docker / docker/cli

Provide a way to download only the docker-cli

Open
#2,281 43 comments 62 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

area/packaging kind/feature
Dominant language
Go
Stars
6.1k
Forks
2.2k
Avg merge
1d 15h
Merged PRs (30d)
43

Description

Description

Steps to reproduce the issue:

  1. Have the need to only install the cli, because the docker host is somewhere else.
  2. Try to install only the docker-cli. But the main distribution always comes with the daemon and there are various workaround to install only the cli. (see below)

Describe the results you received:
It is not possible to simply download and execute the docker-cli somewhere.

Describe the results you expected:
A simple download link to each version of the docker-cli released, or bundled with the main docker release (https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop).

Additional information you deem important (e.g. issue happens only occasionally):

This Stackoverflow describes various workarounds, in short:

  • Extracting it from the installer
  • using chocolatey (complex solution if minimizing docker images)
  • using some magic links

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reviewing how Docker CLI releases are published and how Docker Desktop packages the CLI. Compare the existing installer and Chocolatey workarounds described in the issue. Done means each released version has a documented, directly downloadable CLI-only distribution without requiring the daemon.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
docker, go
Domain
cli, release
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
30/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.