| name | docker-overview |
| description | Entry point and router for managing Docker in a homelab. Load this first for any Docker request — it identifies which control plane is in use (Dockhand preferred, or Portainer/Dockge/raw Engine), establishes the version check, and routes to the right skill (compose stacks, Dockhand, reverse-proxy label routing, or Docker-on-Proxmox networking). |
Docker (homelab) — overview & routing
Start here for any Docker task. This suite is control-plane-first (manage through Dockhand/Portainer APIs
rather than raw SSH) and obeys the homelab-core homelab-core:homelab-safety and
homelab-core:homelab-research policies.
Step 1 — which control plane?
Ask or detect what the user manages Docker with — the workflow differs:
| Tool | Use the skill | Notes |
|---|
| Dockhand (+ Hawser agents) | dockhand | Preferred. Central server manages many hosts via Hawser agents. Has an MCP server. |
| Portainer | portainer | Mature REST API + official MCP. |
| Dockge | dockge | File-based stacks in /opt/stacks; no REST API/MCP — often filesystem/SSH. |
| Raw Docker / compose CLI | docker-compose-stacks | The shared foundation under all of the above. |
If unsure, default to the user's stated preference (Dockhand) and confirm. The compose knowledge in
docker-compose-stacks applies no matter which control plane you use —
load it alongside the tool-specific skill.
Step 2 — version check
Check versions before acting on anything non-obvious: docker version, docker compose version, and the
control plane's own version (Dockhand/Portainer/Dockge UI or API). MCP/API clients are often version-matched
(e.g. Portainer MCP ~=2.42 ↔ Portainer 2.42.x). Prefer Docker's llms.txt
(https://docs.docker.com/llms.txt) when researching (homelab-research).
Step 3 — recognize the homelab patterns
This suite encodes specific patterns the user relies on:
- Reverse-proxy routing via labels →
npm-reverse-proxy: container
labels (via Redth/npm-docker-sync) auto-create nginx-proxy-manager proxy hosts for domain routing.
- Docker host inside Proxmox →
docker-on-proxmox: the Docker host is
often a Proxmox VM or (un)privileged LXC, with VLAN-tagged networking and passed-through storage. Networking
or permission problems frequently originate at the Proxmox layer, not Docker.
Step 4 — safety gate
Reads (list stacks/containers/logs, show compose) are free. Any deploy/update/restart/down, image pull,
volume change, or stack delete is a significant/destructive change → summarize the plan and get approval
(homelab-safety). Avoid SSH where a control-plane API can do the job; if SSH is needed (e.g. Dockge stack
files, host networking), confirm the SSH drop first.
Skills in this plugin
