docker context create

Description

Create a context

Usage

$ docker context create [OPTIONS] CONTEXT

Extended description

Creates a new context. This allows you to quickly switch the cli configuration to connect to different clusters or single nodes.

For example uses of this command, refer to the examples section below.

Options

Name, shorthand Default Description
--default-stack-orchestrator Default orchestrator for stack operations to use with this context (swarm|kubernetes|all)
--description Description of the context
--docker set the docker endpoint
--from create context from a named context
--kubernetes set the kubernetes endpoint

Examples

Create a context with a docker and kubernetes endpoint

To create a context from scratch provide the docker and, if required, kubernetes options. The example below creates the context my-context with a docker endpoint of /var/run/docker.sock and a kubernetes configuration sourced from the file /home/me/my-kube-config:

$ docker context create \
    --docker host=unix:///var/run/docker.sock \
    --kubernetes config-file=/home/me/my-kube-config \
    my-context

Create a context based on an existing context

Use the --from=<context-name> option to create a new context from an existing context. The example below creates a new context named my-context from the existing context existing-context:

$ docker context create --from existing-context my-context

If the --from option is not set, the context is created from the current context:

$ docker context create my-context

This can be used to create a context out of an existing DOCKER_HOST based script:

$ source my-setup-script.sh
$ docker context create my-context

To source only the docker endpoint configuration from an existing context use the --docker from=<context-name> option. The example below creates a new context named my-context using the docker endpoint configuration from the existing context existing-context and a kubernetes configuration sourced from the file /home/me/my-kube-config:

$ docker context create \
    --docker from=existing-context \
    --kubernetes config-file=/home/me/my-kube-config \
    my-context

To source only the kubernetes configuration from an existing context use the --kubernetes from=<context-name> option. The example below creates a new context named my-context using the kuberentes configuration from the existing context existing-context and a docker endpoint of /var/run/docker.sock:

$ docker context create \
    --docker host=unix:///var/run/docker.sock \
    --kubernetes from=existing-context \
    my-context

Docker and Kubernetes endpoints configurations, as well as default stack orchestrator and description can be modified with docker context update.

Refer to the docker context update reference for details.

Parent command

Command Description
docker context Manage contexts
Command Description
docker context create Create a context
docker context export Export a context to a tar or kubeconfig file
docker context import Import a context from a tar or zip file
docker context inspect Display detailed information on one or more contexts
docker context ls List contexts
docker context rm Remove one or more contexts
docker context update Update a context
docker context use Set the current docker context