Docker 2023: Milestones, Updates, and What’s Next

We’ve had an exciting year at Docker, with loads of product news and announcements. Don’t worry if you couldn’t keep up with the pace of our news and product releases. We’ve rounded up highlights from 2023 and look ahead to how we plan to stay the #1 most-used developer tool as we roll into 2024.

Docker milestones & performance improvements

Docker Desktop updates

We’ve been hard at work enhancing Docker Desktop this year. Among the notable highlights:

• Docker Desktop 4.26: Rosetta, PHP Init, Builds View GA, Admin Enhancements, and Docker Desktop Image for Microsoft Dev Box 
• Docker Desktop 4.25: Enhancements to Docker Desktop on Windows, Rosetta for Linux GA, and New Docker Scout Image Analysis Settings
• Docker Desktop 4.24: Compose Watch, Resource Saver, and Docker Engine
• Docker Desktop 4.23: Updates to Docker Init, New Configuration Integrity Check, Quick Search Improvements, Performance Enhancements, and More
• Docker Desktop 4.22: Resource Saver, Compose ‘include’, and Enhanced RBAC Functionality
• Docker Desktop 4.21: Support for New Wasm Runtimes, Docker Init Support for Rust, Docker Scout Dashboard Enhancements, Builds View (Beta), and More
• Docker Desktop 4.20: Docker Engine and CLI Updated to Moby 24.0
• Docker Desktop 4.19: Compose v2, New Language Support, Moby Project Update
• Docker Desktop 4.18: Docker Scout Updates, Container File Explorer GA
• Docker Desktop 4.17: New Functionality for a Better Development Experience
• Docker Desktop 4.16: Better Performance and Docker Extensions GA

Performance milestones

Read “Docker’s Journey Toward Enabling Lightning-Fast Developer Innovation: Unveiling Performance Milestones” to learn about:

• 75% startup time speed improvements
• 85x improvement in upload speed
• 650% improvement in image download speeds
• 71% reduction in build time
• Resource saver mode saves 38,500 CPU hours daily. 

Download the latest Docker Desktop release to take advantage of the performance improvements.

Simplifying software supply chain management

We’ve simplified software supply chain management for developers with Docker Scout. Docker Scout policies enable teams to identify, prioritize, and fix their software quality issues at the point of creation to meet their organization’s reliability and security standards while accelerating the speed of execution and innovation. 

Learn how to achieve security and compliance goals with policy guardrails in Docker Scout. Visit the Docker Scout product page to learn more.

20 new Docker extensions

Twenty new Docker extensions were added to the Docker extension marketplace in 2023. We highlighted a few extensions on the Docker blog, including Kubescape, NebulaGraph, Gefyra, LocalStack, and Grafana. Explore Docker Hub to discover more extensions, and use the Docker Extensions SDK to create and share your own.

New Docker features 

We also announced:

• Docker Build Early Access Program: Docker Build speeds up builds by as much as 39 times by automatically taking advantage of large, on-demand cloud-based servers and team-wide build caching. 
• Resource Saver GA release: With Resource Saver, Docker Desktop uses minimal system resources when it’s idle, letting you save battery life on your laptop and improve your multitasking experience. 
• Docker Compose Watch GA release: Watch, available in Compose 2.22 and later, lets you automatically update and preview your running Compose services as you edit and save your code. 
• Docker Init Beta release: docker init, a new command-line interface (CLI) command introduced as a beta feature, simplifies the process of adding Docker to a project.  
• Docker+Wasm Technical Preview 2: The new Technical Preview of Docker+Wasm offers three new runtimes: spin from Fermyon, slight from Deislabs, and wasmtime from Bytecode Alliance.
• Builds view GA release: The new Builds view in Docker Desktop provides detailed insight into your build performance and usage. Get a live view of your builds as they run, explore previous build performance, and dive deep into an error and cache issue.
• Signing Docker Official Images Using OpenPubkey: We announced our intention to use OpenPubkey, a project jointly developed by BastionZero and Docker and recently open-sourced and donated to the Linux Foundation, as part of our signing solution for Docker Official Images (DOI).

All things AI/ML

2023 will be known as the year of AI/ML. For 2024, our investments in AI promise to bring new services and functionality to Docker customers. Recent announcements include:

• GenAI Stack: At DockerCon, with partners Neo4j, LangChain, and Ollama, we announced a new GenAI Stack. We have brought together the top technologies in the generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) space to build a solution that allows developers to deploy a full GenAI stack with only a few clicks. 
• Docker AI: Docker’s first AI-powered product promises to boost developer productivity by tapping into the universe of Docker developer wisdom to provide context-specific, automated guidance to developers as they work. Sign up for early access now.
• Docker & Hugging Face partnership: We announced a new partnership with Hugging Face to democratize AI and make it accessible to all software engineers. To dive in, read our blog post, “Effortlessly Build Machine Learning Apps with Hugging Face’s Docker Spaces.”
• Announcing the Docker AI/ML Hackathon 2023 Winners: The 2023 Docker AI/ML Hackathon encouraged participants to build solutions that were innovative, applicable in real life, use Docker technology, and have an impact on developer productivity. Read the announcement blog post to learn about the winning AI/ML projects.

Also check out our blog post “Why Are There More Than 100 Million Pull Requests for AI/ML Images on Docker Hub?” to learn how Docker is providing a powerful tool for AI/ML development.

Expanding developer experiences

AtomicJar joins Docker

In December, we were excited to welcome AtomicJar, the makers of Testcontainers, to the Docker family. “Docker already accelerates the ‘inner loop’ app development steps — build, verify (through Docker Scout), run, debug, and share — and now, with AtomicJar and Testcontainers, we’re adding ‘test,’” explains Docker CEO Scott Johnston. As a result, developers using Docker will be able to deliver quality applications faster and with less effort. Read our announcement blog post and FAQ to learn more about AtomicJar and Testcontainers.

Mutagen joins Docker

In June, we announced the acquisition of Mutagen, the company behind the open source Mutagen file synchronization and networking technologies that enable high-performance remote development. The Mutagen File Sync feature of Docker Desktop takes file sharing to new heights with up to a 16.5x improvement in performance. To try it and help influence Docker’s future, sign up for the Docker Desktop Preview Program.

Microsoft Dev Box and Docker Desktop

We announced our partnership with the Microsoft Dev Box team to bring additional benefits to developer onboarding, environment set-up, security, and administration with Docker Desktop. You can navigate to the Azure Marketplace to download the Docker Desktop-Dev Box compatible image and start developing in the cloud with a native experience. Additionally, this image can be activated with your current subscription, or you can buy a Docker Business subscription directly on Azure Marketplace.

Docker and Snowflake collaboration

At Snowflake BUILD, we announced Docker Desktop with Snowpark Container Services (private preview). Watch the session to learn more about accelerating deployments of data workloads with Docker and Snowpark. 

Docker in action

Customer highlights from 2023 include:

• How Tabcorp Accelerated Delivery Velocity with Docker
• How Docker Transforms Software Delivery and Empowers Developers at The Warehouse Group
• How IKEA Retail Standardizes Docker Images for Efficient Machine Learning Model Deployment
• How JW Player Secured 300 Repos in an Hour with Docker Scout
• How Kinsta Improved the End-to-End Development Experience by Dockerizing Every Step of the Production Cycle

What’s next

In October at DockerCon, Docker and Udemy announced a partnership to offer developers accessible learning paths to further their Docker education. Read the announcement blog post to learn more about what we’ve planned.

Want to dive deeper into Docker? DockerCon videos are available now on YouTube. 

Do your New Year goals include expanding your Docker expertise? Watch the on-demand webinar Docker Fundamentals: Get the Most Out of Docker.

Check out our public roadmap to help steer the future of Docker.

Thank you to our community of developers, Docker Captains and Community Leaders, customers, and partners! We look forward to our continued work building our future together in the New Year. 

Learn more

• Watch A Look Back at Docker in 2023 on-demand. 
• Check out past and upcoming Docker events.
• Get the latest release of Docker Desktop.
• Read highlights from DockerCon 2023.
• Watch DockerCon 2023 sessions.
• Try Docker Scout.
• Explore Docker Extensions.
• Get started with Testcontainers.
• Watch the on-demand webinar Docker Fundamentals: Get the Most Out of Docker.
• Have questions? The Docker community is here to help.
• New to Docker? Get started.
• See the Docker public roadmap.