DockerLens

A native Linux Docker Desktop GUI — manage containers, images, volumes and networks visually.
No VM. No subscription. No terminal required.

Download · Screenshots · Documentation · Contributing · Roadmap

🐳 What is DockerLens?

DockerLens is a free, open-source, native Linux desktop application that gives you a beautiful, visual interface to manage your Docker environment — the same polished experience Windows and Mac users get with Docker Desktop, but built specifically for Linux.

It connects directly to your Docker Engine via the Unix socket (/var/run/docker.sock). No virtual machine. No background service. No paid subscription. Just install Docker Engine via your package manager, open DockerLens, and start managing your containers visually.

✨ Why DockerLens?

Problem with Docker Desktop on Linux	DockerLens Solution
Runs a VM even though Linux doesn't need one	Connects directly to Docker Engine — zero overhead
Requires $21/month for team use	Free forever — MIT licensed
Broken system tray on GNOME and other DEs	Properly implemented for all desktop environments
Conflicts with an existing Docker Engine install	No conflict — uses your existing installation
Doesn't feel native (Wayland / X11 issues)	Tauri 2.0 — native support for both
`host.docker.internal` doesn't work on Linux	Auto-injected on every container create

📸 Screenshots

These images are UI design mockups from docs/Design/samples/. They show the target v1.0 experience; the shipping app will converge on this look as features land.

Onboarding — welcome	Dashboard — system overview

Containers — overview & stats	Containers — inspect (JSON)

Volumes	Suggestions

More samples live in docs/Design/samples/.

🚀 Features

✅ MVP (v1.0)

Containers

List all containers with live status badges (running 🟢 / stopped 🔴 / paused 🟡)
Start, stop, restart, pause and delete containers from the UI
Real-time CPU, memory and network I/O graphs
Live log streaming with colour-coded INFO / WARN / ERROR lines
Exec into any container — full terminal session inside the app (xterm.js)
Container detail view: ports, environment variables, mounts, labels, image

Images

List all local images with size, tags and creation date
Pull any image with real-time layer-by-layer progress
Delete unused images
Run a container from any image with a 5-step wizard (name → ports → env → volumes → restart policy)

Volumes

List all volumes with size, driver and mount path
See which containers are using each volume
Create and delete volumes

Networks

List all networks with driver, subnet and gateway info
See all containers connected to each network
Create and remove custom networks

Settings & Daemon Control

Start, stop and restart the Docker daemon from the UI — same as Windows/Mac Docker Desktop
Toggle "Start Docker on Login" (systemctl enable docker)
Native OS privilege escalation via Polkit — no sudo in a terminal
Rootless Docker supported — no password prompt needed
Auto-reconnect if the daemon restarts
Socket path override (supports rootless Docker and custom paths)

Onboarding

First-run wizard with automatic Docker Engine detection
Distro-specific install instructions (Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, openSUSE)
Docker group permission check with guided fix
Optional sign-in with GitHub or Google via Supabase for settings sync

System Tray

Minimize to tray — app keeps running in the background
Tray icon reflects daemon state (green = running, red = stopped)
Container crash notifications
Quick container count in tray menu

Suggestions Engine

Smart recommendations: stopped containers, unused images, unused volumes, CPU spikes, available updates
Dismiss individually — resolved suggestions are tracked

🔜 Coming Soon

Feature	Version
Docker Compose UI — file picker, service graph, up/down/logs	v1.1
Docker Hub & GHCR registry browser	v1.2
Multi-host Docker context support	v1.2
Image vulnerability scanning (Trivy)	v1.3
Kubernetes cluster management	v2.0
Extensions marketplace	v2.0

🐧 Supported Distributions

Distribution	Package Format	Docker Install
Ubuntu 22.04 / 24.04	`.deb` · AppImage	`apt install docker.io`
Debian 12	`.deb` · AppImage	`apt install docker.io`
Fedora 39 / 40	`.rpm` · AppImage	`dnf install docker-ce`
Arch Linux / Manjaro	AUR · AppImage	`pacman -S docker`
Linux Mint 21	`.deb` · AppImage	`apt install docker.io`
Pop!_OS	`.deb` · AppImage	`apt install docker.io`
openSUSE Tumbleweed	`.rpm` · AppImage	`zypper install docker`

Universal fallback: The .AppImage runs on any Linux distribution with glibc 2.31+ (kernel 5.x+) — no installation required.

📦 Installation

AppImage (Universal — any Linux distro)

chmod +x DockerLens.AppImage
./DockerLens.AppImage

Ubuntu / Debian / Mint / Pop!_OS

sudo apt install ./dockerlens_amd64.deb

Fedora / RHEL / CentOS / openSUSE

sudo dnf install ./dockerlens.x86_64.rpm
# or
sudo zypper install ./dockerlens.x86_64.rpm

Arch Linux / Manjaro (AUR)

yay -S dockerlens
# or
paru -S dockerlens

Flatpak (Flathub)

flatpak install flathub io.dockerlens.DockerLens

🛠️ Prerequisites

DockerLens is a GUI frontend — it does not install or bundle Docker Engine. You need to have Docker Engine installed on your system first.

# Ubuntu / Debian
sudo apt install docker.io
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER   # add yourself to the docker group
newgrp docker                   # apply group change without re-login

# Fedora
sudo dnf install docker-ce
sudo systemctl start docker
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S docker
sudo systemctl enable --now docker
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

After adding yourself to the docker group, log out and back in for the change to take effect. DockerLens will guide you through this automatically on first launch.

🏗️ Tech Stack

Layer	Technology	Purpose
App framework	Tauri 2.0	Native window, OS APIs, IPC bridge
Backend	Rust + Tokio	Async Docker API client, system integration
Docker client	`bollard` crate	Pure Rust Docker Engine HTTP client
Frontend	React 18 + TypeScript	All visual components
Styling	Tailwind CSS + shadcn/ui	Design system
State	Zustand	Lightweight global store
Terminal	xterm.js	Exec into containers
Charts	Recharts	CPU / RAM / network graphs
Auth	Supabase	Optional GitHub / Google sign-in + settings sync
Packaging	Tauri bundler	AppImage · .deb · .rpm

🧑‍💻 Development

Prerequisites

Rust 1.75+
Node.js 20 LTS (via fnm recommended)
pnpm 10+
Docker Engine installed and running on your Ubuntu host

Install system dependencies (Ubuntu)

sudo apt install \
  libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev \
  libgtk-3-dev \
  libayatana-appindicator3-dev \
  librsvg2-dev \
  libssl-dev \
  curl \
  wget \
  file

Clone and run

git clone https://github.com/cm-collins/dockerlens.git
cd dockerlens

pnpm install          # install frontend dependencies
pnpm tauri dev        # starts Vite + compiles Rust + opens native window

Hot reload is enabled — React changes reflect instantly. Rust changes trigger a recompile.

Build for production

pnpm tauri build
# Output: src-tauri/target/release/bundle/
# → .deb, .rpm, .AppImage

Project structure

Target layout as the app grows (some paths are not created yet):

dockerlens/
├── src/                        # React + TypeScript frontend
│   ├── components/             # UI components (add as needed)
│   ├── pages/                  # Screen-level components
│   ├── store/                  # Zustand state slices
│   ├── hooks/                  # Custom React hooks
│   └── lib/                    # Tauri invoke() helpers
│
├── src-tauri/                  # Rust backend
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── main.rs             # Tauri app bootstrap
│   │   ├── commands.rs         # All #[tauri::command] exports
│   │   ├── docker/             # Docker API module
│   │   │   ├── containers.rs
│   │   │   ├── images.rs
│   │   │   ├── volumes.rs
│   │   │   ├── networks.rs
│   │   │   ├── exec.rs         # WebSocket TTY exec
│   │   │   └── streams.rs      # Log tail + stats stream
│   │   └── system/             # OS integration
│   │       ├── socket.rs       # Socket auto-detection
│   │       ├── tray.rs         # System tray
│   │       ├── daemon.rs       # Daemon start/stop/restart
│   │       ├── notifications.rs
│   │       └── config.rs       # TOML config
│   ├── Cargo.toml
│   └── tauri.conf.json
│
├── scripts/                    # Automation scripts
│   ├── bump-version.sh         # Atomic version bump across all 3 files
│   └── db/                     # Supabase SQL migrations
│       ├── 001_schema.sql      # Tables, constraints, indexes
│       ├── 002_rls.sql         # Row-level security policies
│       ├── 003_functions.sql   # Functions, triggers, automation
│       ├── 004_seed_dev.sql    # Dev seed data — never run in production
│       ├── validate-migrations.sh
│       ├── apply-migrations.sh
│       └── rollback-migrations.sh
│
├── docs/                       # Project documentation (see Documentation below)
│   ├── Requirements/           # PRD + TRD
│   ├── Archtecture/            # ARCHITECTURE.md + diagrams (PNG/PDF)
│   ├── Design/                 # Design system, screens, mockups, samples
│   └── best-practices/         # Per-tech contributor guides
│
├── package.json
└── vite.config.ts

Add tailwind.config.ts and related tooling when you wire up Tailwind (see docs/Requirements/TRD.md).

📚 Documentation

In-repo docs live under docs/. Highlights:

Area	Documents
Requirements	Product requirements (PRD) · Technical requirements (TRD)
Architecture	Architecture overview · diagrams: system overview, screen map, user flows (PDFs in the same folder)
Design	Design system · Screen specs · Mockup notes · UI samples
Best practices	Index — Tauri, Rust, React/TypeScript, Supabase, GitHub Actions, and general guidelines
Database	Migrations guide — Supabase SQL migrations, execution order and rules

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! DockerLens is open-source and community-driven.

Fork the repo
Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feat/my-feature
Commit with conventional commits: git commit -m "feat: add volume pruning"
Push and open a pull request

Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before submitting a PR.

Good first issues

Look for issues tagged good first issue — these are well-scoped tasks suitable for new contributors.

📋 Roadmap

Roadmap and execution are tracked in GitHub, not Linear or an external PM tool:

Where	Link / use
Project board	dockerlens (Kanban) — primary roadmap view. All projects if you use more than one board.
Issues	cm-collins/dockerlens/issues
Pull requests	cm-collins/dockerlens/pulls

GitHub CLI (optional — needs read:project once: gh auth refresh -s read:project):

# Print this board’s URL (JSON is {"projects":[...]} — filter with .projects[])
gh project list --owner cm-collins --format json -q '.projects[] | select(.title=="dockerlens") | .url'

# Same via jq: … | jq -r '.projects[] | select(.title=="dockerlens") | .url'

# Open in browser from the shell:
BOARD_URL="$(gh project list --owner cm-collins --format json -q '.projects[] | select(.title=="dockerlens") | .url')"
(command -v xdg-open >/dev/null && xdg-open "$BOARD_URL") || (command -v open >/dev/null && open "$BOARD_URL") || true

gh project list --owner cm-collins          # table listing
gh project list --owner cm-collins --web    # projects UI in browser

If gh project list errors with missing read:project, complete gh auth refresh -s read:project (browser/device flow), then retry.

🔒 Security

Found a security vulnerability? Please do not open a public issue. Email security@dockerlens.io instead. We will respond within 48 hours.

📄 License

DockerLens is licensed under the MIT License.

🙏 Acknowledgements

Tauri — for making native Linux apps with web tech actually possible
bollard — the Rust Docker client powering the backend
Docker — for the API that makes all of this possible

Built with ❤️ for the Linux community.

⭐ Star this repo if DockerLens saves you time

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 125 Commits
.cursor		.cursor
.github		.github
.vscode		.vscode
docs		docs
public		public
scripts		scripts
src-tauri		src-tauri
src		src
.env.local.example		.env.local.example
.gitignore		.gitignore
AGENTS.md		AGENTS.md
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md		CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
CONTRIBUTING.md		CONTRIBUTING.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
SECURITY.md		SECURITY.md
azure-pipelines.yml		azure-pipelines.yml
index.html		index.html
package.json		package.json
pnpm-lock.yaml		pnpm-lock.yaml
tailwind.config.ts		tailwind.config.ts
tsconfig.json		tsconfig.json
tsconfig.node.json		tsconfig.node.json
vite.config.ts		vite.config.ts

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DockerLens

🐳 What is DockerLens?

✨ Why DockerLens?

📸 Screenshots

🚀 Features

✅ MVP (v1.0)

🔜 Coming Soon

🐧 Supported Distributions

📦 Installation

AppImage (Universal — any Linux distro)

Ubuntu / Debian / Mint / Pop!_OS

Fedora / RHEL / CentOS / openSUSE

Arch Linux / Manjaro (AUR)

Flatpak (Flathub)

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DockerLens

🐳 What is DockerLens?

✨ Why DockerLens?

📸 Screenshots

🚀 Features

✅ MVP (v1.0)

🔜 Coming Soon

🐧 Supported Distributions

📦 Installation

AppImage (Universal — any Linux distro)

Ubuntu / Debian / Mint / Pop!_OS

Fedora / RHEL / CentOS / openSUSE

Arch Linux / Manjaro (AUR)

Flatpak (Flathub)

🛠️ Prerequisites

🏗️ Tech Stack

🧑‍💻 Development

Prerequisites

Install system dependencies (Ubuntu)

Clone and run

Build for production

Project structure

📚 Documentation

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Good first issues

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