Docker Prometheus Exporter

This project is similar to prometheus-podman-exporter, but for Docker containers instead of Podman containers. It exports Docker container metrics in Prometheus format.

Grafana dashboard is available at dashboard.json

Exported Metrics

The exporter provides the following metrics:

Metric Name	Type	Description	Labels
docker_exporter_info	Gauge	Information about the docker exporter	version
docker_container_info	Gauge	Container information	container_id, name, image_id, command, network_mode
docker_container_name	Gauge	Name for the container (can be more than one)	container_id, name
docker_container_state	Gauge	Container State (0=created, 1=running, 2=paused, 3=restarting, 4=removing, 5=exited, 6=dead)	container_id
docker_container_created_seconds	Gauge	Timestamp in seconds when the container was created	container_id
docker_container_started_seconds	Gauge	Timestamp in seconds when the container was started	container_id
docker_container_finished_at_seconds	Gauge	Timestamp in seconds when the container finished	container_id
docker_container_ports	Gauge	Forwarded Ports	container_id, public_port, private_port, ip, type
docker_container_rootfs_size_bytes	Gauge	Size of rootfs in this container in bytes	container_id
docker_container_rw_size_bytes	Gauge	Size of files that have been created or changed by this container in bytes	container_id
docker_container_pids	Gauge	Number of processes running in the container	container_id
docker_container_cpu_user_microseconds_total	Counter	Time (in microseconds) spent by tasks in user mode	container_id
docker_container_cpu_kernel_microseconds_total	Counter	Time (in microseconds) spent by tasks in kernel mode	container_id
docker_container_mem_limit_kib	Gauge	Container memory limit in KiB	container_id
docker_container_mem_usage_kib	Gauge	Container memory usage in KiB	container_id
docker_container_net_send_bytes_total	Counter	Total number of bytes sent	container_id
docker_container_net_send_dropped_total	Counter	Total number of send packet drop	container_id
docker_container_net_send_errors_total	Counter	Total number of send errors	container_id
docker_container_net_receive_bytes_total	Counter	Total number of bytes received	container_id
docker_container_net_receive_dropped_total	Counter	Total number of receive packet drop	container_id
docker_container_net_receive_errors_total	Counter	Total number of receive errors	container_id
docker_container_block_input_total	Counter	Total number of bytes read from disk	container_id
docker_container_block_output_total	Counter	Total number of bytes written to disk	container_id
docker_container_exit_code	Gauge	Exit code of the container	container_id
docker_container_restart_count	Counter	Number of times the container has been restarted	container_id

Usage

Running the exporter

# Run with default settings
./docker-exporter

# Run with custom port and address
./docker-exporter --port 9101 --address 127.0.0.1

# Enable verbose logging
./docker-exporter --verbose

# Use JSON log format
./docker-exporter --log-format=json

# Use logfmt log format (default)
./docker-exporter --log-format=logfmt

# Enable internal metrics
./docker-exporter --internal-metrics

Command-line options

Option	Description	Default
--verbose, -v	Enable verbose mode (debug logs)	false
--quiet, -q	Enable quiet mode (disable info logs)	false
--log-format	Log format: 'logfmt', 'json', or 'text'	logfmt
--internal-metrics	Enable internal metrics	false
--address, -a	Address to listen on	0.0.0.0
--port, -p	Port to listen on	9100
--docker-host, -d	Host to connect to	unix:///var/run/docker.sock

Logging

The exporter uses structured logging with support for multiple output formats:

• logfmt (default): Human-readable key-value format, compatible with log aggregation tools like Grafana Alloy
• json: JSON-formatted logs for easy parsing and integration with log processing systems
• text: Alternative name for logfmt format

Logs include contextual information such as container IDs, error details, and operation metadata. Use --verbose to enable debug-level logs with additional details about container operations.

Example logfmt output:

time=2025-12-18T17:12:19.779Z level=INFO msg="Starting Docker Prometheus exporter" version=dev uid=1001 gid=1001 docker_host=unix:///var/run/docker.sock

Example JSON output:

{"time":"2025-12-18T17:12:27.549Z","level":"INFO","msg":"Starting Docker Prometheus exporter","version":"dev","uid":1001,"gid":1001,"docker_host":"unix:///var/run/docker.sock"}

Endpoints

• /metrics - Prometheus metrics endpoint
• /status - Status endpoint

Requirements

• Docker daemon running with access to the Docker socket (/var/run/docker.sock)
• Go 1.24 or higher (for building)

Building from source

go build -o docker-exporter ./cmd/main.go

Develop with air

go install github.com/air-verse/air@latest

air

Run with docker

docker run -d --name docker-exporter -p 9100:9100 -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro ghcr.io/h3rmt/docker-exporter:latest -p 9100

Run with docker-compose

services:
  docker-exporter:
    image: ghcr.io/h3rmt/docker-exporter:latest
    container_name: docker-exporter
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "9100:9100"
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro