository.
**Example request**
POST /images/load
Tarball in body
**Example response**:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Status Codes:
- **200** – no error
- **500** – server error
# 3. Going further
## 3.1 Inside `docker run`
Here are the steps of `docker run` :
- Create the container
- If the status code is 404, it means the image doesn't exists:
- Try to pull it
- Then retry to create the container
- Start the container
- If you are not in detached mode:
- Attach to the container, using logs=1 (to have stdout and
stderr from the container's start) and stream=1
- If in detached mode or only stdin is attached:
- Display the container's id
## 3.2 Hijacking
In this version of the API, /attach, uses hijacking to transport stdin,
stdout and stderr on the same socket. This might change in the future.
## 3.3 CORS Requests
To enable cross origin requests to the remote api add the flag
"–api-enable-cors" when running docker in daemon mode.
$ docker -d -H="192.168.1.9:2375" --api-enable-cors