Pradumna Saraf

It’s not every day that the official Open Source Initiative reaches out to you for an interview and invites you to share your open source journey. Thank you for the opportunity and for sharing my story, @opensource.org My story: opensource.org/maintainers/...

The Docker Hardened Images have separate development and runtime variants. The -dev variant includes a shell and package manager for debugging and development, while the regular image keeps unnecessary tools out of production. @docker.com

A few weeks ago, I was in Mexico 🇲🇽 for the Docker Captains Summit. Great to see so many Captains again, with good sessions and a really good time. I also gave a session on networking in sandboxes. Felt good to be back on stage. Thanks, Eva and team @docker.com.

Docker is offering everyone $250 in Cloud Sandbox credits to try the Docker Agentic Platform. 🚀 A few months ago, Captains received $25 to try it out, and the feedback was great. Now everyone can give it a try. 👉 www.docker.com/c/sbx-promo

One small GitHub CLI feature that makes agentic workflows a lot easier. You can now attach images directly to issues, PRs, and comments. This was a blocker for me in my agentic flows using tools like Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, etc. Nice to see this added!

Happy to share that I have been named a Microsoft MVP in Developer Technologies (DevOps) for 2026-2027! 🏆 Thank you to the @mvpaward.bsky.social, and MVP team for their support, and congratulations to everyone newly awarded or returning this cycle. #MVP #MVPBuzz

In Docker, `docker debug` provides a debugging environment to run containers without changing the original image. It’s especially useful when your container is missing the tools you need, and it includes built-in tools like entrypoint to inspect how a container started.

Really impressed with Omarchy. Put it on my 2013 MacBook Air with 4GB RAM, and it's crazy responsive. Doesn't feel like a 13-year-old machine at all. Everything you need is already there. Of course, the first thing I ran was Docker containers.

In Docker Compose, you can use `pre_start` to run commands before your container starts. It’s useful for tasks such as running database migrations, preparing files, or performing any setup your app needs before it starts.

Docker has outgrown being just a "container platform". It's evolving fast and gaining new capabilities. I've been writing a lot about Docker recently. Check it out here: pradumnasaraf.dev/blog/tag/doc...

Docker copies your whole folder into the build before it runs anything. That is slow, and worse, your .env can end up inside the image. Deleting it later does not help; the layer keeps it. A .dockerignore next to your Dockerfile stops both: simple file, powerful effect.

In case you missed it: Vercel now supports Dockerfile deployments. That means you can host almost any stack there, not just frontends. I wrote a short guide using a small Go app and a multi-stage Docker build. dev.to/pradumnasara...

You can now use OIDC to authenticate GitHub Actions with Docker Hub. No more PATs sitting in your repo secrets. Each run gets a short-lived token instead. Nothing to rotate. Nothing to leak. @docker.com

Two Docker commands worth knowing. One shows what is in your build cache. The other shows your images, containers and volumes. Run both before you delete anything. @docker.com

Weekend project: Agent PR Police A GitHub Action that catches PRs opened by AI coding agents. It labels the PR and drops a comment saying which agent opened it and what it changed, so reviewers know. Built with Go and runs as a Docker action. github.com/Pradumnasara...

You can now deploy Docker containers directly on Vercel. I wrote a step-by-step guide showing how to deploy a Dockerfile on Vercel using a Golang application. Check it out: dev.to/pradumnasara... @docker.com @vercel.com

In Docker Compose, you can use post_start to run commands after your container starts. It's useful for things like fixing file permissions, creating folders, or running any one-time setup before your app is ready. @docker.com

Rebuilding or pulling a new version of an image with the same name and tag can leave behind dangling images. Use the following command to list all dangling Docker images and reclaim disk space by removing them. @docker.com

AI coding agents are powerful, but they shouldn't have unrestricted access to your system. Learn how Docker sandboxes can provide a secure environment for running agents without compromising developer productivity. dev.to/pradumnasara...

Excited to share that I've been renewed as a Docker Captain! 🐳 It's been a crazy journey; learned a ton and made some great new friends along the way. Huge thanks to Eva and the Docker team (@docker.com), and the incredible Docker community for the continued trust and support.

The Docker Compose environment variable support goes beyond just ${VAR}. Useful when you want safer configurations without hardcoding values. `:-` → use a default value (optional configuration) `:?` → stop with an error message (required values like secrets) @docker.com

Check out my new blog on how to run Claude Code locally for free with Docker (@docker.com) Model Runner. dev.to/pradumnasara...

Tomorrow!

Two supply chain attacks. Same pattern. Trivy and KICS show how compromised credentials can turn trusted CI/CD pipelines into a delivery path for malicious artifacts. Docker shared an informative blog breaking down what actually happened: www.docker.com/blog/trivy-k... @docker.com

Are you running out of tokens in OpenCode or Claude Code? Check out my recent guides on running them locally. I wrote official Docker guides on using OpenCode & Claude Code with Docker Model Runner. OpenCode: docs.docker.com/guides/openc... Claude Code: docs.docker.com/guides/claud...

Use `stop_grace_period` to give your app time to shut down properly. When you stop a container, @Docker waits before force-killing it. This helps finish requests, save data, and avoid unexpected issues. @docker.com

Meet Pradumna Saraf. Docker Captain. Open source advocate. Community builder. In this spotlight, he shares his journey into containers and cloud-native, and what keeps him excited about the future of development. Read more: https://bit.ly/46WNUjF

Switching to a Docker Hardened Image (DHI) is a simple change. The Docker workflow remains the same, but the base image is built with fewer packages, reduced attack surface, and better security defaults. @docker.com

In Docker Compose, you can use `cache_from` in the `build` section to reuse layers from an existing image and speed up builds This is especially useful in CI environments where a local build cache doesn’t exist. @docker.com

Play with Docker is now deprecated and no longer available. If you’re looking for a simple browser-based Docker playground, you can use LabSpaces instead. It will spin up environments instantly and experiment with Docker without installing anything locally. @docker.com

In case you missed it, I wrote a new blog about Docker Compose profiles and how they let you enable or disable services based on what you actually need. Check it out: dev.to/pradumnasara...

If you are repeating the same config and environment variables across multiple Docker Compose files, use YAML anchors. You can define the config once and reuse it everywhere. This keeps your compose files cleaner, easier to update, and more maintainable. @docker.com

Check out my new blog on Docker Compose profiles and how they let you enable or disable services based on what you actually need: dev.to/pradumnasara... @docker.com

I'll write a short blog and publish it soon!

Being too rigid with tools can hold developers back from better solutions.

Did you know Docker Compose has profiles? You can keep heavy services like Prometheus and Grafana turned off by default, and only start them when you actually need monitoring. You can start them by running: docker compose --profile monitoring up @docker.com

Check out my new blog on container security using Docker Hardened Images. I explain what they are, why they matter, and how they help reduce security risks in containers with a simple demo. dev.to/pradumnasara... @docker.com

Huge respect to companies that maintain their SDKs along with up-to-date documentation. It’s not easy when APIs change frequently.

One of the biggest announcements from Docker (@docker.com) this year, at least for me: Docker Hardened Images (DHI) are now free for every developer. Making secure, minimal, production-ready images available to everyone changes how we think about container security.

In case you missed it, I recently wrote about how you can run LLMs with Docker Compose using Docker Model Runner to speed up your AI development. Check it out here: dev.to/pradumnasara...