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Logs, stats, terminal and files

Select a container to open its details pane. Besides Overview, it has these tabs. Logs and stats stream only for the container whose details are open, so Ferrodock stays light.

Logs​

The Logs tab shows the last 500 lines, then follows new output live.

  • Colours from the container (ANSI escape codes) are shown as colours. Lines without colours that mention an error or a warning are tinted red or amber.
  • Type in Filter logs to show only matching lines; matches are highlighted.
  • Time shows when each line was written; Wrap wraps long lines.
  • Scroll up to read back; Latest jumps to the newest line and keeps following.
  • Copy copies the lines shown, and Save writes the whole log to your Downloads folder.

Live logs

Stats​

The Stats tab charts CPU and memory over the last minute, with network and disk totals. CPU is measured like docker stats: 100% means one full CPU core. Hover over a chart to read the value at any moment.

Live stats

Top​

The Top tab lists the processes running inside the container (process ID, user, CPU time and command), refreshed every two seconds while it's open.

Terminal​

The Terminal tab opens a shell inside a running container, like docker exec -it. It picks bash when the container has it and sh otherwise; type another shell (say zsh) in Shell and click New session to use that instead.

It's a real terminal: full-screen programs such as top, vi and less work, along with arrow keys, tab completion and colours. Its size follows the pane. Ctrl+C interrupts; on macOS, ⌘C copies and ⌘V pastes.

Containers without a shell​

Images with no shell at all, like distroless ones, offer Open a debug shell instead. It starts a small helper container (busybox) next to yours that shares its processes and network, so ps, netstat and wget localhost:8080 see your container, and its files are in /target. The helper is hidden from the list and removed when the session ends.

To use another image for the helper (say, a mirror when Docker Hub can't be reached), set the FERRODOCK_DEBUG_IMAGE environment variable before starting Ferrodock.

Files​

The Files tab browses the container's filesystem, no docker cp needed. Stopped containers can be browsed too.

  • Click a folder to open it, .. to go up, or a part of the path at the top to jump back.
  • Click a file to preview it. Text files up to 512 KB show inline.
  • Download (next to a preview, or the arrow at the top for the whole folder) copies it to your Downloads folder. A name that's taken gets a number, so nothing is overwritten.
  • Drop files or folders from your desktop onto the window to copy them into the open folder.

Inspect​

The Inspect tab shows what docker inspect knows, in readable form. Images, volumes and networks have the same in an Inspect section at the bottom of their details.

  • Runtime: the restart policy and, for containers with a healthcheck, the health status, how many checks failed in a row and the last output.
  • Environment: every variable. Values that look like secrets (passwords, tokens, keys) are hidden until you tick Show secrets. Click a row to copy it as KEY=value.
  • Labels, including the ones Docker Compose adds.
  • Raw JSON: the full output, with a copy button.