Products · Product
Docker
Raised as a usability problem by 323 people on Hacker News over 14 years (2013–2026), in 286 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
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Every issue, all time, most people first
Runs slowly on Macs, complicating developmentUnreviewed
20132026- Docker is too complex for non-technical people to set up2025-07-25
- Containers on Mac feel sluggish and unnecessarily complex compared to Linux2025-06-09
- Running Docker-based dev environments on pre-Apple-silicon Macs was glacially slow2024-08-20
Docker networking is too hard to understandUnreviewed
20132026- Networking is badly described and unintuitive, with surprising firewall changes and hard-to-troubleshoot failures2025-01-27
- Networking across containers was a real pain to set up and manage2024-03-28
- Hard to debug and develop on, and slow to use2022-07-24
Writing a simple build script is confusingUnreviewed
20132026- Dockerfiles and shell scripts are overly complicated and poorly documented, hard to follow2025-12-01
- Docker is unusable for namespace-based build tools without privileged mode2025-11-13
- Docker setups break or pull the wrong version, leaving a maze of config files2024-01-06
Takes over iptables, making firewall configuration harderUnreviewed
20132026- Published container ports bypass the user's firewall rules, so ports get exposed unexpectedly2025-01-05
- Port mapping bypasses firewall rules, contrary to what users expect2025-01-05
- Docker's default setup modifies iptables, which is a pain when using nftables2024-01-13
File access so slow that large dev environments are unusableUnreviewed
20132026- File access is so slow that dev environments with many files are almost unusable2024-01-19
- File system mapping makes IO-heavy dev workflows like live editing extremely slow2022-04-17
- File system I/O is extremely slow, making the dev environment unusable on macOS2021-04-04
Waiting for image push and container startup slows deploysUnreviewed
20132026- Waiting for image push and container startup slows down deploys and adds complexity2021-01-31
- Images must be built before every deploy, which takes time2020-08-14
- Builds are slow, forcing manual maintenance of lower layer containers to avoid long package installs2020-07-18
Hard to understand how Docker works from its documentationUnreviewed
20132026- Hard to understand how Docker works from its documentation2020-04-06
- Homepage marketing copy doesn't explain what Docker actually does2018-12-29
- Confusing how Docker relates to OpenShift and Kubernetes branding2017-03-02
docker compose config incompatible with docker-compose configUnreviewed
20132026- Finds working with Docker and Docker Compose frustrating to use2024-12-05
- Docker compose config behaves incompatibly, so users must switch to docker-compose config2023-04-17
- Gets no simplicity from Docker unless writing a docker-compose file2022-10-25
Can't resume or inspect the environment after a failed buildUnreviewed
20132026- Can't resume or inspect the environment after a failed build, so debugging wastes time2022-07-24
- Failed startup leaves app partly up and hard to debug interactively2021-03-16
- Setup fails for new developers from hidden assumptions, and debugging the environment takes hours or days2020-01-27
File sync delays or silently fails, with unclear causesUnreviewed
20132026- Syncing silently stops randomly with no warnings or errors2022-12-23
- File sync sometimes takes seconds or silently breaks, so edits don't show up and the cause is unclear2020-08-15
- Files only partially synced, so broken code appears until the file is re-edited2015-08-13
Container mounts, users and permissions vary, so setups are forgottenUnreviewed
20132026- Each container has different conventions for mounts, users and permissions, so the author forgets how they were set up2024-03-08
- Bind mounts with non-root users fail, and containers give cryptic errors or lack instructions2021-09-28
- The -v syntax calls mounts volumes, which confuses users about what they are configuring2016-06-21
Slow builds and a convoluted layered build processUnreviewed
20132026- Slow builds and a convoluted layered build process, making each small code change miserable2026-10-23
- Builds and runs are slow, resource-hungry, and need many new concepts understood to get working2022-01-18
- Build takes forever, and the build/push/pull workflow feels confusing2018-04-16
Rootless mode is hard to set up and behaves differentlyUnreviewed
20132026- Rootless setup is painful; upgrades need manual storage-driver troubleshooting2025-09-24
- Rootless setup requires pages of hoops to get working2022-06-22
- Rootless mode is hard to set up, needs much extra configuration, and behaves differently2021-09-04
Containers need dozens of config values even for simple tasksUnreviewed
20132026- Running GUI apps in containers requires a verbose command with many flags2022-03-26
- Containers need dozens of config values for simple tasks, and debugging them is hard2018-02-23
- Too many parameters to configure a simple container engine2017-02-23
Prefixing every command with docker exec is tediousUnreviewed
20132026- Having to prefix every command with docker exec is tedious2022-10-25
- Getting a shell into a running container requires an extra docker exec step2021-01-31
- Basic operations like docker run are convoluted and may need multiple API calls2014-12-06
Image steps only cover Ubuntu, and the tool feels counter-intuitiveUnreviewed
20132026- Chained Dockerfiles must be read in order, and originals are sometimes lost, so it's hard to know what an image contains2016-08-15
- Can't control which image 'docker pull ubuntu' fetches without rewriting every reference to a private registry2015-02-11
- Finds Docker counter-intuitive, and the image steps only cover Ubuntu2014-02-18
No clear way to firewall or monitor containersUnreviewed
20132026- Can't tell where data, config and sockets live inside containers2023-07-26
- No clear way to firewall or monitor containers, so operating them is hard to figure out2020-08-14
- Containers hard to get to expose localhost to each other and to the world2017-02-23
Unit tests take seconds to run in the container setupUnreviewed
20132026- Test suite takes 55-60 seconds to start, versus under 10 on Linux or Windows2022-12-22
- Unit tests take seconds to run because of the dockerised setup, making feedback very slow2022-05-25
- Postgres test suites in Docker take over ten minutes instead of thirty seconds2021-03-03
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Docker silently rewrites 127.0.0.1 to Google DNS, so users can't diagnose it2026-10-23
- Slow builds and a convoluted layered build process, making each small code change miserable2026-10-23
- Confusing that the agent is exposed as a docker subcommand2026-10-07
- Example snippets auto-change unexpectedly on mobile, confusing reader about content shifting2026-08-10
- Failures show Python stack traces instead of readable error messages, forcing users to search for the cause2026-05-05
- Compose files are hard to locate and parse, and their labels are under-specified2026-05-05
- Docker failed with default settings on an IPv6-only server, requiring a manual workaround2026-04-16
- Docker's detach key ^P clashes with shell history navigation, so it is annoying to use2026-03-11
- Nearly unusable on Windows; fickle and opaque behavior that users must depend on2026-01-23
- Upgrades and volume handling break something almost every time, forcing full reinstalls2025-12-06
- Deploys fail for unclear reasons and debugging failed containers is harder than needed2025-12-05
- Dockerfiles and shell scripts are overly complicated and poorly documented, hard to follow2025-12-01
- Docker is unusable for namespace-based build tools without privileged mode2025-11-13
- Hard to tinker with container internals; editing files and restarting services is difficult2025-11-09
- Container file permissions break on Linux hosts, with no easy workaround found2025-10-15
- Rootless setup is painful; upgrades need manual storage-driver troubleshooting2025-09-24
- Confusing when a newly created file is missing from the container2025-09-04
- Official docs are hard to navigate, so finding relevant information is difficult2025-08-30
- Docker is too complex for non-technical people to set up2025-07-25
- Must type long container-specific prefixes with no tab completion, so typos force re-editing multi-line commands2025-07-06
- Containers on Mac feel sluggish and unnecessarily complex compared to Linux2025-06-09
- Docker's default MTU mismatch with Tailscale silently drops traffic, requiring manual network recreation to fix2025-03-06
- Writes to a wrong path succeed silently by default, with no error shown2025-02-22
- Can't cancel renewal or remove saved card without losing paid access2025-02-19
- Compose version mismatch broke setup, and switching versions risked breaking other containers2025-01-28
- Networking is badly described and unintuitive, with surprising firewall changes and hard-to-troubleshoot failures2025-01-27
- Command-line experience is poor and the underlying conceptual model is hard to understand2025-01-26
- Gets many errors with no clear explanation of wrong compose version2025-01-08
- Published container ports bypass the user's firewall rules, so ports get exposed unexpectedly2025-01-05
- Port mapping bypasses firewall rules, contrary to what users expect2025-01-05
- Finds working with Docker and Docker Compose frustrating to use2024-12-05
- Hard to follow which service failed; logs are cluttered and commands are hard to remember2024-11-23
- Running Docker-based dev environments on pre-Apple-silicon Macs was glacially slow2024-08-20
- Had to volume mount the whole repo into each service for hot reloading2024-07-31
- Services get stuck in 'New' state with no error explaining the network limit2024-07-20
- ARG values are not available in ENTRYPOINT or CMD, which is confusing2024-05-14
- Dangerous ARG gotcha isn't documented where users look, so they get misled2024-05-14
- Progress bars break into a messy mess when output goes to a log file2024-04-16
- Downloading many images on bad hotel wifi makes the experience very rough2024-04-08
- Docker unpredictably rebuilds layers instead of using cache, hard to diagnose2024-04-04
- Networking across containers was a real pain to set up and manage2024-03-28
- No search on the organization page, so users can't find images there2024-03-14
- Each container has different conventions for mounts, users and permissions, so the author forgets how they were set up2024-03-08
- Windows and macOS users must fiddle with Hyper-V settings to run it2024-03-06
- Macvlan networking is hard to set up and poorly documented2024-02-07
- Keeping two file trees in sync is messy and slows file operations2024-01-19
- File access is so slow that dev environments with many files are almost unusable2024-01-19
- Docker's default setup modifies iptables, which is a pain when using nftables2024-01-13
- Installs repeatedly fail, and an outdated compose file has too little documentation to fix2024-01-06
- Docker setups break or pull the wrong version, leaving a maze of config files2024-01-06