Installing Kitematic

Although you can use the Docker CLI in your OS X terminal window, and probably will do so for most of your Docker development work, you have the option of using a graphical UI tool called Kitematic instead. To install Kitematic, right-click on the whale icon in the OS X menu-notification area to open the Docker for Mac menu. Click on the Kitematic menu option to download (and later to run) the Kitematic application. If you have not yet installed Kitematic, when you click on the Docker for Mac menu for it, you will be shown a message that includes a download link. The message also reminds you that you must install Kitematic into your Applications folder to enable Docker menu-integration. Click the here link to download the Kitematic application:

Once the download completes, move the downloaded application into your Applications folder, as directed earlier. Then, using the Docker for Mac menu, click on the Kitematic menu option again. This time it will run the Kitematic application. The first time you run the application, you will get the standard warning that you are running something that has been downloaded from the internet, asking if you really want to open it. Click on the Open button to do so.

Once you have Kitematic installed on your Mac workstation, you can click the Docker whale icon in the menu bar notifications area and select the Kitematic option again.

You will be prompted to enter your Docker credentials to connect Kitematic to Docker Hub. You can skip this step, but it is my recommendation that you go ahead and log in now. Once you log in (or skip the login step), you will see the Kitematic user interface. This allows you to download and run Docker containers on your workstation. Go ahead and try one, such as the hello-world-nginx container, or if you want to play a game, try the Minecraft container.

Congratulations! You are now set up to use both the Docker CLI and the Kitematic graphical UI to run your Docker containers and manage your Docker images. However, you will do your Docker image creation using the OS X terminal and your favorite code editor.