dockeridoo

Dockeridoo

The "easiest" way to run docker images as cli tools.

Motivation

I wanted to create an simple tool to run as a cli tool. The main problem was, that I ran my tool on ARM architecture and wanted to run it on x86 as well. The cross compilation was quite straight forward, with the docker cli:

docker buildx build --platform linux/amd64,linux/arm64 ...

The main problem was, that I wanted other people to use my tool and the default way to run a docker image requires the following steps:

• Start Docker Deamon
• Pull a current Image
• Run the Image and attach the current working directory as a volume

This is quite a lot of steps for a simple cli tool. Thats why I created this tool to run docker images with as little friction as possible.

Usage

• Prerequirements
  • Docker
  • NodeJS
• Install Dockeridoo:

  # npm
  npm i -g dockeridoo 
  

• Run an docker image as cli tool:

  dodoo [image name]
  # for example
  dodoo fa7k/create-cards
  

How it works

• It detects if docker is already running on your system. If not, it starts the docker deamon.
• It pulls the latest image specified in the command.
• It runs the image with the current working directory as a volume. And any command line arguments will also be passed to the image.

Create your own Dockeridoo compatible CLI Tool

Dockerfile:

FROM alpine:3.19 # choose a base image (preferably small)

# do whatever you want here

# These 2 lines are important to make the image work with Dockeridoo.
# The directory you started Dockeridoo will be supplied as the volume /workdir 
# This way files from the host system can be accessed inside the container
VOLUME /workdir
WORKDIR /workdir

ENTRYPOINT ["your_cli_tool.sh"]

If you want your cli tool to be compatible across achitectures, you can use the following command to build your image:

docker buildx build --platform linux/amd64,linux/arm64 -t your_image_name .

Hint: make sure your base image was also built for multiple architectures 😉