Best way to install Docker on a Mac

Rich Steinmetz -

You'd like to keep your mac clean, have Docker with no future problems, and read less about how to do it best. Here we go.

There are majorly 2 ways to install Docker on your Mac:

  1. via homebrew
  2. via the official Docker website

via homebrew

You need homebrew, the best way to manage your Mac installations, to be installed.

Then go and install Docker with one terminal command:

$ brew install --cask docker
... tons of output...

Once the installation is successful, open Docker from your applications folder or look for it via Spotlight.

Agree to the terms ✅

Open a new terminal window and do:

$ docker version
Client:
 Cloud integration: v1.0.29
 Version:           20.10.21
 ... lots of output ...

That's it.

Follow the tutorial in the Docker UI if you are completely new to Docker to get a feel for it or enjoy the new installation.

That's the no questions asked approach.

via the official Docker website

This one is very basic, my mom could do it if carefully instructed.

It goes like this:

  1. download .dmg file from here: https://docs.docker.com/desktop/install/mac-install/
  2. double-click
  3. double-click the newly created Docker UI app in the Applications folder

However, if you go to the download page you will see that at the moment there are some open questions about your Mac processor architecture and some additional software you might or might not need.

My and I don't want to think about that stuff.

The extra instructions might be gone in a couple of months or some new instructions might have been added. Doesn't really matter, because I use option 1: homebrew.

Next steps

If you are on Rails, here are some thoughts on how you can dockerize your app: How to learn to dockerize your Rails app?