Reference documentation

This section includes the reference documentation for the Docker platform's various APIs, CLIs, and file formats.

File formats¶

File format	Description
Dockerfile	Defines the contents and startup behavior of a single container
Compose file	Defines a multi-container application

CLI	Description
Docker CLI	The main CLI for Docker, includes all `docker` commands
Compose CLI	The CLI for Docker Compose, which allows you to build and run multi-container applications
Daemon CLI (dockerd)	Persistent process that manages containers

API	Description
Engine API	The main API for Docker, provides programmatic access to a daemon
Registry API	Facilitates distribution of images to the engine
Docker Hub API	API to interact with Docker Hub

Driver	Description
Image specification	Describes the various components of a Docker image
Registry token authentication	Outlines the Docker registry authentication scheme
Registry storage drivers	Enables support for given cloud providers when storing images with Registry

Last update: 2021-09-18 16:10:43