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How To Avoid Using sudo with Docker

Introduction​

It's common to have to run Docker commands with sudo on a fresh Ubuntu install. The easiest and most recommended way to avoid this is to add your user to the docker group.

Step 1 - Add Your User to the docker Group​

Run the following command in your terminal, replacing YOUR_USERNAME with your actual username (you can use the $USER variable, which automatically holds your current username, as shown):

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

  • sudo: Executes the command with superuser privileges (required for this operation).

  • usermod: The command for modifying a user account.

  • -aG: An option that means "append" (-a) the user to the specified "group" (-G).

  • docker: The name of the group you are adding your user to.

  • $USER: An environment variable representing your current logged-in user.

Step 2 - Activate the Changes​

For the group changes to take effect, you need to either log out and log back in or restart your session.

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