Run Docker

Every boxd machine ships with Docker Engine, the Compose plugin, and Buildx preinstalled. The daemon starts at boot, and the boxd user you land in is in the docker group, so docker works the moment you connect, without sudo:

docker run hello-world
docker build -t myimage .
docker compose up -d

A boxd machine is a full VM with its own kernel, so Docker runs the same way it does on any Linux server. Containers, networks, volumes, and builds all behave normally, on the machine’s own kernel rather than inside another container.

Compose

The image carries Compose v2 as a Docker plugin, so the command is docker compose with a space:

docker compose up -d
docker compose logs -f

The old standalone docker-compose binary is not on the image.

Reach a container from the internet

The machine’s HTTPS domain forwards to port 8000 by default. Publish a container port there and it’s live:

docker run -d -p 8000:80 nginx
# https://myapp.boxd.sh now serves the container

For more ports, add subdomain proxies. For databases and other non-HTTP services, expose a raw TCP or UDP port:

docker run -d -p 5432:5432 postgres
boxd machine proxy add --vm myapp --port 5432 --raw

Containers survive fork and snapshot

A fork or snapshot captures the machine’s memory and disk together, so running containers come along. Fork a machine with a database container up and the copy has the same container up, data included. Suspend and resume work the same way.

Disk space

Images, containers, and volumes live under /var/lib/docker on the machine’s 100 GB disk, shared with everything else on the machine. docker system prune reclaims space when builds pile up.

Getting started

Guides

Use cases

References

Compose

Reach a container from the internet

Containers survive fork and snapshot

Disk space

​Compose

​Reach a container from the internet

​Containers survive fork and snapshot

​Disk space

Compose

Reach a container from the internet

Containers survive fork and snapshot

Disk space