Docker

Two kinds of Docker tab

• Docker reaches a server over SSH, with the machine's own sign-in. Nothing is installed there.
• Local Docker talks to the engine on this computer. No sign-in.

Both look and work the same. Both work with Docker and with Podman.

Open Docker on a server

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+T and pick Docker.
2. Type the machine as for SSH, for example pi@homeserver. The port is 22 unless you add one.
3. Press Enter and sign in.

Vandle finds the engine's socket by itself. If SSH may not forward the socket, it falls back to docker system dial-stdio. To name a socket yourself, fill in Docker socket in the Edit connection dialog.

If your user may not open the socket, the tab tells you how to fix it (the docker group, or enabling the Podman socket).

Open Docker on this computer

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+T and pick Local Docker.
2. Press Enter on the empty line.

Vandle looks for the engine the way the docker command does: DOCKER_HOST, then the active docker context, then Docker Desktop, Docker and Podman.

To use another engine, type its address instead, written like DOCKER_HOST:

• unix:///var/run/docker.sock
• npipe:////./pipe/docker_engine
• tcp://127.0.0.1:2375

The Docker engine field in Edit connection keeps such an address.

Find your way around

The header shows the engine, how many stacks and containers there are, and how the tab is connected. On the right are Updates, Registries, Disk and a button that reads the list again.

The left side lists compose stacks with their containers, then containers that belong to no stack under STANDALONE. The list updates itself when containers change.

• Type in Name, image, port or stack… to filter the list.
• Click a stack to open it; click it again to fold it.
• Click a container to see its logs, details and numbers.

Small marks in the list:

• a database or MQTT icon: the container can open in a Database or MQTT tab
• a dot or update: a newer image is available

Start, stop and restart a container

Select the container and use Start, Stop or Restart. Stop asks first: a stopped container stays stopped, even with a restart policy.

Open a shell in a container

Click Shell. A new terminal tab opens inside the container:

• Docker: an SSH tab on the server.
• Local Docker: a local console tab.

It is a full terminal, with scrollback and copy. Shell needs the docker or podman command on the machine.

Read the logs

The Logs view shows the last 200 lines and then follows new ones.

• Type in Filter, e.g. warn|error to keep only matching lines. | separates alternatives.
• Click Following to pause scrolling; click Paused to follow again.
• Download saves the whole log to a file, not only the lines shown.

The view keeps the newest 5,000 lines.

Inspect a container

The Inspect view shows:

• state, uptime, restarts, health, image, networks, command and user
• PORTS, with a button to open a published port: Open in Web tab, Open in Database or Open as MQTT
• MOUNTS, with Open in Files for a bind mount. On a server it opens an SFTP tab, locally a Files tab.
• ENVIRONMENT, with values that look like secrets hidden until you click Show secrets
• DOCKER INSPECT: Show JSON shows the engine's full answer, Copy copies it

Open in Database can take the password from the container's environment. Vandle asks before it uses it, and does not store it unless you pin the tab.

A port bound to the server's loopback cannot be opened from your computer, with one exception: an MQTT broker opens through SSH.

Watch CPU and memory

The Stats view charts CPU and memory. Vandle measures every 5 seconds with docker stats while the tab is open. The numbers stay in memory only. Stats needs the docker or podman command on the machine.

Drive a compose stack

Select a stack. Its buttons run compose in the stack's folder, never container by container:

• Up runs docker compose up -d.
• Stop and Restart do what they say.
• Down asks first. It removes containers and networks; volumes and the compose file stay.
• Update opens the update view.

Below, the logs of all services are merged by time, with the same filter, Following and Download as for one container.

Edit the compose file

1. Select a stack and click Edit compose.
2. Pick the file at the top and edit it.
3. Click Save only, or Save and apply.

Save and apply saves, checks the file with compose config, then runs up -d. If compose rejects the file, it is saved but nothing is applied, and the output shows why. Revert throws your edits away.

A stack made inside Portainer or Dockge may name files that are not on the machine. The editor says so.

Update images

Updates compares your images with their registries. Only digests are fetched; nothing is pulled until you say so.

• A floating tag (latest, 2.0) is behind when the registry has a different image.
• A fixed version (v2.1.0) never moves by itself. The newer version is shown; changing it is a line in the compose file.

Tick the stacks you want and click the update button (Update 2 stacks, for example). Check again compares once more. Per stack, Vandle runs compose pull, then up -d, then removes dangling images. A stack that fails stops there and keeps running on its old images.

A container that is not part of a compose project has to be updated by hand.

Sign in to a registry

Registries runs docker login on the machine, so compose and anything you type there use the sign-in too.

Tick Keep it in Vandle as well to store the password in Vandle too, encrypted. Then the update check also sees private images. This needs a pinned entry.

Sign out makes the machine forget the sign-in.

Free disk space

Disk shows what images, containers, volumes and the build cache take. The buttons remove dangling images, unused images, stopped containers or the build cache. Each one asks first and says what goes.

Volumes are never pruned from here.

Keys

Ctrl+Shift+R reads the list again. Keys can be changed in Settings, under Hotkeys.