lazydocker: The Docker Terminal UI You Didn’t Know You Needed

If you work with Docker, you’ve typed docker ps more times than you can count. Then docker logs. Then docker logs -f. Then you forget which container you need, so docker ps again. Maybe docker stats to check resources. And when things go sideways, a frantic scroll through documentation to remember the exact incantation for removing dangling images.

There’s a better way.

Enter lazydocker

lazydocker is a terminal UI that puts your entire Docker environment at your fingertips. Containers, images, volumes, networks—all visible and manageable without memorizing flags or keeping a cheat sheet open.

Why It Works

The interface is immediately intuitive. Your containers are listed on the left. Select one, and you see logs streaming in real-time on the right. Press r to restart. Press s to stop. Press d to remove. No more hunting through docker --help output.

Key features that save time:

• Live logs – Streaming container output without juggling terminal windows
• Resource monitoring – CPU and memory usage visible at a glance
• Bulk cleanup – Remove unused images, stopped containers, and dangling volumes in seconds
• Container shell access – Drop into a shell with a single keypress
• Configuration viewing – See environment variables, port mappings, and mounts without inspecting JSON

Installation

On macOS with Homebrew:

brew install lazydocker

On Linux, you can use the binary directly:

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jesseduffield/lazydocker/master/scripts/install_update_linux.sh | bash

Or if you appreciate the irony, run it in Docker:

docker run --rm -it -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock lazyteam/lazydocker

Same Developer, Same Quality

Jesse Duffield, the developer behind lazydocker, also created lazygit—a similarly excellent terminal UI for Git. If you like staying in the terminal but want visual feedback, both tools hit that sweet spot.

When to Use It

lazydocker shines for:

• Local development environments with multiple containers
• Quick debugging sessions where you need logs and stats together
• Cleanup tasks before your disk fills up with old images
• Onboarding—it’s easier to show someone a visual interface than explain docker-compose commands

It’s not a replacement for scripted automation or production monitoring tools. But for daily development work, it removes friction you didn’t realize you had.

The Takeaway

Good tools disappear into your workflow. lazydocker does exactly that—it takes repetitive Docker tasks and makes them effortless. If you spend any amount of time wrangling containers, give it five minutes. You’ll wonder why you waited.