containrrr/watchtower
A process for automating Docker container base image updates. observed · 2026-08-28
Health v2 · maintenance only
10/100
- Activity 57
- Release rhythm 8
- Longevity 100
Flags: archived
How is this computed?
round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10) — computed 2026-09-03. Adoption (stars, forks) is never an input.
- gap_med: n/a
- age_days: 4069
- days_rel: n/a
- days_push: 259
- n_releases_24m: 0
Adoption not part of the score
24666 stars · 1148 forks observed · 2026-08-28
What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-29, confidence not recorded
Watchtower is a Docker-based tool that automatically updates running containers when new images are pushed to a registry. It pulls the new image, gracefully stops the old container, and restarts it with the original configuration.
Use cases
- automatically update docker containers when new images are released
- keep self-hosted homelab services up to date
- restart containers with latest base image after pushing to registry
- get notifications when containers are updated
- automate container image update checks on a schedule
When to choose
- you run a homelab, media center, or local dev environment on Docker
- you want hands-off container updates with notifications
- you deploy via image pushes and want automatic rollouts on a single host
When to avoid
- you need a production or commercial-grade update solution - the project is no longer maintained and recommends Kubernetes (or k3s/MicroK8s)
- you run multi-node orchestration where a proper orchestrator should manage rollouts
- you require guaranteed security patches or ongoing bug fixes from an active project
Facets
cli-tool · maturity abandoned
deployment workflow-automation monitoring alerting self-hosted go self-hosted docker-containers image-updates container-management homelab registry-polling devops containers automation docker linux
2 sources
- readme: https://github.com/containrrr/watchtower · fetched 2026-08-28 · f99c1a006a1d
- homepage: https://containrrr.dev/watchtower/ · fetched 2026-08-29 · acd449bca06a
Member repositories
| Repository | Role | Health v2 |
|---|---|---|
| containrrr/watchtower | main | 10 |
For agents
markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="containrrr/watchtower")
Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00 · Report a problem