Docker CLI

Point docker and docker compose at the engine Hopper is running.

Hopper is a GUI, not a replacement for your terminal. Both should talk to the same engine.

With an Engine API engine

Point DOCKER_HOST at whatever Hopper reports under Settings → Docker CLI:

export DOCKER_HOST="unix:///var/run/docker.sock"

Or make it permanent with a context:

docker context create hopper --docker "host=unix:///var/run/docker.sock"
docker context use hopper

With Apple Containers

There is nothing to point DOCKER_HOST at — Apple publishes no Docker socket. Use Apple's own CLI, which is installed alongside the runtime:

container ls
container run --detach --name web --publish 8080:80 nginx
container logs -f web

Most Docker muscle memory transfers. The flags that do not have an Apple equivalent — --restart, --hostname, --network=none — fail loudly rather than silently doing nothing, which is the right choice.

What the app bundles

The release ships the Docker CLI and a standalone Compose binary inside Hopper.app, because Docker Desktop's uninstaller takes docker with it. Hopper uses those binaries internally for Compose compatibility; it does not modify your machine-wide PATH. If you want the bundled CLI in a shell, add the release's sidecar directory to your shell configuration: on macOS that is /Applications/Hopper.app/Contents/MacOS/sidecars, while the Linux and Windows archives contain sidecars/ next to the Hopper executable. You can also use the CLI installed separately by your package manager.