dexport

DExport

Export running Docker containers as a docker-compose.yml file.

dexport inspects your running containers and generates a ready-to-use Compose file from their actual configuration — ports, volumes, environment variables, networks, restart policies, resource limits, and more.

Installation

Using Go Install

go install github.com/onyxhat/dexport@latest

From source (requires Go 1.25+):

git clone https://github.com/onyxhat/dexport
cd dexport
go build -o dexport .

Cross-compilation is supported for any OS and architecture Go targets:

GOOS=linux  GOARCH=amd64 go build -o dexport-linux-amd64 .
GOOS=linux  GOARCH=arm64 go build -o dexport-linux-arm64 .
GOOS=darwin GOARCH=arm64 go build -o dexport-darwin-arm64 .
GOOS=windows GOARCH=amd64 go build -o dexport.exe .

Convenience build script automatically handles cross-compilation builds (requires Powershell/pwsh 5.0+)

./build.ps1

Requirements

• Docker must be running and accessible. The tool connects to the Docker daemon directly (no docker CLI required) using the default socket:

  • Linux/macOS: /var/run/docker.sock
  • Windows: //./pipe/docker_engine

  The DOCKER_HOST, DOCKER_TLS_VERIFY, and DOCKER_CERT_PATH environment variables are respected for remote or TLS-secured daemons.

Usage

dexport [flags] [CONTAINER...]

Export all running containers to stdout:

dexport

Write to a file:

dexport -o compose.yml

Export specific containers by name or ID:

dexport nginx postgres redis
dexport -o stack.yml nginx postgres

Include stopped containers:

dexport -a
dexport -a -o compose.yml

Print version:

dexport -v

Flags

Example output

Given a running nginx container started with:

docker run -d \
  --name web \
  -p 8080:80 \
  -v /data/html:/usr/share/nginx/html \
  -e NGINX_HOST=example.com \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  --network webnet \
  nginx:1.25

Running dexport produces:

services:
  web:
    image: nginx:1.25
    container_name: web
    ports:
      - "8080:80"
    volumes:
      - /data/html:/usr/share/nginx/html
    environment:
      - NGINX_HOST=example.com
    networks:
      webnet: {}
    restart: unless-stopped
networks:
  webnet: {}

What gets exported

The following container configuration is captured when present:

• Image name and tag
• Ports — published port bindings (host→container)
• Volumes — bind mounts and named volumes
• Environment variables
• Networks — named networks with aliases
• Restart policy — always, unless-stopped, on-failure[:N]
• Labels (Docker Compose internal labels are filtered out)
• Command and entrypoint overrides
• Working directory, user, hostname, domainname
• Healthcheck — test command, interval, timeout, retries
• Resource limits — memory (mem_limit), CPU (cpus)
• Capabilities — cap_add, cap_drop
• Security options, devices, extra hosts, DNS
• Tmpfs mounts, sysctls, ulimits
• Logging driver and options (default json-file is omitted)
• Init, privileged, read-only rootfs, stdin_open, tty
• Stop signal and stop grace period

Fields that are default or empty are omitted to keep the output clean.

Notes

• The version: field is intentionally omitted. It is deprecated in Compose V2 and causes warnings with modern docker compose.
• Named volumes appear in both the service volumes: list and a top-level volumes: section. If the volume was created externally (e.g. by another Compose project), you may need to add external: true manually.
• depends_on relationships cannot be inferred from a running container and must be added manually if needed.
• Runtime-only state (container ID, creation time, exit codes) is not included.