🚀 How to Install Docker and Docker Compose on a Raspberry Pi (2025 Guide)

Docker turns your Raspberry Pi into a powerful containerized system for projects, home labs, or development. In this post, we'll walk through installing both Docker and Docker Compose (plugin-based).

Photo by Rubaitul Azad on Unsplash

📦 Why Use Docker on Raspberry Pi?

• Lightweight and perfect for ARM CPUs

• Easy deployment of apps/services via containers

• Great for IoT, home automation, and developer tooling

• Use Docker Compose for multi-container setups

---

🧰 Prerequisites

• Raspberry Pi with Raspberry Pi OS (Debian-based)

• Access to terminal (SSH or local)

• Internet connection

---

✅ Step 1: Install Docker (Official Script)

The easiest and safest way is to use Docker's official convenience script:

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh

This script:

• Installs Docker Engine

• Sets up systemd services

• Works on ARM (Raspberry Pi) and Debian-based systems

Start and enable Docker:

sudo systemctl enable docker
sudo systemctl start docker

Verify installation:

docker --version

You should see output like:

Docker version 24.0.0, build xxxxx

---

👤 (Optional) Add Your User to the Docker Group

Avoid using sudo every time:

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Then log out and log back in.

---

🔄 Step 2: Add Docker's APT Repository (for Compose plugin)

To install the Docker Compose plugin cleanly via APT:

Install prerequisites:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ca-certificates curl gnupg lsb-release

Add Docker’s GPG key:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg | \
  sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

Set up the Docker repo:

echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] \
  https://download.docker.com/linux/debian \
  $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

---

📦 Step 3: Install Docker Compose Plugin

sudo apt update
sudo apt install docker-compose-plugin

Check version:

docker compose version

Note: The modern command is docker compose (with a space), not docker-compose.

---

🧪 Step 4: Test with a Simple Compose File

Create a test directory:

mkdir hello-docker && cd hello-docker

Create docker-compose.yml:

version: '3'
services:
  web:
    image: nginx
    ports:
      - "8080:80"

Run it:

docker compose up -d

Now visit http://<raspberry_pi_ip>:8080 in your browser — you should see the Nginx welcome page!

---

🎉 You're Done!

You've successfully installed Docker and Docker Compose on your Raspberry Pi. You can now run containers, deploy apps, and build awesome projects.

---

💡 Pro Tips

• Use docker compose logs -f to follow logs

• Use docker compose down to stop and clean up

• Combine with Portainer for a visual UI