Inspect Docker Environment

Inspect a Docker Environment

Use this skill to get a reliable, read-only picture of what Docker is running on a machine before doing anything else.

Workflow

1. Daemon health

docker info                     # engine info; confirms daemon is reachable
docker version                  # client + server versions
docker system df                # disk usage: images, containers, volumes, cache

If docker info fails, stop — the daemon is not reachable and nothing below will work.

2. Inventory

docker ps -a                     # every container (running + stopped)
docker ps --format 'table {{.Names}}\t{{.Image}}\t{{.Status}}'
docker images                    # local images
docker network ls
docker volume ls
docker compose ls -a             # compose projects (uses compose plugin)

3. Focus on what matters

For the user's question, drill into the relevant objects:

• Containers: docker inspect <name> for mounts, ports, env, restart policy.
• Images: docker image inspect <image> for layers/size, or docker history for build steps.
• Networks: docker network inspect <net> for members and subnet.
• Volumes: docker volume inspect <vol> for mountpoint and driver.

4. Report

Give a compact inventory: N running/stopped containers, notable images and their sizes, networks with their members, volumes, and any red flags (unused images, stale volumes, containers with no restart policy, latest tags). Prioritize facts that are relevant to the user's task.

Guardrails

• Entirely read-only. Never docker rm, docker rmi, docker volume prune, or docker system prune unless the user explicitly requests cleanup.
• On large environments, prefer --format projections and docker system df over dumping every container's full inspect.