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Repository information

Table of contents

Each repository can include a description, an overview, and categories to help users understand its purpose and usage. Adding clear repository information ensures that others can find your images and use them effectively.

Repository description

The description appears in search results when using the docker search command and in the search results on Docker Hub.

Consider the following repository description best practices.

  • Summarize the purpose. Clearly state what the image does in a concise and specific manner. Make it clear if it's for a particular application, tool, or platform, or has a distinct use case.
  • Highlight key features or benefits. Briefly mention the primary benefits or unique features that differentiate the image. Examples include high performance, ease of use, lightweight build, or compatibility with specific frameworks or operating systems.
  • Include relevant keywords. Use keywords that users may search for to increase visibility, such as technology stacks, use cases, or environments.
  • Keep it concise. The description can be a maximum of 100 characters. Aim to stay within one or two sentences for the description to ensure it's easy to read in search results. Users should quickly understand the image's value.
  • Focus on the audience. Consider your target audience (developers, system administrators, etc.) and write the description to address their needs directly.

Following these practices can help make the description more engaging and effective in search results, driving more relevant traffic to your repository.

Add or update a repository description

  1. Sign in to Docker Hub.

  2. Select Repositories.

    A list of your repositories appears.

  3. Select a repository.

    The General page for the repository appears.

  4. Select the pencil icon under the description field.

  5. Specify a description.

    The description can be up to 100 characters long.

  6. Select Update.

Repository overview

An overview describes what your image does and how to run it. It displays in the public view of your repository when the repository has at least one image. If automated builds are enabled, the overview will be synced from the source code repository's README.md file on each successful build.

Consider the following repository overview best practices.

  • Describe what the image is, the features it offers, and why it should be used. Can include examples of usage or the team behind the project.
  • Explain how to get started with running a container using the image. You can include a minimal example of how to use the image in a Dockerfile.
  • List the key image variants and tags to use them, as well as use cases for the variants.
  • Link to documentation or support sites, communities, or mailing lists for additional resources.
  • Provide contact information for the image maintainers.
  • Include the license for the image and where to find more details if needed.

Add or update a repository overview

  1. Sign in to Docker Hub.

  2. Select Repositories.

    A list of your repositories appears.

  3. Select a repository.

    The General page for the repository appears.

  4. Under Repository overview, select Edit or Add overview.

    The Write and Preview tabs appear.

  5. Under Write, specify your repository overview.

    You can use basic Markdown and use the Preview tab to preview the formatting.

  6. Select Update.

Repository categories

You can tag Docker Hub repositories with categories, representing the primary intended use cases for your images. This lets users more easily find and explore content for the problem domain that they're interested in.

Available categories

The Docker Hub content team maintains a curated list of categories. The available categories are:

  • API Management: Tools for creating, publishing, analyzing, and securing APIs.
  • Content Management System: Software applications to create and manage digital content through templates, procedures, and standard formats.
  • Data Science: Tools and software to support analyzing data and generating actionable insights.
  • Databases & Storage: Systems for storing, retrieving, and managing data.
  • Languages & Frameworks: Programming language runtimes and frameworks.
  • Integrations & Delivery: Tools for Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD).
  • Internet of Things: Tools supporting Internet of Things (IoT) applications.
  • Machine Learning & AI: Tools and frameworks optimized for artificial intelligence and machine learning projects, such as pre-installed libraries and frameworks for data analysis, model training, and deployment.
  • Message Queues: Message queuing systems optimized for reliable, scalable, and efficient message handling.
  • Monitoring & Observability: Tools to track software and system performance through metrics, logs, and traces, as well as observability to explore the system’s state and diagnose issues.
  • Networking: Repositories that support data exchange and connecting computers and other devices to share resources.
  • Operating Systems: Software that manages all other programs on a computer and serves as an intermediary between users and the computer hardware, while overseeing applications and system resources.
  • Security: Tools to protect a computer system or network from theft, unauthorized access, or damage to their hardware, software, or electronic data, as well as from service disruption.
  • Web Servers: Software to serve web pages, HTML files, and other assets to users or other systems.
  • Web Analytics: Tools to collect, measure, analyze, and report on web data and website visitor engagement.

Auto-generated categories

Note

Auto-generated categories only apply to Docker Verified Publishers and Docker-Sponsored Open Source program participants.

For repositories that pre-date the Categories feature in Docker Hub, categories have been automatically generated and applied, using OpenAI, based on the repository title and description.

As an owner of a repository that has been auto-categorized, you can manually edit the categories if you think they're inaccurate. See Manage categories for a repository.

The auto-generated categorization was a one-time effort to help seed categories onto repositories created before the feature existed. Categories are not assigned to new repositories automatically.

Manage categories for a repository

You can tag a repository with up to three categories.

To edit the categories of a repository:

  1. Sign in to Docker Hub.

  2. Select Repositories.

    A list of your repositories appears.

  3. Select a repository.

    The General page for the repository appears.

  4. Select the pencil icon under the description field.

  5. Select the categories you want to apply.

  6. Select Update.

If you're missing a category, use the Give feedback link to let us know what categories you'd like to see.