Docker Skills for AI Coding Agents

Docker-authored knowledge skills that improve AI coding agent output for Docker-related tasks. Skills are authored once as portable SKILL.md directories and discovered automatically by any compliant agent through standard skill paths.

The installation steps below are self-contained; the catalog-generated inventory also records Docker Docs guidance for each distribution surface.

Skills

Skills are grouped by the Docker product they cover. The table is generated from catalog.yaml by task catalog; edit the catalog, not the table.

Each skill triggers directly from its own description; there is no entry-point skill to load first. When a task spans several skills, load them in the order their outputs feed each other: docker-project-foundations before docker-build-strategies or docker-compose-patterns when the project has no Docker setup yet; docker-build-strategies before docker-compose-patterns when both a Dockerfile and a compose.yaml change; docker-sandboxes-lifecycle before docker-sandboxes-network-credentials, and both before docker-sandboxes-env or docker-sandboxes-kits; docker-agent-config before docker-agent-run before docker-agent-deploy. Skills marked experimental cover features whose schemas may still change.

Installation

Quick start: the skills CLI

The skills CLI installs into every major coding agent (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Windsurf, Cline, Kiro, and more). It reads the skills.sh.json index in this repo, so skills are listed grouped by product:

npx skills add docker/skills

The command prompts for which skills and which agents to install to. Non-interactive variants:

# Browse the catalog without installing anything
npx skills add docker/skills --list

# Install one skill, no prompts (project scope; add -g for user scope)
npx skills add docker/skills --skill docker-compose-patterns --yes

# Install every skill into one agent
npx skills add docker/skills --skill '*' --agent codex --yes

# Install every skill into every detected agent
npx skills add docker/skills --all

# Keep installed skills current
npx skills update

# Pin a skill to a reviewed release (replace vX.Y.Z with a release tag)
npx skills add https://github.com/docker/skills/tree/vX.Y.Z \
  --skill docker-compose-patterns --yes

Install as a plugin

Plugin installs are managed by each agent's marketplace, so updates arrive through the agent rather than through npx skills update.

Claude Code (run in the Claude Code prompt):

/plugin marketplace add docker/skills
/plugin install docker-skills@docker

See Claude Code plugins docs

OpenAI Codex

codex plugin marketplace add docker/skills
codex plugin add docker-skills@docker

Start a new Codex session after installing. See Codex skills docs

GitHub Copilot CLI (run in the Copilot CLI prompt):

/plugin marketplace add docker/skills
/plugin install docker-skills@docker

See Copilot CLI plugins docs

Gemini CLI

gemini extensions install https://github.com/docker/skills

Restart Gemini CLI to discover the installed skills. See Gemini CLI extensions docs

Cursor

Select the docker-skills plugin from Cursor's marketplace where available, or use the skills CLI above with --agent cursor. Importing a repository into a team marketplace requires team administrator access. See Cursor plugins docs

Docker Sandboxes

Docker Sandboxes also offers experimental product-native installation with the standalone sbx CLI:

sbx skills add docker/skills --skill docker-compose-patterns
sbx skills ls
sbx skills update

Omit --skill to install every skill. The shared skill store makes installed skills available to sandboxes on their next start; check sbx skills --help because this experimental interface may change. See the Docker Docs installation guide for more detail.

Clone or copy

For a reviewed snapshot, choose a tag from Docker Skills releases and replace vX.Y.Z below. Clone into a separate directory, then copy complete skill folders from its skills/ directory into the appropriate agent path in the table. Alternatively, if the cloned repository itself is your project root, its discovery symlinks let supported agents find skills without copying; a clone inside a project subdirectory is not a discovery path. Manual copies have no managed updater, so replace complete folders when updating.

git clone --branch vX.Y.Z --depth 1 https://github.com/docker/skills.git docker-skills

# Example: install one skill for Claude Code (use another path from the table as needed)
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cp -R docker-skills/skills/docker-compose-patterns ~/.claude/skills/

Google Antigravity uses the skills CLI (--agent antigravity) or manual copy; it has no dedicated plugin manifest. See [Docker Docs guidance for Antigravity](https://docs.docker.co