🐳 n8n-nodes-docker-api

Interact with Docker via direct API (no Portainer required) — manage containers, stream logs, and automate infrastructure with ease.

✨ Why this node?

Managing Docker via raw HTTP calls in n8n is painful and error-prone.

This node gives you:

• 🔍 Clean container listing (normalized output)
• 📜 Readable logs (stdout/stderr separated, no binary noise)
• ⚡ Simple control (start/stop containers safely)
• 🔐 Built-in access control (read-only vs full control)

👉 Turn Docker into a first-class automation tool inside n8n

🚀 Quick Start

1. Install the node:

npm install n8n-nodes-docker-api

2. Add Docker API credentials
3. Add the Docker node to your workflow
4. Choose an operation and execute

✅ No manual API calls needed

📦 Installation

Community Nodes (Recommended)

1. Go to Settings → Community Nodes
2. Install: n8n-nodes-docker-api

Manual Installation

npm install n8n-nodes-docker-api

🧪 Usage

Docker Node in n8n

1. Add the Docker node

2. Select an operation:

   • List Containers
   • Get Container Logs
   • Start Container
   • Stop Container

3. Configure credentials

4. Execute the node

Example: List Containers

• Operation: List Containers

• Optional filters:

  • Name
  • Status
  • Show all containers

🔐 Credentials

Credentials UI in n8n

Connection Modes

🟢 Unix Socket (Local)

• Default for local Docker setups
• Path: /var/run/docker.sock

🌐 TCP (Remote)

• Connect to remote Docker daemon

• Example:

  • Host: 192.168.1.10
  • Port: 2375

⚠️ Requires Docker daemon configured with:

-H tcp://0.0.0.0:2375

🔒 TLS (Coming in v2)

• Secure remote connection using certificates

Access Modes

🟡 Read Only (Recommended)

• ✅ List containers
• ✅ Get logs
• ❌ Cannot start/stop containers

🔴 Full Control

• ✅ All operations enabled

📋 Supported Operations (v1)

| Operation | Description | Access | | ------------------ | --------------------------------------- | ------------ | | List Containers | Get containers with normalized output | Read Only | | Get Container Logs | Logs with stream filtering & timestamps | Read Only | | Start Container | Start stopped containers | Full Control | | Stop Container | Stop running containers (with dry run) | Full Control |

🔥 Real Use Cases

♻️ Self-Healing Containers

Automatically restart crashed services:

List Containers → IF (status != running) → Start Container

🚨 Log-Based Alerting

Detect errors and notify:

Get Logs → Search "ERROR" → Send Slack alert

📊 Container Monitoring

Track system health:

Schedule → List Containers → Aggregate → Report

🧠 Output Examples

List Containers

{
  "id": "3025272c7592...",
  "shortId": "3025272c7592",
  "name": "qdrant",
  "image": "qdrant/qdrant",
  "status": "running",
  "createdAt": "2026-03-13T23:19:38.000Z"
}

Logs

{
  "message": "Server started",
  "stream": "stdout"
}

🔒 Security

⚠️ Docker access = host-level control

Best Practices

• Use Read Only mode unless needed

• Avoid exposing Docker over public TCP

• Use a proxy like:

  • tecnativa/docker-socket-proxy

• Restrict network access

🧪 Testing

npm test

🗺️ Roadmap

v2

• Restart Container
• Remove Container
• Image operations (list/pull/remove)
• TLS support
• Container autocomplete

v3

• Run container (ephemeral jobs)
• Execute commands in container
• Container stats

v4

• Docker Trigger node (events)

⭐ Contributing

PRs and ideas are welcome — especially for new operations and improvements.

📄 License

MIT

💬 Support

Open an issue on GitHub for:

• Bugs
• Feature requests
• Questions