Using WatchTower To Keep Docker Images Updated 🌱

What is WatchTower?

Watchtower is an application that will monitor your running Docker containers and watch for changes to the images that those containers were originally started from. If watchtower detects that an image has changed, it will automatically restart the container using the new image. -https://containrrr.dev/watchtower/introduction/

Pull the WatchTower Image

1. Log into the Docker host
2. Run the following command in a terminal window
   docker pull containrrr/watchtower

Check for Available Updates, Without Applying Them

1. Log into the Docker host
2. Run the following command in a terminal window
   docker run --rm -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock containrrr/watchtower --run-once --monitor-only --include-restarting --include-stopped

Update Running Containers

1. Log into the Docker host
2. Run the following command in a terminal window
   docker run --rm -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock containrrr/watchtower --run-once

Update Running Containers, Deleting Outdated Images

1. Log into the Docker host
2. Run the following command in a terminal window
   docker run --rm -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock containrrr/watchtower --run-once --cleanup

Update All Containers, Deleting Outdated Images

1. Log into the Docker host
2. Run the following command in a terminal window
   docker run --rm -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock containrrr/watchtower --run-once --cleanup --include-restarting --include-stopped

In addition, notifications can be configured using environment variables. More info can be found at https://containrrr.dev/watchtower/notifications/.