Docker command not found when running on Mac

Question

I'm trying to run the below code as instructed in the docker-graphite-statsd:

docker run -d\
 --name graphite\
 --restart=always\
 -p 80:80\
 -p 2003-2004:2003-2004\
 -p 2023-2024:2023-2024\
 -p 8125:8125/udp\
 -p 8126:8126\
 graphiteapp/graphite-statsd

It gives this error:

$ sudo docker run -d --name graphite --restart=always -p 80:80 -p 2003-2004:2003-2004 -p 2023-2024:2023-2024 -p 8125:8125/udp -p 8126:8126 graphiteapp/graphite-statsd
sudo: docker: command not found

This is on a Mac. I tried brew install docker but it made no difference.

How do I resolve this?

Sunburst

Follow steps from official site : docs.docker.com/docker-for-mac/install – Cynthla

Run brew doctor it'll help you to detect the error in the installation. – Uball

I installed it from the official link for my new M1 and the terminal can't find the docker command. Anyone else with this issue? https://docs.docker.com/docker-for-mac/install/ the brew doctor didn't help. – Huggermugger

it does work just fine on the app, it seems to be running my container if I do it from there, just not from the terminal zsh on my mac m1 – Huggermugger

see my answer to fix the issue if your terminal can't find the command: #64009638 – Huggermugger

If you installed the .dmg package on Mac, make sure that you opened the docker desktop app and grant the required privileges and permissions to it, once, before running the docker command. – Pentavalent

Docker on Mac is such a pain in the you-know-where... – Adur

Answer 1

Run brew list which will show a list of all your installed Homebrew packages.

But it's highly recommended to install docker using below link on your mac :

https://docs.docker.com/docker-for-mac/install/

Doretha

I did install from the link (no brew) and it still can't find the command!? – Huggermugger

For me, the docker command didn't become available until I ran the Docker desktop app. Simply following the .dmg's instructions to copy Docker into the Applications folder wasn't enough. In other words, you'll have to actually run Docker to complete the installation process. – Repel

@CalebKoch I've run the Docker Desktop app, and still no docker command. – Orndorff

Can't run the desktop app because I literally don't have a desktop. How can this be done in the shell (ssh)? – Optional

I still can't make this work as it used to (the docker CLI becomes available only when you're running Docker Desktop). I've uninstalled and reinstalled now many times in a row, via both the Homebrew cask and the downloaded dmg from the Docker website. All I can think is that something isn't getting cleaned up to the point that reinstallation takes care of enabling the CLI as part of app startup. As a workaround, I just did echo PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.docker/bin", and now I can run docker commands. I suppose they'll fail if Docker Desktop isn't also running. – Teddman

Answer 2

I'm afraid you need to add docker command to your PATH manually. It can be done through profile file. As ZSH is now a default shell on MacOS, it would go to ~/.zprofile file:

# Add Visual Studio Code (code)
export PATH="$PATH:/Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Resources/app/bin"
# Add Docker Desktop for Mac (docker)
export PATH="$PATH:/Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Resources/bin/"

Randolphrandom

That's the only solution here. Thank you! – Underage

Note that recent versions of docker install the CLI in $HOME/.docker/bin, and these are just symlinks to the bins in /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Resources/bin/ – Lieutenancy

Be sure to add the /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Resources/bin/ in ~/zshrc or bashrc. I was adding it with an EXPORT command but that only set the PATH for my current terminal session. – Butene

That's the solution which fixed it after visiting more than 10 links in internet. Thanks – Shiau

Why this answer is still not considered as accepted answer? The solution works great. – Fussy

and then run "exec zsh" to activate the changes. – Preparatory

Answer 3

After installing docker using Homebrew, start the Docker daemon by searching for Docker in the Application folder in Finder and running it.

I had to run the following from terminal after doing the above: docker run -d -p 80:80 docker/getting-started

Now run "docker --version" from terminal and it should give the desired result.

Reference : https://www.cprime.com/resources/blog/docker-on-mac-with-homebrew-a-step-by-step-tutorial/

Zumstein

Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///var/run/docker.sock. Is the docker daemon running? – Optional

Answer 4

There's is likely a better solution but this worked for me (macOS):

Edit your .zshrc or .bashrc, depending on which one you use

vi ~/.zshrc # or ~/.bashrc

In my case .zshrc

# ~/.zshrc
...

alias docker="/Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Resources/bin/docker"

...

source ~/.zshrc

this should work now

docker --version

This works because we're aliasing docker to the executable located in /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Resources/bin/docker.

Karl

Instead of an alias, I'd use a symlink so scripts can also find it. eg: ln -s /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Resources/bin/docker ~/bin/ – Orndorff

From Docker Desktop version 4.18, default "CLI utility" installation PATH is $HOME/.docker/bin, than instead of using /usr/local/bin/docker, you must use export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/.docker/bin, and it worked. Docker made this change because installing "CLI" to the /usr/local/bin PATH required root permissions. – Brycebryn

Answer 5

export PATH="$PATH:/Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Resources/bin/"

is the only solution works for me

Tried the export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.docker/bin" but failed, although it's the symlink to real location and I can run docker from it in Terminal

Dowable

Laptop OS is Mac 13.3.0 – Dowable

it 's on so work for me on Mac Montery. thanks – Pugh

Answer 6

By default Docker CLI tools are installed under $HOME/.docker/bin You need to manually add $HOME/.docker/bin to your PATH .

You can change this by going to Docker --> Settings --> Advanced --> change from user to system After choosing system Docker CLI tools are installed under /usr/local/bin.

This is persistent method and you won't have to export.

If you don't want to change settings, exporting this in the terminal where docker will be used does the did.

export PATH="$PATH:/Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Resources/bin/"

Nickolai

every time Docker has a new update, you need to run this code to re-add to the path somehow for me on my Mac. – Migrant

Answer 7

This command helped me:

/Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Resources/bin/docker --version

Check version after that:

docker --version

Tempt

ec2-user@ip-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx ~ % docker --version returns Docker version 20.10.23, build 7155243 but I still can't run anything docker run hello-world or docker ps only results in Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///var/run/docker.sock. Is the docker daemon running? – Optional

I added /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Resources/bin to the $PATH after confirming this command worked – Supercilious

Answer 8

As of docker desktop mac (in my case v4.18, Apple Silicon version), the default installation is

• no longer => /usr/local/bin
• now => $HOME/.docker/bin

See Docker Desktop > Settings > Advanced, which provides two options:

• System, and
• User, with User being default

In the case of System, the location is in the default macOS path. In the case of User, you'll need to add an entry to your path.

System: (Requires password) Docker CLI tools are installed under /usr/local/bin.

User: Docker CLI tools are installed under $HOME/.docker/bin. Note: You need to manually add $HOME/.docker/bin to your PATH.

Lieutenancy

Answer 9

You'll have to add it to your path. If your shell is bash, here are the steps you need to take:

nano ~/.bash_profile

then, add your Docker binary path (mine there, for example):

export PATH="$PATH:/Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Resources/bin/"

then reload the configuration & test with:

source ~/.bash_profile && docker --v

Hope this helps!

Covered

Answer 10

With the new version Docker Desktop 4.21.1, by default the desktop app engine (Macos) will setup Docker in /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Resources/bin/docker but this location can be changed by the advance settings

1. Change the advance settings from user to System (this will change the location to /usr/local/bin)
2. Run the command docker --version

Ial

Answer 11

Homebrew's docker doesn't install /usr/local/bin/docker or the /Applications/Docker.app any more on 10.13.

You have to download the Docker Desktop for Mac application from the docker.com site above and install it.

Hardboard

I did install from the link/official site (no brew) and it still can't find the command!? – Huggermugger

This is no longer true. ´´´brew install --cask docker´´´ does indeed install docker to /usr/local/bin/docker and does make a Docker application in /Applications – Zuniga

I ended up with 1) installing from the link/official site (no brew) and then 2) brew install docker – and the issue has gone. – Labrie

Answer 12

If you successfully installed docker using the official package, the command should be available under /usr/local/bin/docker.

That directory might not yet be in your $PATH, so you could try adding it, run:

export PATH="/usr/local/bin:$PATH"

this adds /usr/local/bin to the front of your PATH.

credit: https://mcmap.net/q/205394/-docker-commands-not-found

---

Detais:

Check docker is not there:

docker
zsh: command not found: docker

Check what PATH is:

echo $PATH
/Users/brandomiranda/.opam/__coq-platform.2022.01.0~8.15~beta1/bin:/Users/brandomiranda/opt/anaconda3/envs/meta_learning/bin:/opt/homebrew/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

Then add PATH (To set it for current shell and all processes started from current shell use export):

export PATH="/usr/local/bin:$PATH"

Check what I added to Path:

echo $PATH
/usr/local/bin:/Users/brandomiranda/.opam/__coq-platform.2022.01.0~8.15~beta1/bin:/Users/brandomiranda/opt/anaconda3/envs/meta_learning/bin:/opt/homebrew/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

Seems that /usr/local/bin wasn't in my path. Probably odd? Seems odd to me...why isn't it there?

Huggermugger

Nope. I installed and ran Docker desktop, and there is no /usr/local/bin at all. In fact, sudo find /usr -name docker finds nothing! – Orndorff

As of November 2023, docker installed from the official site docs.docker.com/desktop/install/mac-install is NOT under /usr/local/bin/docker !! I can't find where my docker command is – Zymogen

Answer 13

I started getting this error when my Docker Desktop (in macOS Sonoma) was updated to 4.25.0 version.

Turns out, I have to add $HOME/.docker/bin to the PATH on versions 4.18 and later, because Docker CLI tools are installed in the user directory now as shown in the settings below:

Steps:

1. Check the shell you're using.

   echo $0
   

   For eg: I'm using bash.

2. I'm using bash, so I ran this command

   vim ~/.bash_profile
   

   But if you're using zsh, you'd run this instead

   vim ~/.zshrc
   

3. Add this to the file

   export PATH=$PATH:~/.docker/bin
   

4. Hit Esc, type :wq and hit enter to save and quit.

5. In order to pick up the changes to your profile, either close and reopen the terminal, or manually source your respective ~/.profile. For my case, I ran this command

   source ~/.bash_profile
   

It starts working at this point:

Reference: https://docs.docker.com/desktop/settings/mac/#advanced-1

Bennink

Answer 14

MacOS Sonoma 14.3.1 , Docker 4.28.0

Inside Docker desktop, go to Settings > Advanced Settings

You'll see Choose how to configure the installation of Docker's CLI tools

I changed it from User to System. It resolved the issue for me.

Eggleston

Answer 15

============================================================================

If you are using a Rancher desktop on MAC (mac OS Ventura) and facing this issue

============================================================================

1. vi ~/.zshrc

2. Add below line at the very end

export PATH="$HOME/.rd/bin:$PATH"

3. Save and exit

4. On the terminal execute the following command

source ~/.bashrc 

5. check if docker command is available now

docker ps

Sheepskin

Answer 16

I am using a MacOS Big Sur running on the Intel chip.

I installed the Docker desktop by installing the .dmg file from here: https://docs.docker.com/desktop/install/mac-install/

I am using .zsh (with the Warp terminal) and I kept getting this error: "zsh: command not found: docker" when I was typing in any command like "docker --version"

So I ran the following command in my zsh terminal:

echo PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.docker/bin" >> ~/.zshrc

I then restarted my terminal and now it works.

Ysabel

Answer 17

execute following command in a cli

brew link docker

Langan

Answer 18

There are many places from where the value of $PATH variable is influenced. Following is a way to add the path to it permanently in zsh:

1. Open the terminal
2. cd /etc/paths.d
3. Create a new file with any name. For instance you want to create a path for docker then sudo vi dockerpath
4. Paste your path in this file /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Resources/bin
5. Write and close. Press esc and :wq
6. Open a new terminal to check if the newly added path is present. echo $PATH

Bullion

Answer 19

You can also install docker with following command on Mac:

brew install docker-machine docker

Cattle

re-installing using a different method may lead to conflicting versions. It´s better to solve the previous installation. Or if you suggest this new installation as a solution, then you should provide the cleaning-up steps before installation IMO – Hoey

agreed with the comment above. This sort of approach only messes up things even more – Tigerish

Answer 20

So to install images, instead of

/bin/docker run -d -p 80:80 docker/getting-started

use

/Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Resources/bin/docker run -d -p 80:80 docker/getting-started

Underhanded

Answer 21

If you used Homebrew to install Docker, you should open it in Applications, confirm the precautions, and add it to the background applications.

Then the Docker app is started, and you can use any commands of docker XXX.

Mutant

Answer 22

Commands to fix the issue:

rm -rf ~/Library/Containers/com.docker.*
cd /usr/local/bin
chmod 0755 dock*

Then

• quit Docker Desktop;
• reopen Docker Desktop, probably wait for a minute for changes to be reflected.

Taken from the following YouTube video.

Towpath

Not sure why this got a downvote. This was the only way I was able to solve the problem. One additional note: I had to go into Privacy & Security and give terminal full disk access to successfully delete all the Docker metadata in ~/Library/Containers/com.docker.* – Subdivision

Answer 23

https://github.com/docker/for-mac/issues/6793#issuecomment-1546529682

• this worked for me without doing path changes manually simply in advanced docker setting change to System -> save. If System is already checked then check User -> Save and then change back to System.

Tactic