Docker Container Driver for BuildKit

1st chunk of `content/manuals/build/builders/drivers/docker-container.md`

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---
title: Docker container driver
description: The Docker container driver runs BuildKit in a container image.
keywords: build, buildx, driver, builder, docker-container
aliases:
  - /build/buildx/drivers/docker-container/
  - /build/building/drivers/docker-container/
  - /build/drivers/docker-container/
---

The Docker container driver allows creation of a managed and customizable
BuildKit environment in a dedicated Docker container.

Using the Docker container driver has a couple of advantages over the default
Docker driver. For example:

- Specify custom BuildKit versions to use.
- Build multi-arch images, see [QEMU](#qemu)
- Advanced options for [cache import and export](/manuals/build/cache/backends/_index.md)

## Synopsis

Run the following command to create a new builder, named `container`, that uses
the Docker container driver:

```console
$ docker buildx create \
  --name container \
  --driver=docker-container \
  --driver-opt=[key=value,...]
container
```

The following table describes the available driver-specific options that you can
pass to `--driver-opt`:

| Parameter        | Type    | Default          | Description                                                                                                            |
| ---------------- | ------- | ---------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `image`          | String  |                  | Sets the BuildKit image to use for the container.                                                                      |
| `memory`         | String  |                  | Sets the amount of memory the container can use.                                                                       |
| `memory-swap`    | String  |                  | Sets the memory swap limit for the container.                                                                          |
| `cpu-quota`      | String  |                  | Imposes a CPU CFS quota on the container.                                                                              |
| `cpu-period`     | String  |                  | Sets the CPU CFS scheduler period for the container.                                                                   |
| `cpu-shares`     | String  |                  | Configures CPU shares (relative weight) of the container.                                                              |
| `cpuset-cpus`    | String  |                  | Limits the set of CPU cores the container can use.                                                                     |
| `cpuset-mems`    | String  |                  | Limits the set of CPU memory nodes the container can use.                                                              |
| `default-load`   | Boolean | `false`          | Automatically load images to the Docker Engine image store.                                                            |
| `network`        | String  |                  | Sets the network mode for the container.                                                                               |
| `cgroup-parent`  | String  | `/docker/buildx` | Sets the cgroup parent of the container if Docker is using the "cgroupfs" driver.                                      |
| `restart-policy` | String  | `unless-stopped` | Sets the container's [restart policy](/manuals/engine/containers/start-containers-automatically.md#use-a-restart-policy).      |
| `env.<key>`      | String  |                  | Sets the environment variable `key` to the specified `value` in the container.                                         |

Before you configure the resource limits for the container,

Title: Docker Container Driver for BuildKit

Summary

The Docker container driver creates a managed BuildKit environment within a dedicated Docker container, offering advantages over the default driver such as custom BuildKit versions and advanced cache options. It allows specifying resource limits like memory and CPU, and network settings for the container using the `docker buildx create` command with the `--driver-opt` flag.