Claude Code Docker Skill — Template Edition

Template-based Docker skill for Claude Code. Customize with your project-specific placeholders, then version and distribute.

When to Use This Repo

Use this repo if you want to:

• Create a project-specific Docker skill with hardcoded container names and paths
• Version your skill with semantic versioning (package.json, CHANGELOG)
• Distribute a customized skill to your team or organization

Looking for the standard skill that auto-discovers containers? See docker-claude-skill instead.

How It Works

This skill uses placeholder variables that you replace with your project's values:

Placeholder	Replace With
<project-name>	Your docker-compose service name
<project-name>-dev-1	Your container name
3000	Your application's port
/path/to/your/project	Absolute path to your project

After customization, your skill contains hardcoded values for fast, reliable execution.

Installation

Option A: Claude Plugin

claude plugin add github:wrsmith108/claude-code-docker-skill

Option B: Manual

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/docker
curl -o ~/.claude/skills/docker/SKILL.md \
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wrsmith108/claude-code-docker-skill/main/skills/docker/SKILL.md

Configure for Your Project

Edit ~/.claude/skills/docker/SKILL.md and replace all placeholders:

# Example: Replace for a project called "my-app" on port 8080
sed -i '' 's/<project-name>/my-app/g' ~/.claude/skills/docker/SKILL.md
sed -i '' 's/3000/8080/g' ~/.claude/skills/docker/SKILL.md
sed -i '' 's|/path/to/your/project|/Users/me/projects/my-app|g' ~/.claude/skills/docker/SKILL.md

Project Setup

Your project needs Docker configuration files:

your-project/
├── Dockerfile           # Production build
├── Dockerfile.dev       # Development with hot reload
├── docker-compose.yml   # Container orchestration
└── .dockerignore        # Exclude node_modules, .git, etc.

Sample files are included at the bottom of SKILL.md.

Comparison with docker-claude-skill

Feature	This Repo (Template)	docker-claude-skill (Standard)
Approach	Placeholders you customize	Auto-discovers containers
Setup	One-time configuration	Works immediately
Performance	Faster (hardcoded values)	Slightly slower (discovery)
Multi-project	One skill per project	Single skill for all projects
Versioning	package.json, CHANGELOG	Plugin manifest only
Best for	Teams, single-project devs	Multi-project devs, quick start

Usage

Start Development Container

cd /path/to/your/project
docker-compose --profile dev up dev -d

Run Commands in Container

docker exec -it <project-name>-dev-1 npm install express
docker exec -it <project-name>-dev-1 npm test
docker exec -it <project-name>-dev-1 npm run build

Stop Container

docker-compose --profile dev down

How the Skill Works

When Claude Code detects npm/node commands:

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Claude Code receives: npm install  │
└─────────────────┬───────────────────┘
                  ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│  PRE-FLIGHT CHECK                   │
│  docker ps --filter "name=..."      │
└─────────────────┬───────────────────┘
                  ▼
         ┌───────────────┐
         │  Running?     │
         └───────┬───────┘
           Yes   │   No
            ▼    │    ▼
┌──────────────┐ │ ┌──────────────────────┐
│ docker exec  │ │ │ docker-compose up -d │
│ npm install  │ │ │ (then docker exec)   │
└──────────────┘ │ └──────────────────────┘
                 ▼
         ┌───────────────┐
         │   Complete    │
         └───────────────┘

What Runs Where

Operation	Location	Why
npm install	Container	Packages stay isolated
npm test	Container	Consistent test environment
npm run build	Container	Same Node version as prod
npm run dev	Container	Already running via compose
git commands	Host	Manages files on host
File editing	Host	Volume mount syncs changes

Troubleshooting

Container Won't Start

docker logs <project-name>-dev-1
docker-compose --profile dev down
docker-compose --profile dev build --no-cache dev
docker-compose --profile dev up dev -d

Port Already in Use

lsof -i :3000
# Kill the process or change port in docker-compose.yml

Module Not Found

docker-compose --profile dev down
docker-compose --profile dev build --no-cache dev
docker-compose --profile dev up dev -d

Related Skills

• docker-claude-skill — Standard version with auto-discovery
• clerk-claude-skill — Authentication patterns
• linear-claude-skill — Issue management

License

MIT

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please open an issue or PR.