Install Docker Scout

Table of contents

The Docker Scout CLI plugin comes pre-installed with Docker Desktop.

If you run Docker Engine without Docker Desktop, Docker Scout doesn't come pre-installed, but you can install it as a standalone binary.

Installation script

To install the latest version of the plugin, run the following commands:

$ curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/docker/scout-cli/main/install.sh -o install-scout.sh
$ sh install-scout.sh

Note
Always examine scripts downloaded from the internet before running them locally. Before installing, make yourself familiar with potential risks and limitations of the convenience script.

Manual installation

Download the latest release from the releases page.
Create a subdirectory under $HOME/.docker called scout.
$ mkdir -p $HOME/.docker/scout
Extract the archive and move the docker-scout binary to the $HOME/.docker/scout directory.
Make the binary executable: chmod +x $HOME/.docker/scout/docker-scout.
Add the scout subdirectory to your .docker/config.json as a plugin directory:
{ "cliPluginExtraDirs": [ "$HOME/.docker/scout" ] }

Download the latest release from the releases page.
Create a subdirectory under $HOME/.docker called scout.
$ mkdir -p $HOME/.docker/scout
Extract the archive and move the docker-scout binary to the $HOME/.docker/scout directory.

Make the binary executable:

$ chmod +x $HOME/.docker/scout/docker-scout`

Authorize the binary to be executable on macOS:

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine $HOME/.docker/scout/docker-scout`.

Add the scout subdirectory to your .docker/config.json as a plugin directory:
{ "cliPluginExtraDirs": [ "$HOME/.docker/scout" ] }

Download the latest release from the releases page.
Create a subdirectory under %USERPROFILE%/.docker called scout.
% mkdir %USERPROFILE%\.docker\scout
Extract the archive and move the docker-scout.exe binary to the %USERPROFILE%\.docker\scout directory.

Add the scout subdirectory to your .docker\config.json as a plugin directory:

{
  "cliPluginExtraDirs": [
    "C:\Users\MobyWhale\.docker\scout"
  ]
}

Container image

The Docker Scout CLI plugin is also available as a container image. Use the docker/scout-cli to run docker scout commands without installing the CLI plugin on your host.

$ docker run -it \
  -e DOCKER_SCOUT_HUB_USER=<your Docker Hub user name> \
  -e DOCKER_SCOUT_HUB_PASSWORD=<your Docker Hub PAT>  \
  docker/scout-cli <command>

GitHub Action

The Docker Scout CLI plugin is also available as a GitHub action. You can use it in your GitHub workflows to automatically analyze images and evaluate policy compliance with each push.

Docker Scout also integrates with many more CI/CD tools, such as Jenkins, GitLab, and Azure DevOps. Learn more about the integrations available for Docker Scout.