Your First Container

Part of the Docker course

You now know, in theory, that an image is a sealed package and a container is what happens when you actually open one. Theory only gets you so far. In this lesson you check real guests into the shared house from the last lesson: you will start, list, stop, and remove real containers. Nothing here writes anything permanent, so there is nothing to be careful about. Break things freely.

The traditional first container to run is called hello-world. It is a tiny image whose only job, once it is opened, is to print a friendly message and then immediately leave. In the house analogy from the last lesson, checking in hello-world is like a guest who walks in the front door, waves at the front desk, says one sentence, and walks straight back out.