19.2.6 Inspect CLI Command

docker inspect returns detailed, structured metadata about Docker objects — containers, images, networks, volumes, and nodes. The output is a JSON array containing every piece of configuration and runtime state that Docker tracks for the specified object. It is the authoritative source for a container's complete configuration, network settings, volume mounts, environment variables, resource limits, and current state.

Basic Syntax

docker inspect [OPTIONS] NAME|ID [NAME|ID...]

The object type is inferred from the ID or name provided. Multiple objects can be inspected in one call.

Inspecting a Container

docker inspect my-container

Output is a JSON array with one element (the container object). The object contains hundreds of fields organized into top-level sections.

Key sections in the output:

Extracting Specific Fields with --format

The --format flag uses Go templates to extract specific values without processing the full JSON output:

# Get the container's IP address
docker inspect --format '{{.NetworkSettings.IPAddress}}' my-container

# Get the current state
docker inspect --format '{{.State.Status}}' my-container

# Get the exit code
docker inspect --format '{{.State.ExitCode}}' my-container

# Get the image ID
docker inspect --format '{{.Image}}' my-container

# Get the restart count
docker inspect --format '{{.RestartCount}}' my-container

Inspecting Multiple Containers

docker inspect my-container postgres-container redis-container

The output is a JSON array with one element per container, in the order specified.

Inspecting Images

docker inspect works on image IDs and tags:

docker inspect nginx:latest
docker inspect a1b2c3d4e5f6

Image inspection returns configuration baked into the image: environment variables, exposed ports, volumes, entrypoint, labels, and the layer history.

Inspecting Networks

docker inspect bridge
docker inspect my-custom-network

Returns network driver, subnet, gateway, connected containers, and IPAM configuration.

Inspecting Volumes

docker inspect my-volume

Returns the volume driver, mount point on the host, labels, and options.

Common Inspection Queries

IP address

docker inspect --format '{{.NetworkSettings.IPAddress}}' my-container

For containers on non-default networks:

docker inspect --format '{{range .NetworkSettings.Networks}}{{.IPAddress}}{{end}}' my-container

Environment variables

docker inspect --format '{{range .Config.Env}}{{println .}}{{end}}' my-container

Port mappings

docker inspect --format '{{.NetworkSettings.Ports}}' my-container

Or as a JSON string:

docker inspect --format '{{json .NetworkSettings.Ports}}' my-container

Volume mounts

docker inspect --format '{{json .Mounts}}' my-container

Memory limit

docker inspect --format '{{.HostConfig.Memory}}' my-container

A value of 0 means no limit is set.

Restart policy

docker inspect --format '{{.HostConfig.RestartPolicy.Name}}' my-container

Was the container killed by OOM?

docker inspect --format '{{.State.OOMKilled}}' my-container

Container start and finish times

docker inspect --format 'Started: {{.State.StartedAt}}  Finished: {{.State.FinishedAt}}' my-container

Output Format Options

Raw JSON

The default output is a JSON array. Pipe it to jq for flexible querying:

docker inspect my-container | jq '.[0].State'
docker inspect my-container | jq '.[0].NetworkSettings.Networks'
docker inspect my-container | jq '.[0].Mounts[] | select(.Type == "volume")'

Go template with json function

docker inspect --format '{{json .Config}}' my-container

This outputs the Config section as a compact JSON object (one line), easier to parse in scripts than the full output.

Inspecting Stopped Containers

docker inspect works on containers in any state — running, stopped, paused, created, or dead:

docker inspect stopped-container

All configuration and final state information is available. The State.ExitCode and State.FinishedAt fields are populated once the container has exited.

Using docker inspect in Scripts

STATE=$(docker inspect --format '{{.State.Status}}' my-container 2>/dev/null)
if [ "$STATE" = "running" ]; then
    echo "Container is running"
fi

IP=$(docker inspect --format '{{.NetworkSettings.IPAddress}}' my-container)
curl http://$IP:8080/health