# spotify/docker-gc

INACTIVE: Docker garbage collection of containers and images

Repository: https://github.com/spotify/docker-gc
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/docker-gc
Language: Shell
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: docker, garbage-collection, shell
Archived: true
Last push: 2021-02-01T19:20:40+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 10/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4455, "days_push": 2039, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, archived
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 5014, forks 432 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:04.680069+00:00)

## What it is
A shell script that performs garbage collection of exited Docker containers and unused Docker images, intended to run as a cron job or inside a Docker container. It is no longer maintained; the README recommends using `docker system prune` instead.

## Use cases
- clean up exited docker containers older than an hour
- remove unused docker images to free disk space
- run docker cleanup as a cron job
- delete dangling docker volumes
- exclude specific images from docker cleanup

## When to choose
- you are on a legacy system where built-in docker prune commands are unavailable
- you need the specific hour-based container removal and tag-preserving image cleanup behavior

## When to avoid
- starting a new project - use `docker system prune` instead
- you need active maintenance, support, or new features
- you need fine-grained filtering beyond simple exclusions

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: abandoned
- function: developer-tools, container-runtime, cli
- domain: developer-tools
- platform: cli
- tags: docker, garbage-collection, cleanup, cron, shell-script, inactive, devops, containers, linux

## Member repositories
- spotify/docker-gc (main) score 10

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:04.680069+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:17:32.473460+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/spotify/docker-gc (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:04.680069+00:00, sha 5eaef653c84e)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.