Command Line

Docker CLI

ArcBox provides a drop-in docker CLI. Install it from Settings → Docker → Install CLI Tools, or let ArcBox install it on first launch.

Once installed, all standard Docker commands work:

docker run -d -p 8080:80 nginx
docker compose up -d
docker build -t my-app .
docker logs -f my-container

The CLI communicates with the same ArcBox daemon as the Desktop GUI. Changes made via CLI appear in the GUI immediately, and vice versa.

ArcBox CLI

The arcbox CLI provides additional commands for managing the runtime:

arcbox start          # Start the ArcBox daemon
arcbox stop           # Stop the daemon and all workloads
arcbox restart        # Restart the daemon
arcbox status         # Show daemon and VM status
arcbox version        # Show version info

arcbox machine create # Create a Linux machine
arcbox machine list   # List machines
arcbox ssh <name>     # SSH into a machine

arcbox logs           # Show daemon logs
arcbox doctor         # Diagnose common issues

CI Usage

ArcBox's Docker CLI is compatible with CI tools that expect a Docker daemon. If you run CI locally (e.g., act for GitHub Actions), it works with ArcBox.

# Run GitHub Actions locally
act -P ubuntu-latest=catthehacker/ubuntu:act-latest

Socket Path

By default, ArcBox creates the Docker socket at /var/run/docker.sock.

If another tool occupies that path, or you prefer a user-level socket:

export DOCKER_HOST=unix://$HOME/.arcbox/docker.sock

Shell Completions

arcbox completions zsh > ~/.zfunc/_arcbox

arcbox completions bash > /usr/local/etc/bash_completion.d/arcbox

arcbox completions fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/arcbox.fish