DOCKER(1) Docker User Manuals DOCKER(1)
NAME
docker-image-pull - Download an image from a registry
SYNOPSIS
docker image pull [OPTIONS] NAME[:TAG|@DIGEST]
DESCRIPTION
This command pulls down an image or a repository from a registry. If
there is more than one image for a repository (e.g., fedora) then all
images for that repository name can be pulled down including any tags
(see the option -a or --all-tags).
If you do not specify a REGISTRY_HOST, the command uses Docker's public
registry located at registry-1.docker.io by default.
EXAMPLES
Pull an image from Docker Hub
To download a particular image, or set of images (i.e., a repository),
use docker image pull (or the docker pull shorthand). If no tag is pro-
vided, Docker Engine uses the :latest tag as a default. This example
pulls the debian:latest image:
$ docker image pull debian
Using default tag: latest
latest: Pulling from library/debian
e756f3fdd6a3: Pull complete
Digest: sha256:3f1d6c17773a45c97bd8f158d665c9709d7b29ed7917ac934086ad96f92e4510
Status: Downloaded newer image for debian:latest
docker.io/library/debian:latest
Docker images can consist of multiple layers. In the example above, the
image consists of a single layer; e756f3fdd6a3.
Layers can be reused by images. For example, the debian:bookworm image
shares its layer with the debian:latest. Pulling the debian:bookworm
image therefore only pulls its metadata, but not its layers, because
the layer is already present locally:
$ docker image pull debian:bookworm
bookworm: Pulling from library/debian
Digest: sha256:3f1d6c17773a45c97bd8f158d665c9709d7b29ed7917ac934086ad96f92e4510
Status: Downloaded newer image for debian:bookworm
docker.io/library/debian:bookworm
To see which images are present locally, use the docker-images(1) com-
mand:
$ docker images
REPOSITORY TAG IMAGE ID CREATED SIZE
debian bookworm 4eacea30377a 8 days ago 124MB
debian latest 4eacea30377a 8 days ago 124MB
Docker uses a content-addressable image store, and the image ID is a
SHA256 digest covering the image's configuration and layers. In the ex-
ample above, debian:bookworm and debian:latest have the same image ID
because they are the same image tagged with different names. Because
they are the same image, their layers are stored only once and do not
consume extra disk space.
For more information about images, layers, and the content-addressable
store, refer to understand images, containers, and storage drivers
⟨https://docs.docker.com/storage/storagedriver/⟩ in the online documen-
tation.
Pull an image by digest (immutable identifier)
So far, you've pulled images by their name (and "tag"). Using names and
tags is a convenient way to work with images. When using tags, you can
docker image pull an image again to make sure you have the most up-to-
date version of that image. For example, docker image pull
ubuntu:24.04 pulls the latest version of the Ubuntu 24.04 image.
In some cases you don't want images to be updated to newer versions,
but prefer to use a fixed version of an image. Docker enables you to
pull an image by its digest. When pulling an image by digest, you spec-
ify exactly which version of an image to pull. Doing so, allows you to
"pin" an image to that version, and guarantee that the image you're us-
ing is always the same.
To know the digest of an image, pull the image first. Let's pull the
latest ubuntu:24.04 image from Docker Hub:
$ docker image pull ubuntu:24.04
24.04: Pulling from library/ubuntu
125a6e411906: Pull complete
Digest: sha256:2e863c44b718727c860746568e1d54afd13b2fa71b160f5cd9058fc436217b30
Status: Downloaded newer image for ubuntu:24.04
docker.io/library/ubuntu:24.04
Docker prints the digest of the image after the pull has finished. In
the example above, the digest of the image is:
sha256:2e863c44b718727c860746568e1d54afd13b2fa71b160f5cd9058fc436217b30
Docker also prints the digest of an image when pushing to a registry.
This may be useful if you want to pin to a version of the image you
just pushed.
A digest takes the place of the tag when pulling an image, for example,
to pull the above image by digest, run the following command:
$ docker image pull ubuntu@sha256:2e863c44b718727c860746568e1d54afd13b2fa71b160f5cd9058fc436217b30
docker.io/library/ubuntu@sha256:2e863c44b718727c860746568e1d54afd13b2fa71b160f5cd9058fc436217b30: Pulling from library/ubuntu
Digest: sha256:2e863c44b718727c860746568e1d54afd13b2fa71b160f5cd9058fc436217b30
Status: Image is up to date for ubuntu@sha256:2e863c44b718727c860746568e1d54afd13b2fa71b160f5cd9058fc436217b30
docker.io/library/ubuntu@sha256:2e863c44b718727c860746568e1d54afd13b2fa71b160f5cd9058fc436217b30
Digest can also be used in the FROM of a Dockerfile, for example:
FROM ubuntu@sha256:2e863c44b718727c860746568e1d54afd13b2fa71b160f5cd9058fc436217b30
LABEL org.opencontainers.image.authors="some maintainer <maintainer@example.com>"
Note
Using this feature "pins" an image to a specific version in
time. Docker does therefore not pull updated versions of an im-
age, which may include security updates. If you want to pull an
updated image, you need to change the digest accordingly.
Pull from a different registry
By default, docker image pull pulls images from Docker Hub. It is also
possible to manually specify the path of a registry to pull from. For
example, if you have set up a local registry, you can specify its path
to pull from it. A registry path is similar to a URL, but does not con-
tain a protocol specifier (https://).
The following command pulls the testing/test-image image from a local
registry listening on port 5000 (myregistry.local:5000):
$ docker image pull myregistry.local:5000/testing/test-image
Registry credentials are managed by docker-login(1).
Docker uses the https:// protocol to communicate with a registry, un-
less the registry is allowed to be accessed over an insecure connec-
tion. Refer to the insecure registries ⟨https://docs.docker.com/en-
gine/reference/commandline/dockerd/#insecure-registries⟩ section in the
online documentation for more information.
Pull a repository with multiple images
By default, docker image pull pulls a single image from the registry. A
repository can contain multiple images. To pull all images from a
repository, provide the -a (or --all-tags) option when using docker im-
age pull.
This command pulls all images from the ubuntu repository:
$ docker image pull --all-tags ubuntu
Pulling repository ubuntu
ad57ef8d78d7: Download complete
105182bb5e8b: Download complete
511136ea3c5a: Download complete
73bd853d2ea5: Download complete
....
Status: Downloaded newer image for ubuntu
After the pull has completed use the docker image ls (or docker images
shorthand) command to see the images that were pulled. The example be-
low shows all the ubuntu images that are present locally:
$ docker image ls --filter reference=ubuntu
REPOSITORY TAG IMAGE ID CREATED SIZE
ubuntu 22.04 8a3cdc4d1ad3 3 weeks ago 77.9MB
ubuntu jammy 8a3cdc4d1ad3 3 weeks ago 77.9MB
ubuntu 24.04 35a88802559d 6 weeks ago 78.1MB
ubuntu latest 35a88802559d 6 weeks ago 78.1MB
ubuntu noble 35a88802559d 6 weeks ago 78.1MB
Cancel a pull
Killing the docker image pull process, for example by pressing CTRL-c
while it is running in a terminal, will terminate the pull operation.
$ docker image pull ubuntu
Using default tag: latest
latest: Pulling from library/ubuntu
a3ed95caeb02: Pulling fs layer
236608c7b546: Pulling fs layer
^C
The Engine terminates a pull operation when the connection between the
Docker Engine daemon and the Docker Engine client initiating the pull
is lost. If the connection with the Engine daemon is lost for other
reasons than a manual interaction, the pull is also aborted.
OPTIONS
-a, --all-tags[=false] Download all tagged images in the reposi-
tory
--platform="" Set platform if server is multi-platform capable
-q, --quiet[=false] Suppress verbose output
SEE ALSO
docker-image(1)
Docker Community Apr 2026 DOCKER(1)
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