Docker Agent is an open-source agent orchestrator and runtime harness developed by Docker. Built in Go, it provides an execution framework designed to orchestrate AI coding workflows, manage specialized agent skills, and interface with LLM providers while leveraging Docker's container and runtime capabilities. In daily use, Docker Agent executes task-driven agent workflows directly from the terminal or automated environments. It connects to model providers (such as DeepSeek and other LLM endpoints) to process instructions, inspect repositories, triage pull requests, and execute code generation or tool-based tasks. The harness manages tool installation, automated environment setup, and structured skill execution via dedicated directories and configuration files. What distinguishes Docker Agent from standalone interactive CLI agents is its emphasis on modular skills and native runtime sandboxing. By integrating containerization concepts, OpenTelemetry-based tracing, and Wasm runtime components, it functions as an infrastructure-level harness for running and evaluating autonomous agent tasks rather than just a simple single-session terminal chatbot. Docker Agent is distributed as an open-source project on GitHub under the Docker organization, requiring users to bring their own API keys or local model endpoints for execution.
Tags: agent harness, ai agent, cli, coding agent, developer tools, OpenSource
.agents/skills) for structured automation. - Extensible model provider integration — Supports multiple model providers and configurations, including DeepSeek and compatible LLM APIs. - OpenTelemetry observability — Integrates native OpenTelemetry SDK instrumentation for tracing agent actions, execution loops, and runtime metrics. - Tool and environment management — Includes automated tool installer routines and DevContainer support for consistent execution environments. - WebAssembly (Wasm) runtime components — Utilizes WebAssembly support in execution pathways to ensure isolated and portable tool running. - Go-native CLI architecture — Built as a performant, statically compilable Go application suitable for both local development machines and CI/CD pipelines.Docker Agent is built for platform engineers, DevOps practitioners, and Go developers who need a container-aware, observable harness to automate multi-step development and repository maintenance tasks. It is less suited for end-users seeking a zero-config, single-binary consumer chatbot with an interactive TUI.
bash # Clone the repository git clone https://github.com/docker/docker-agent.git cd docker-agent # Build the binary go build -o docker-agent ./cmd/docker-agent (Note: Binary release instructions may vary depending on tag availability on GitHub releases.)bash # Export your model provider API key (e.g., DeepSeek) export DEEPSEEK_API_KEY="your-api-key-here" # Check agent configuration and available skills ./docker-agent --helpbash # Execute an agent task in the current workspace ./docker-agent run --task "Audit the repository for missing license headers and generate a patch"Part of CLI Coding Agents
Categories: AI Coding Agents, Code Assistants, Developer Tools