Docker Engine API

Name: Docker Engine API API
Brand: Docker Engine API
Availability: InStock

✓ Official Vendor SpecCloud InfrastructureContainer Orchestrationnone104 EndpointsREST

For Agents

Manage containers, images, networks, volumes, and Docker Swarm services on a Docker daemon as if you were the docker CLI itself.

Connect the Docker Engine API to your agent

Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the Docker Engine API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.

Install Jentic One Beta (Self-Hosted)

Jentic One Host machine

# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh

Agent machine

# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh
jentic register       # connects your agent to your Jentic One instance

Jentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.

Capabilities

What an agent can do with Docker Engine API API.

Create, start, stop and inspect containers programmatically

Build, pull, tag and push images to and from a registry

Stream logs and exec commands inside a running container

Manage user-defined networks and attach containers to them

GET STARTED

Start building with Docker Engine API API

Explore with Jentic

View OpenAPI Document

The Docker Engine API is the HTTP interface that the docker CLI itself uses to talk to a Docker daemon. It exposes 104 endpoints across containers, images, networks, volumes, exec sessions, swarm services, nodes and configs. Talking to it directly lets a tool start and stop containers, build images, manage networks and orchestrate Swarm services without invoking the CLI. Typically reached over a Unix socket or TCP, with auth handled at the transport layer rather than in the spec.

Use Cases

Patterns agents use Docker Engine API API for, with concrete tasks.

★ CI/CD Build and Deploy

A CI runner can build images, run tests in throwaway containers and push images to a registry by hitting the Docker Engine API directly on the build host. POST /build creates the image, POST /containers/create plus /containers/{id}/start runs tests, and the runner can tear everything down on completion. Removes shell-out fragility from pipelines.

POST /build with the build context tarball and tag, then POST /containers/create using the new image and start it with /containers/{id}/start to run a test command.

Container Operations Tooling

A platform team can build a custom ops dashboard that lists containers, shows live stats and drains nodes for maintenance using the Engine API. /containers/json gives the inventory, /containers/{id}/stats streams resource usage, and Swarm node endpoints handle drain and update operations. This avoids tying the dashboard to a specific container manager UI.

GET /containers/json?all=true to list every container then GET /containers/{id}/stats?stream=false to capture a one-shot CPU and memory snapshot per container.

Local Dev Environment Orchestration

A developer-tool can spin up databases, message queues and supporting services on a developer's machine via the Engine API, without forcing them to write docker-compose files by hand. The tool creates the network, pulls images, starts containers with named volumes, and tears them down when the dev session ends.

POST /networks/create for an app network, POST /containers/create for a postgres image attached to that network, then start it and verify with /containers/{id}/json.

AI Agent DevOps Assistant

Through Jentic, an AI agent embedded in a developer's workflow can answer 'why is the api container restarting?' or 'redeploy the worker service' by calling the Engine API. The agent searches Jentic for the relevant container or service intent, loads the operation and executes it against a configured Docker host. Useful for chat-driven ops and incident triage.

Use Jentic to search 'inspect Docker container', load /containers/{id}/json, and execute it for a named container to retrieve its restart count and last exit code.

Key Endpoints

104 endpoints — the docker engine api is the http interface that the docker cli itself uses to talk to a docker daemon.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

GET

/containers/json

List containers

POST

/containers/create

Create a new container

POST

/build

Build an image from a build context

GET

/_ping

Ping the Docker daemon for health

POST

/commit

Create an image from a container

POST

/auth

Check auth configuration with a registry

GET

/configs

List Swarm configs

GET

/containers/json

List containers

POST

/containers/create

Create a new container

POST

/build

Build an image from a build context

GET

/_ping

Ping the Docker daemon for health

POST

/commit

Create an image from a container

POST

Why though Jentic?

Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.

Credential isolation

Docker daemon connection details — socket paths, TLS certs and any registry credentials passed via /auth — are stored encrypted in the Jentic vault. Agents receive scoped access via Jentic's MAXsystem rather than holding cluster admin material in their context.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search by intent (for example 'list Docker containers' or 'build an image') and Jentic returns the matching Engine operations under /containers/json or /build with their parameter schemas, so the agent calls the right route without parsing the 104-endpoint spec.

Time to first call

Direct Docker Engine integration: 1-2 days to handle the streaming responses, exec hijacking and TLS auth quirks. Through Jentic: under 1 hour — search, load schema, execute.

Related APIs

Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.

Complementary

DigitalOcean API

Provisions the VMs and Kubernetes clusters that host Docker workloads

Choose DigitalOcean when the task is provisioning the host or cluster, not running containers on an existing daemon.

Alternative

Kubernetes API

Container orchestration API — alternative when scheduling spans many nodes rather than one Docker daemon

Choose Kubernetes for cluster-wide orchestration of pods, deployments and services; choose Docker Engine for per-host container operations.

Alternative

AWS Lambda

Run code without managing containers — alternative to Docker Engine for serverless workloads.

Choose Lambda for event-driven workloads where Docker Engine is overkill.

Complementary

GitHub REST API

Build images from source repos before deploying with Docker Engine.

Pair GitHub for source control alongside Docker for image management.

FAQs

Specific to using Docker Engine API API through Jentic.

What authentication does the Docker Engine API use?

The Engine API itself does not define HTTP-level auth in the spec. Access is controlled by the transport — usually a Unix socket on the host, or a TLS-secured TCP socket configured on the daemon. Through Jentic, the connection details and any client certificates are stored in the vault rather than alongside agent code.

Can I build an image with the Docker Engine API?

Yes. POST /build accepts a tarball of the build context and a Dockerfile reference, returning a streaming response with build output. Pair it with POST /commit if you want to snapshot a running container into a new image instead.

What are the rate limits for the Docker Engine API?

The local Engine API has no enforced rate limit; throughput is bounded by the host's CPU, disk and the daemon's concurrency. Image pulls from Docker Hub do hit Hub's rate limits, so build pipelines should authenticate with /auth to lift anonymous pull caps.

How do I exec a command in a container with the Docker Engine API through Jentic?

Through Jentic, search 'docker exec command in container', load the exec create operation under /containers/{id}/exec, and execute with the command and AttachStdout flag. Jentic stores the daemon connection details so the agent never sees the raw socket path or TLS cert.

Can I deploy a Swarm service with the Docker Engine API?

Yes. POST /services/create deploys a new service from an image with replicas, networks and constraints. /services/{id}/update rolls out new versions and /nodes manages cluster membership.

Is the Docker Engine API free?

The Engine itself is free as part of Docker Engine open-source. Image pulls from Docker Hub follow Hub's pricing tiers, and Docker Desktop has its own commercial licensing for larger organisations.