How to Set Up Lazydocker | selfhosting.sh

What Is Lazydocker?

Lazydocker is a terminal UI (TUI) for Docker that puts container management, log viewing, resource monitoring, and image cleanup into a single keyboard-driven interface. It’s htop for Docker — no web UI, no browser, just an efficient terminal dashboard. If you SSH into your servers and want instant Docker visibility without typing docker ps, docker logs, and docker stats repeatedly, Lazydocker is the tool.

Prerequisites

A Linux server (Ubuntu 22.04+ recommended)
Docker installed (guide)
Terminal access (SSH or local)

Installation

Lazydocker is a standalone binary, not a long-running Docker service. You have three installation options:

Option 1: Direct Binary (Recommended)

# Download the latest release
curl -fsSL https://github.com/jesseduffield/lazydocker/releases/download/v0.24.4/lazydocker_0.24.4_Linux_x86_64.tar.gz | tar xz -C /usr/local/bin lazydocker

For ARM64 (Raspberry Pi, Oracle Cloud):

curl -fsSL https://github.com/jesseduffield/lazydocker/releases/download/v0.24.4/lazydocker_0.24.4_Linux_arm64.tar.gz | tar xz -C /usr/local/bin lazydocker

Verify the installation:

lazydocker --version

Option 2: Docker Compose (Run as Container)

If you prefer running Lazydocker as a container:

services:
  lazydocker:
    image: lazyteam/lazydocker:v0.24.4
    container_name: lazydocker
    stdin_open: true
    tty: true
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
      - lazydocker-config:/root/.config/lazydocker
    restart: "no"

volumes:
  lazydocker-config:

Run it interactively:

docker compose run --rm lazydocker

Note: Running Lazydocker in a container is less convenient than the binary install. The binary gives you instant lazydocker from any terminal session. The container approach requires docker compose run each time.

Option 3: Go Install

If you have Go installed:

go install github.com/jesseduffield/[email protected]

Using Lazydocker

Launch it:

lazydocker

The interface has three panels:

Left sidebar: Lists containers, images, volumes, and networks
Main panel: Details for the selected item (logs, stats, config, env vars)
Bottom bar: Keyboard shortcuts for the current context

Key Shortcuts

Key	Action
`↑`/`↓`	Navigate items
`←`/`→`	Switch panels
`Enter`	Expand/collapse
`d`	Remove container/image/volume
`s`	Stop container
`r`	Restart container
`a`	Attach to container shell
`l`	View logs (follow mode)
`[` / `]`	Switch tabs (logs, stats, config, env)
`b`	Bulk actions
`x`	Open menu
`q`	Quit

Configuration

Lazydocker stores its config at ~/.config/lazydocker/config.yml. Key settings:

# ~/.config/lazydocker/config.yml
gui:
  # Show all containers (including stopped)
  showAllContainers: true
  # Scroll speed for logs
  scrollHeight: 2
  # Theme
  theme:
    activeBorderColor:
      - green
      - bold
    inactiveBorderColor:
      - white

logs:
  # Number of log lines to show
  timestamps: true
  since: "60m"

# Custom commands accessible via 'x' menu
commandTemplates:
  - title: "Docker Compose Up"
    command: "docker compose up -d"
  - title: "Prune All"
    command: "docker system prune -af"

Custom Commands

One of Lazydocker’s best features — define custom commands that appear in the context menu:

commandTemplates:
  - title: "View full logs"
    command: "docker logs --tail 1000 {{ .Container.ID }}"
  - title: "Exec bash"
    command: "docker exec -it {{ .Container.ID }} /bin/bash"
  - title: "Inspect"
    command: "docker inspect {{ .Container.ID }} | less"

Templates use Go template syntax with access to container, image, and volume properties.

Advanced Configuration (Optional)

Shell Alias

Add to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc for quick access:

alias lzd='lazydocker'

SSH Integration

Lazydocker works perfectly over SSH. For low-bandwidth connections, it’s much more efficient than a web UI like Portainer. No port forwarding needed — just SSH in and run lazydocker.

Docker Context Support

If you manage multiple Docker hosts via Docker contexts, Lazydocker uses the active context:

docker context use my-remote-server
lazydocker  # Now shows containers from the remote server

Backup

Nothing to back up. Lazydocker is a stateless tool — its only persistent data is the config file at ~/.config/lazydocker/config.yml. Back that up if you’ve customized it, but there’s no database or application state.

Troubleshooting

Permission denied accessing Docker socket

Symptom: Got permission denied while trying to connect to the Docker daemon socket

Fix: Add your user to the docker group:

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
# Log out and back in for the change to take effect

Terminal rendering issues

Symptom: UI looks garbled or characters don’t display correctly.

Fix: Ensure your terminal supports UTF-8 and uses a modern terminal emulator. Set:

export LANG=en_US.UTF-8

If using tmux, add to ~/.tmux.conf:

set -g default-terminal "screen-256color"

Lazydocker doesn’t show all containers

Symptom: Stopped containers are hidden.

Fix: Press a to toggle showing all containers, or set in config:

gui:
  showAllContainers: true

High CPU usage

Symptom: Lazydocker uses significant CPU.

Fix: Increase the stats polling interval in the config. The default refreshes frequently:

stats:
  graphs:
    minDuration: "10m"

Cannot attach to container

Symptom: Pressing a to attach shows an error.

Fix: The container must have a shell installed. Alpine-based containers need /bin/sh instead of /bin/bash. Lazydocker tries common shells automatically, but some minimal containers have no shell at all.

Resource Requirements

RAM: ~10-20 MB (it’s a Go binary)
CPU: Negligible when idle, light polling for stats
Disk: ~15 MB (binary only)

Verdict

Lazydocker is the best Docker management tool for terminal users. It does one thing — gives you a visual overview of your Docker environment in the terminal — and does it excellently. No web UI overhead, no Docker socket exposed to a browser-accessible service, no additional container running 24/7.

It’s not a replacement for Portainer or Dockge — you can’t deploy new stacks or manage Compose files through it. It’s a complement: use Dockge or Portainer for deployment, Lazydocker for day-to-day monitoring and quick actions over SSH.

Install it on every server you manage. It takes 10 seconds and makes Docker management significantly faster.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Lazydocker a Docker container?

No. Lazydocker is a standalone Go binary that talks to the Docker socket directly. You can run it in a container, but the binary install is simpler and more practical.

Can Lazydocker deploy new containers?

No. It manages existing containers — start, stop, restart, remove, view logs. For deploying new containers, use Dockge, Portainer, or Docker Compose directly.

Does Lazydocker work with Docker Compose?

Yes. Lazydocker recognizes Compose projects and groups containers by their project name. You can see which containers belong to the same stack.

Can I use Lazydocker remotely?

Yes, via SSH. Just SSH into the server and run lazydocker. No port forwarding or VPN needed. You can also use Docker contexts to manage remote hosts.

How does Lazydocker compare to `ctop`?

Lazydocker is more feature-rich. ctop shows container metrics (like top for containers). Lazydocker adds log viewing, image management, volume management, container shell access, and custom commands.