/docker-docs

name: docker-docs
description: Use this skill to answer questions about any Docker product from current official Docker documentation instead of memory, even if the user just asks "how do I…", "does Docker support…", "what's the flag for…", or "is this still the right way" about Docker. Covers Docker Desktop, Engine, Build/Buildx/Build Cloud, Compose, Hub, Scout, Docker Hardened Images (DHI), Offload, Testcontainers, Docker Sandboxes (`sbx`, local and cloud sandboxes, Sandboxes API/SDK), Docker Agentic Platform, Docker Agent, MCP Catalog/Toolkit/Gateway, Model Runner, Gordon, and account, admin, security, and billing docs. Searches with the `search_docker_docs` MCP tool when available and otherwise falls back to `docs.docker.com/llms.txt` and per-page Markdown.
license: Apache-2.0
compatibility: Prefers the Docker docs MCP server at https://ai-backend-service.docker.com/mcp (tool `search_docker_docs`). The fallback needs a web-fetch tool or shell with curl and HTTPS access to docs.docker.com. Verified against docs.docker.com on 2026-10-14.

Docker Docs

Overview

Provide current, cited answers about Docker products from official Docker documentation. Docker ships many products beyond containers, including microVM sandboxes for coding agents, a cloud agent platform, hardened images, model serving, and MCP tooling. Many are new or experimental, and their CLIs change often. Training data is a poor source for them. Search first, fetch the page, and cite it.

Say "Docker Docs" or "the official Docker documentation" in answers, and link the exact `https://docs.docker.com/...` page that supports each important claim.

When to use this skill

Activate this skill when:

• The user asks how a Docker product works, which command, flag, setting, or

file field to use, or whether a capability exists.

• The answer depends on facts that change between releases: CLI syntax, new

or experimental features, defaults, platform support, limits, pricing, plan entitlements, or deprecations.

• The user names a Docker product or alias you can't place with certainty,

such as `sbx`, cloud sandboxes, DHI, DMR, `cagent`, Offload, Gordon, or Docker Home.

• Another Docker skill's guidance may be stale, or the user asks for a

citation or "the docs page for" something.

Do not use this skill when

Do not use this skill when:

• The task is a generic software task that only mentions Docker in passing,

such as fixing application code that happens to run in a container. Answer that directly.

• A more specific Docker skill owns the workflow: `docker-project-foundations`,

`docker-build-strategies`, `docker-compose-patterns`, `docker-sandboxes-lifecycle`, `docker-sandboxes-network-credentials`, `docker-sandboxes-env`, `docker-sandboxes-kits`, `docker-agent-config`, `docker-agent-run`, `docker-agent-deploy`, or `docker-destructive-guardrails`. Use that skill for the procedure, and use this one only to check a detail against current docs.

• The question is about third-party software that runs in containers, such as

PostgreSQL configuration or Kubernetes manifests. Use that project's own documentation.

Core guidance

Source order

Make documentation retrieval your first substantive action. Do it before you answer from memory, read bundled references, inspect local files, or draft a plan.

1. **Docs search tool, when callable.** If the session already exposes a Docker docs search tool, use it first. The tool is `search_docker_docs` from the `docker-docs` MCP server. Clients may prefix the tool name with the server or plugin name. Pass one concise query of 2-8 essential terms in the `message` argument. 2. **Fallback, when no search tool is callable.** Use `llms.txt` and per-page Markdown from `docs.docker.com`, as described below. 3. **General web search** limited to `site:docs.docker.com`, only when the first two don't surface a relevant page.

A missing search tool is not a setup request. Go straight to the fallback. Don't install, configure, or restart anything to answer an ordinary question. Read [mcp-setup.md](references/mcp-setup.md) only when the user explicitly asks to add or troubleshoot the Docker docs MCP server.

Search well

• Search the user's exact topic and keep their product, command, and version

names. Don't swap in a newer or similar product.

• Prefer specific, title-like queries such as `sbx policy allow network` or

`DHI migrate Dockerfile`, not full sentences. If results are noisy, narrow the query. If they're empty, try the product's other name. For example, search `Docker Agent` as well as `cagent`.

• The search tool returns `documents`, each with a `content` excerpt and

`metadata.source`. Usually `source_type` is `docs` with a `docs.docker.com` URL. It can also be `catalog`, which is a Docker-maintained page such as a DHI image guide on GitHub.

• Excerpts are chunks, not whole pages. When steps, flag lists, tables, or

caveats matter, fetch the full page at `metadata.source` as Markdown. Don't cite a page you haven't read.

• If one search doesn't settle the question, run another with different

terms or open the section landing page. Stop after a few focused attempts and report what the docs do and don't establish.

Fallback: llms.txt and Markdown pages

docs.docker.com publishes machine-readable entry points:

• `https://docs.docker.com/llms.txt` is a small Markdown map of the primary

sections, product landing pages, and reference entry points. Fetch it first to choose a section.

• `https://docs.docker.com/llms-full.txt` is a page index of roughly 450 KB.

Each entry has a title, `URL:`, `Markdown:` URL, and description. It's an index, not the page text. Don't load it into context whole. With a shell, download it to a temporary file and search it. Without a shell, navigate from `llms.txt` instead.

• Every page is available as Markdown. Either append `.md` to the path

without its trailing slash,