Docker and Podman Studio

The all-in-one visual Studio GUI for Docker & Podman inside Visual Studio Code.

Manage Compose stacks, Interactive Architecture Topologies, Containers, Pods, OCI Images, Volumes, Networks, Docker Contexts, and Podman Machine VMs from one sleek Studio panel — powered by Docker out of the box, with one-click switching to Podman.

VS Code Marketplace · GitHub Releases (.vsix) · Report Bug · Request Feature

Why Developers Love Docker and Podman Studio

• Interactive Drag-and-Drop Compose Topology: Visualize your entire docker-compose.yml or podman-compose.yml architecture — Networks, Services, Persistent Volumes, Bind Mounts, Env Files, and depends_on wires — with live health badges and right-click container actions.
• Dual-Engine Freedom (Docker Default + Podman): Uses Docker (docker + docker compose) out of the box and switches to Podman (podman + podman-compose + native Pods) with a single click in the Sidebar or Settings.
• Zero Context-Switching: Stream multi-service logs, open interactive container shells (exec -it), switch Docker Contexts (Desktop, OrbStack, Colima, Remote SSH), control Podman Machine VMs, build Dockerfile / Containerfile images, and prune disk space without leaving VS Code.
• Truly Global (16 Languages): Native localization across 16 languages (EN, PT-BR, ES, FR, DE, IT, RU, UK, PL, TR, NL, JA, KO, ZH-CN, ZH-TW, HI) + automatic VS Code language detection (auto).

Visual Tour

1. Unified Engine Dashboard, Docker Contexts & Storage Analytics

Inspect live daemon telemetry, switch between local and remote Docker Contexts (desktop-linux, orbstack, remote SSH hosts), and analyze reclaimable disk usage (system df) at a glance.

2. One-Click Podman Mode & Kubernetes-Style Pods

Switch to Podman anytime to unlock daemonless rootless container management, Podman Machine VM lifecycle controls, and native Kubernetes-style Pods with shared network/IPC namespaces.

3. Real-Time Multi-Service Log Streaming

Debug distributed stacks effortlessly with color-coded log levels, per-service filter pills, instant text search, pause/resume controls, or 1-click routing to the VS Code Output Channel and integrated Terminal.

4. Instant Engine Selector & 16-Language Localization

Switch between Docker and Podman or choose from 16 built-in languages (shown below in Russian — Русский) directly inside Studio Settings.

Dual-Engine Architecture: Docker & Podman

Docker and Podman Studio uses Docker ("docker") by default and lets you switch to Podman ("podman") anytime — via Settings (dockerPodmanStudio.engine), the Studio Sidebar toggle, the Activity Bar header button, or the Command Palette (Docker and Podman Studio: Switch Container Engine).

Complete Feature Set

Visual Compose Studio (docker compose & podman-compose)

• Interactive Topology Graph: Drag-and-drop canvas with right-click service context menu (Start, Stop, Restart, Down, Live Logs).
• Protected YAML Editing: Modify individual service fragments or raw Compose YAML safely — editing automatically locks while services are running to prevent runtime drift.
• Visual New Compose Wizard: Scaffold docker-compose.yml or podman-compose.yml stacks with live YAML preview, Dockerfile / Containerfile build configuration, healthchecks, and integrated image search across Docker Hub, Quay.io, and private OCI registries.
• Smart Auto-Discovery: Automatically detects docker-compose.yml, compose.yml, podman-compose.yml, and container-compose.yml files in your workspace and discovers external Compose projects from active container labels.
• YAML IntelliSense & Diagnostics: Real-time autocompletion and schema diagnostics for Compose files directly inside the VS Code editor.
• Podman Service Scaling: In the Services tab, choose Scale and explicitly enter a service's desired replica count, including zero. Scaling above zero runs Compose up and can start dependencies or recreate containers. Scaling down removes excess containers and their writable layers, retains volumes, and asks for confirmation unless deletion confirmations are disabled.
• Replica-Aware Podman Actions: Start, stop, restart, and logs include runtime-scaled replicas even when podman-compose only expands the counts declared in YAML. Down verifies container removal and safely cleans up leftover replicas, retaining volumes unless explicitly requested and preserving orphan services unless removeOrphans is enabled.

Container, Pod & Infrastructure Management

• Simple & Advanced Containers: Launch standalone or Pod-attached containers with port mappings, volume mounts, environment variables, CPU/Memory limits, and custom --mount specs. Open an Interactive Terminal (exec -it) in one click.
• Kubernetes-Style Pods (Podman Mode): Create Pods with custom --hostname, published ports, --network, --add-host, --cpu-shares, and labels; inspect member & infra containers; stream Pod logs; and manage Pod lifecycles.
• Podman Batch Controls: Select visible containers or pods to start, stop, or restart eligible resources together. Failures are reported per resource. Individual containers and pods can also be paused and resumed; Podman infra containers are protected from individual lifecycle and delete actions.
• OCI Images, Builds & Prune Suite: Pull images, build from Dockerfile or Containerfile, push to remote registries, and reclaim disk space (Prune Dangling, Prune All Unused, Clear Builder Cache).
• Volumes & Networks: Create, inspect (drivers, subnets, gateways, DNS, IPv6), prune, and delete volumes and networks.
• Encrypted Registry Authentication: Store private registry credentials securely in VS Code SecretStorage (never written in plaintext to settings.json) with optional automatic docker login / podman login.

In Podman mode, image, volume, and network removal does not force-remove resources in use. Podman build-cache cleanup uses podman image prune --build-cache when supported; it also removes dangling images. Do not run it during a build.

Multi-Language Support (16 Languages)

Full internationalization (i18n) across the Studio Webview, Status Bar, notifications, Command Palette (package.nls.*.json), and Settings descriptions. Follow VS Code's display language automatically (auto) or pick your preferred language in Settings → Interface Language (dockerPodmanStudio.language):

Requirements

Only the CLI for your selected engine is required:

• For Docker Mode (Default):
  • Docker CLI (docker) and Docker Compose (docker compose v2 plugin or docker-compose) — compatible with Docker Desktop, Docker Engine on Linux, OrbStack, Rancher Desktop, and Colima.
• For Podman Mode:
  • Podman CLI and Podman Compose (podman-compose or podman compose). Provider capabilities vary; the isolated lifecycle and scaling tests have been exercised with Podman 6.1.4 and podman-compose 1.6.0 on Windows.
  • Compose status requires a provider that supports ps --all -q, or podman-compose, whose ps -q includes stopped containers. Studio reports an error instead of silently omitting stopped containers when it cannot establish this.
  • Windows / macOS: An initialized Podman Machine (podman machine init), manageable directly from the Studio Dashboard.
  • Windows: Configure a native executable or a PowerShell script for Podman and Compose. .cmd and .bat wrappers are rejected for Podman commands because their shell argument handling cannot safely preserve arbitrary input. PowerShell execution policies still apply.

Getting Started

1. Install Docker and Podman Studio from the VS Code Marketplace (or download the .vsix from GitHub Releases).
2. Open the Studio from any entry point:
   • Click Docker Studio / Podman Studio in the bottom Status Bar (shows live connection status).
   • Click the Docker and Podman Studio icon in the Activity Bar.
   • Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P) and run Docker and Podman Studio: Open Studio Panel.
   • Right-click any docker-compose.yml, compose.yml, podman-compose.yml, Dockerfile, or Containerfile in the VS Code Explorer.
3. Want to use Podman instead of Docker? Toggle Docker | Podman directly in the Studio sidebar or set "dockerPodmanStudio.engine": "podman" in VS Code Settings.

Commands

Extension Settings

Development & Building from Source

git clone https://github.com/Italoalmeida0/docker-and-podman-studio-vscode.git
cd docker-and-podman-studio-vscode

# Install dependencies
npm install
npm --prefix webview-ui install

# Build Webview UI + Extension Host bundle
npm run build:all

# Run regression tests (no Podman resources are changed)
npm test

# Package into a .vsix installer
npm run package

For opt-in tests against an isolated Podman project and resources, see CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

Released under the MIT License.
Copyright © 2026 Italo Almeida.