How to Install and Use oxker in Linux for a Fast Terminal Docker TUI

Monitoring and managing Docker containers across Linux workstations and development servers frequently leads developers into a dilemma: heavy web dashboards consume substantial system RAM, while traditional CLI commands like docker ps, docker logs, and docker stats require juggling multiple terminal windows and memorising verbose flags. oxker resolves this workflow bottleneck by providing a lightweight, responsive, and keyboard-driven Terminal User Interface (TUI) written in Rust designed specifically for Docker engine administration.

With native support for real-time CPU and memory graphs, multi-panel logging, mouse click interaction, container state lifecycle controls (start, stop, pause, restart, delete), and multi-container filtering, oxker delivers rapid operational visibility with near-zero runtime overhead. In this tutorial, you will discover how to install oxker on Linux, configure Docker socket permissions, navigate container statistics, and manage your microservices directly from your terminal.

What Is oxker and How Does It Compare?

Unlike complex container management orchestration dashboards, oxker focuses on terminal ergonomics and speed:

• Blazing Fast Rust Performance: Launches instantaneously and consumes negligible CPU cycles, making it suitable for resource-constrained edge servers and Raspberry Pi nodes.
• Real-Time Metric Visualisation: Plots real-time ASCII and braille graphs of container CPU usage and memory utilisation alongside aggregate system totals.
• Full Container Lifecycle Management: Pause, unpause, restart, stop, and prune containers with single keystroke shortcuts.
• Integrated Log Viewer: Streams container stdout and stderr in real-time with automatic line wrapping and scroll navigation.
• Mouse and Touchpad Support: Click containers, tabs, and buttons directly within compatible terminal emulators.

Step 1: Installing oxker on Linux

You can deploy oxker on any modern Linux distribution using pre-compiled binaries, Cargo, or Homebrew.

Method 1: Installing via Pre-Compiled GitHub Release (Universal Linux)

The simplest installation method utilizes official static binaries:

# Download the latest Linux x86_64 release
curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/mrjackwills/oxker/releases/latest \
  | grep "browser_download_url.*x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz" \
  | cut -d : -f 2,3 \
  | tr -d \" \
  | wget -qi -

# Extract archive
tar -xzf oxker-*-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz

# Move binary to executable path
sudo mv oxker /usr/local/bin/
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/oxker

Method 2: Installing via Cargo (Rust Package Manager)

If you maintain a local Rust toolchain, install oxker via Cargo:

cargo install oxker

Method 3: Running via Docker Container

You can even run oxker inside an ephemeral container by mounting the local Docker daemon socket:

docker run --rm -it \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro \
  mrjackwills/oxker

Verify that your local binary is ready:

oxker --version

Step 2: Configuring Docker Socket Permissions

oxker interacts directly with the Docker daemon via the UNIX socket at /var/run/docker.sock. If you receive a “permission denied” error when launching oxker, ensure your non-root user account belongs to the docker security group:

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker

Step 3: Navigating the oxker Dashboard

Launch the interactive interface simply by entering:

oxker

The screen divides cleanly into four primary operational panes:

• Containers List (Left Panel): Displays all active and stopped containers, their status (running, exited, paused), container IDs, image tags, and port bindings.
• Resource Usage (Top Right): Shows live graphs plotting real-time CPU percentage and memory consumption for the currently highlighted container.
• Container Logs (Bottom Right): Streams live output logs from the active container with syntax formatting.
• Global Info Bar (Header): Summarises total running containers, image counts, and host Docker engine details.

Essential Keyboard Shortcuts and Container Controls

Operate oxker smoothly using single-character keyboard shortcuts:

• j / k or Down / Up Arrows: Move selection down or up through the container list.
• Tab: Switch keyboard focus between the Container List and the Log Viewer pane.
• Enter: Open detailed container inspection metadata (environment variables, mounted volumes, IP addresses).
• s: Stop the currently selected running container.
• r: Restart the selected container.
• p: Pause or unpause container execution.
• d: Delete (remove) the selected stopped container (prompts for confirmation).
• /: Activate live search filter to isolate containers by name or image string.
• q: Quit oxker and return cleanly to your shell prompt.

Customising oxker Launch Flags

Fine-tune operational behaviour with runtime command-line arguments:

# Launch with a custom poll rate of 1 second (default is 2000 ms)
oxker --poll-rate 1000

# Connect to a remote Docker daemon via TCP or custom socket
oxker --docker-host "tcp://192.168.1.100:2375"