# dotnet/Docker.DotNet

:whale: .NET (C#) Client Library for Docker API

Repository: https://github.com/dotnet/Docker.DotNet
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/dockerdotnet
Homepage: https://www.nuget.org/packages/Docker.DotNet/
Language: C#
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2025-08-28T14:08:51+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 40/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 39, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4390, "days_push": 370, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2414, forks 416 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:50.184504+00:00)

## What it is
Docker.DotNet is a fully asynchronous .NET (C#) client library for the Docker Remote API, letting applications interact programmatically with a Docker daemon. It supports connections over TCP, named pipes, and Unix sockets, and is distributed via NuGet.

## Use cases
- manage docker containers from a c# application
- programmatically start and stop docker containers in .net
- build a custom docker dashboard in dotnet
- inspect docker images and containers via the remote api
- stream container logs from docker in c#
- automate docker operations in ci tooling written in .net

## When to choose
- you are building a .NET or C# application that needs to control or monitor Docker daemons
- you need an asynchronous, object-oriented wrapper over the Docker Remote API
- you need to connect to Docker over named pipes, Unix sockets, or TCP from .NET

## When to avoid
- you are not working in the .NET ecosystem (use the official Docker SDKs for Go or Python instead)
- you only need to run occasional docker commands from scripts (the docker CLI is simpler)
- you need a Docker client for a language without .NET Standard 2.0 support

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: http-client, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, apis
- platform: dotnet, cross-platform
- tags: docker-api, docker-client, csharp, nuget, async, containers, devops, docker

## Member repositories
- dotnet/Docker.DotNet (main) score 40

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:50.184504+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 2026-08-30T02:33:12.459088+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/dotnet/Docker.DotNet (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:50.184504+00:00, sha c16591272967)
  - homepage: https://www.nuget.org/packages/Docker.DotNet/ (fetched 2026-08-29T10:13:51.247661+00:00, sha 2adf53e8fb38)
  - site_page: https://www.nuget.org/policies/About (fetched 2026-08-29T10:13:51.255859+00:00, sha a113b8a074c9)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.