Docker - How to group containers together

On a daily basis, I'm running several tools as Docker containers: Heimdall, Memos and Karakeep. It can be one or more containers per tool.

I'm working under Windows so I'm using Docker Desktop to get a list of containers and, because I'm working with Docker for my own projects (can be Python, PHP or whatever), I'm facing the following situation: I have a big list of containers and I would like some order.

Tools like Heimdall, Memos and Karakeep, I'm using them to make my daily work easier and it would be nice if I could group them together.

See below: I'm grouping tools of different origin under Tools so it's easier to manage them.

This way, I have a smaller overview of the containers and can quickly sort out my tools and projects. Also, if the need arises, I can stop all the tools at once. That's handy.

The name property in the compose.yaml file​

The solution is easy to implement: if you have a compose.yaml (or docker-compose.yml if using the old name convention), just add a name: tools entry in the file, at the top.

For instance:

// highlight-next-line?
name: tools

services:
  memos:
    image: neosmemo/memos:stable
    container_name: memos
    init: true?
    ports:
      - "5230:5230"?
    volumes:
      - ./data:/var/opt/memos?
    restart: unless-stopped?

And that's all.

Another way to keep a long list of containers manageable, this time from the terminal rather than from Docker Desktop: the interactive fzf-based functions of ZSH Functions - Customizing Your Shell for Docker Management.

Now, by running docker compose up --build --detach, you'll see your containers will be grouped in tools (only visible in the Docker Desktop Windows software; not using the docker ps command).

Do the same for every tool you want, if there is a compose.yaml file, just add the name: tools top-level entry.

But what if you don't have a YAML file and you're using a docker run command instead? There is indeed a --name flag with docker run but it's for naming the container (equivalent to the container_name entry thus).

So, if you're running docker run [something] you'll have to convert the line to a YAML file. Any AI can do that. Just copy/paste your full docker run [something] command and ask it to convert it to a compose.yaml file.

Easy and really handy.

No compose.yaml either because the container is a VS Code devcontainer? Two runArgs give it the same grouping: see Devcontainer - Name Your Container and Group It in Docker Desktop.

Tools can be located in different folders​

Just to say, you can put your files, volumes, ... in different folders, it doesn't matter. On my disk, I have a ~/tools folder with one directory per tool (one for Heimdall, one for Memos, one for Karakeep, ...) and it's not a problem at all.

This lets me store files and volumes properly.