---
description: Run IGNITE® CLI using a Docker container.
---

# Running inside a Docker container

You can run IGNITE® CLI inside a Docker container without installing the IGNITE®
CLI binary directly on your machine.

Running IGNITE® CLI in Docker can be useful for various reasons; isolating your
test environment, running IGNITE® CLI on an unsupported operating system, or
experimenting with a different version of IGNITE® CLI without installing it.

Docker containers are like virtual machines because they provide an isolated
environment to programs that runs inside them. In this case, you can run IGNITE®
CLI in an isolated environment.

Experimentation and file system impact is limited to the Docker instance. The
host machine is not impacted by changes to the container.

## Prerequisites

Docker must be installed. See [Get Started with
Docker](https://www.docker.com/get-started).

## IGNITE® CLI Commands in Docker

After you scaffold and start a chain in your Docker container, all IGNITE® CLI
commands are available. Just type the commands after `docker run -ti
ignite/cli`. For example:

```bash
docker run -ti ignitehq/cli -h
docker run -ti ignitehq/cli scaffold chain planet
docker run -ti ignitehq/cli chain serve
```

## Scaffolding a chain

When Docker is installed, you can build a blockchain with a single command.

IGNITE® CLI, and the chains you serve with IGNITE® CLI, persist some files. When
using the CLI binary directly, those files are located in `$HOME/.ignite` and
`$HOME/.cache`, but in the context of Docker it's better to use a directory
different from `$HOME`, so we use `$HOME/sdh`. This folder should be created
manually prior to the docker commands below, or else Docker creates it with the
root user.

```bash
mkdir $HOME/sdh
```

To scaffold a blockchain `planet` in the `/apps` directory in the container, run
this command in a terminal window:

```bash
docker run -ti -v $HOME/sdh:/home/tendermint -v $PWD:/apps ignitehq/cli:0.25.2 scaffold chain planet
```

Be patient, this command takes a minute or two to run because it does everything
for you:

- Creates a container that runs from the `ignitehq/cli:0.25.2` image.
- Executes the IGNITE® CLI binary inside the image.
- `-v $HOME/sdh:/home/tendermint` maps the `$HOME/sdh` directory in your local
  computer (the host machine) to the home directory `/home/tendermint` inside
  the container.
- `-v $PWD:/apps` maps the current directory in the terminal window on the host
  machine to the `/apps` directory in the container. You can optionally specify
  an absolute path instead of `$PWD`.

  Using `-w` and `-v` together provides file persistence on the host machine.
  The application source code on the Docker container is mirrored to the file
  system of the host machine.

  **Note:** The directory name for the `-w` and `-v` flags can be a name other
  than `/app`, but the same directory must be specified for both flags. If you
  omit `-w` and `-v`, the changes are made in the container only and are lost
  when that container is shut down.

## Starting a blockchain

To start the blockchain node in the Docker container you just created, run this
command:

```bash
docker run -ti -v $HOME/sdh:/home/tendermint -v $PWD:/apps -p 1317:1317 -p 26657:26657 ignitehq/cli:0.25.2 chain serve -p planet
```

This command does the following:

- `-v $HOME/sdh:/home/tendermint` maps the `$HOME/sdh` directory in your local
  computer (the host machine) to the home directory `/home/tendermint` inside
  the container.
- `-v $PWD:/apps` persists the scaffolded app in the container to the host
  machine at current working directory.
- `serve -p planet` specifies to use the `planet` directory that contains the
  source code of the blockchain.
- `-p 1317:1317` maps the API server port (cosmos-sdk) to the host machine to
  forward port 1317 listening inside the container to port 1317 on the host
  machine.
- `-p 26657:26657` maps RPC server port 26657 (tendermint) on the host machine
  to port 26657 in Docker.
- After the blockchain is started, open `http://localhost:26657` to see the
  Tendermint API.
- The `-v` flag specifies for the container to access the application's source
  code from the host machine, so it can build and run it.

## Versioning

You can specify which version of IGNITE® CLI to install and run in your Docker
container.

### Latest version

- By default, `ignite/cli` resolves to `ignite/cli:latest`.
- The `latest` image tag is always the latest stable [IGNITE® CLI
  release](https://github.com/ignite/cli/releases).

For example, if latest release is
[v0.25.2](https://github.com/ignite/cli/releases/tag/v0.25.2), the `latest` tag
points to the `0.25.2` tag.

### Specific version

You can specify to use a specific version of IGNITE® CLI. All available tags are
in the [ignite/cli
image](https://hub.docker.com/r/ignitehq/cli/tags?page=1&ordering=last_updated) on
Docker Hub.

For example:

- Use `ignitehq/cli:0.25.2` (without the `v` prefix) to use version `0.25.2`.
- Use `ignitehq/cli` to use the latest version.
- Use `ignitehq/cli:main` to use the `main` branch, so you can experiment with
  the upcoming version.

To get the latest image, run `docker pull`.

```bash
docker pull ignitehq/cli:main
```