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Sulthon Zainul Habib
Sulthon Zainul Habib

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I Use lazydocker for Everything — Except When I Don't

#docker #typescript #terminal #devtools

I love lazydocker. Honestly, Jesse Duffield built something special — it's the first thing I install on a new machine. But here's the thing: 90% of the time I open it, I just want to check if my containers are healthy. I don't need to browse image layers, scroll through compose configs, or dig into volume mounts. I just want the pulse check.

And sometimes lazydocker feels like opening a control room when you just need a dashboard.

So I built dockervis. It's a terminal dashboard that does one thing: show you what your Docker containers are doing, right now, and let you act on it with a single keypress.

The Problem I Was Solving

My typical workflow looks like this:

  1. Start 4-5 containers with docker compose
  2. Something feels off — API is slow, or a cron job might've crashed
  3. Open terminal, type docker ps, squint at the truncated output
  4. Copy a container ID, run docker stats --no-stream
  5. Realize it was the wrong container
  6. Repeat

docker stats is fine but it's a firehose. docker ps doesn't show resource usage. And jumping between them gets old fast when you're debugging at 2 AM.

lazydocker solves this, but it also shows me every image, every volume, every compose file — when I just want to know if my app container is eating all the RAM again.

What dockervis Does 

npm install -g dockervis
dockervis
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That's it. You get a live dashboard:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ dockervis - Docker Container Dashboard                      │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                             │
│ ● app (running)           CPU: 1.2%                        │
│ ● db (running)            Memory: 256 MB / 512 MB (50.0%)  │
│ ○ web (exited)            Network RX: 1.2 GB               │
│ ● redis (running)         Network TX: 512 MB               │
│                                                             │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
q: Quit | r: Refresh | s: Stop | R: Restart | d: Delete
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Every container, its state, CPU, memory, and network — updated live. No mouse needed. No panels to navigate. Just the info.

The Keyboard Shortcuts That Actually Matter

Here's the part I use most. When something's stuck:

  • Press j to move to the container
  • Press R to restart it
  • Done

Or when a container exited and I want it gone:

  • Move to it with k/j
  • Press d to delete it

The full set:

Key What it does
j / ↓ Move down
k / ↑ Move up
s Stop container
R Restart container
d Delete (exited only)
r Force refresh
q Quit

vim-style navigation because, well, muscle memory.

Filtering When You Have Too Many Containers

On my work machine I have like 20 containers. Most of them are from old projects I forgot to clean up. I don't need to see all of them.

# Only show running ones
dockervis --filter running

# Focus on specific services
dockervis --include app,db,redis

# Hide the noise
dockervis --exclude test,ci
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The --exclude flag is my favorite. I have a bunch of test containers that I never touch — filtering them out makes the dashboard actually useful.

Exporting Metrics (Because Sometimes You Need Proof)

Sometimes you need to show someone "hey, this container has been eating 80% CPU for three days." Or you want to log metrics over time.

# JSON export
dockervis --export metrics.json

# CSV if you need to throw it in a spreadsheet
dockervis --export metrics.csv --export-format csv
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I use this in CI sometimes — run it once, dump to JSON, parse with jq in a health check script. Not glamorous but it works.

Why TypeScript (And Not Go Like Everyone Else)

Most terminal Docker tools are written in Go — lazydocker, ctop, docui. Nothing wrong with Go. But I write TypeScript all day. When I want to fix something or add a feature, I want to do it in the language I'm fastest in.

dockervis uses:

  • dockerode for the Docker API — battle-tested, well-documented
  • blessed for the terminal UI — same library lazydocker uses under the hood (via tview/bubbletea equivalents)

The result is a tool that TypeScript/Node developers can actually contribute to without learning a new language. And the install is just npm install -g — no Go toolchain needed.

When I Still Reach for lazydocker

I'm not going to pretend dockervis replaces lazydocker for everything. If I need to:

  • Browse Docker Compose configs
  • Inspect image layers
  • Manage volumes and networks
  • Read container logs in detail

...I still use lazydocker. It's the better Swiss Army knife.

But for the 5-second "is everything okay?" check? Or the "restart that one container real quick" moment? dockervis is faster. Less noise, less cognitive load.

Quick Setup 

# Install
npm install -g dockervis

# Make sure you have Docker socket access
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
# (log out and back in)

# Run it
dockervis
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If you want to tweak the refresh rate:

dockervis --interval 5000  # 5 seconds instead of default 2
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And if Docker is running on a remote host:

DOCKER_HOST=tcp://192.168.1.100:2375 dockervis
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The Code

It's open source, MIT licensed: github.com/sulthonzh/dockervis

Issues and PRs welcome. Especially if you find bugs — I mainly tested this on my own machine (macOS + Docker Desktop), so Linux and Windows reports would be helpful.

Building developer tools is my thing. Check out my other projects at github.com/sulthonzh

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