Manage Docker without sudo (root)

Updated 1111 days ago by KMT.

Manage Docker as a non-root user

The docker daemon binds to a Unix socket instead of a TCP port. By default that Unix socket is owned by the user root and other users can only access it using sudo. The docker daemon always runs as the root user.

If you don’t want to use sudo when you use the docker command, create a Unix group called docker and add users to it. When the docker daemon starts, it makes the ownership of the Unix socket read/writable by the docker group.

Add the docker group if it doesn't already exist:
```
 sudo groupadd docker
```
Add the connected user "$USER" to the docker group. Change the user name to match your preferred user if you do not want to use your current user:
```
 sudo gpasswd -a $USER docker
```
Either do a newgrp docker or log out/in to activate the changes to groups.
You can use
```
 docker run hello-world
```
to check if you can run docker without sudo.