How To Install Docker and Docker Compose on Ubuntu

Docker packages containerized applications so they run the same way regardless of the host underneath them. Ubuntu's default repositories include an older, slower-moving package called docker.io, but Docker Inc. maintains its own apt repository that tracks upstream releases directly. This tutorial uses that official repository, which is the installation path Docker itself recommends.

Step 1 — Remove Conflicting Packages

Before installing, remove any older Docker-related packages that may already be on the system. Mixing these with the official packages later causes conflicts.

sudo apt remove -y docker docker-engine docker.io containerd runc

It's normal for apt to report that some or all of these packages aren't installed — that isn't an error, it just means this system had no prior Docker installation to clean up.

Step 2 — Set Up Docker's Official Apt Repository

First install the packages apt needs to fetch and trust a new repository over HTTPS, then create a directory for apt's signing keys:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y ca-certificates curl gnupg
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings

Download Docker's GPG key and make it world-readable so apt can use it to verify package signatures:

sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

Now add the repository itself. This command detects your system architecture and Ubuntu codename automatically, so it works unmodified on both 22.04 and 24.04:

echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

sudo apt update

The final apt update pulls the package index from the new repository. If this step fails, double-check that the previous curl command actually wrote a key file to /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc.

Step 3 — Install Docker Engine

Install Docker Engine, the CLI, containerd, and the Buildx and Compose plugins in one command:

sudo apt install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

docker-ce is the daemon, docker-ce-cli is the docker command itself, containerd.io is the low-level container runtime Docker sits on top of, and the two plugins add docker buildx and docker compose as subcommands.