How to Install Docker and Docker Compose on Linux

The Engine of the Modern Home Lab

Docker allows you to run applications in isolated containers. If you mess up an app, you simply delete the container; your base Linux system remains completely untouched.

Step 1: Use the Official Repository

Instead, add Docker’s official GPG key and repo:

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

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

Step 2: Post-Installation

Add your user to the Docker group so you don’t have to type sudo every time:

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Here is a look at my actual terminal running docker ps from inside my Jellyfin config directory. As you can see, I am running everything from Vaultwarden to Immich, qBittorrent, and Hermes AI.

Once Docker is running, the natural next step is writing your own stack — start with my Docker Compose template for self-hosting. And when a tutorial gives you nothing but a docker run one-liner, paste it into the docker run to Compose converter to get a service block you can drop straight into your stack.