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wtf is container-explorer?

yeet-src/container-explorer — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

68JavaScriptAudience · ops devopsComplexity · 2/5LicenseSetup · easy

TL;DR

Container Explorer is a terminal tool that shows a live, drill-down view of every running Docker container, its stats, processes, and logs in one screen.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((Container Explorer))
    What it does
      Live Docker container table
      Drill-down container detail
      Streaming log tail
    Tech stack
      JavaScript
      Docker daemon
      GraphQL queries
    Use cases
      Watch CPU and memory live
      Inspect running processes
      Debug crash loops
    Audience
      DevOps engineers
      Docker users

Code map

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filefunction / class

Why would anyone build with this?

REASON 1

Watch live CPU, memory and network usage for a specific running container.

REASON 2

See the real processes running inside a container without separate inspect commands.

REASON 3

Debug a crashing container by viewing its status, restart count and logs on one screen.

REASON 4

Review a container's networks, ports and mounted volumes in a single view.

What's in the stack?

JavaScriptDockerGraphQL

How it stacks up

yeet-src/container-explorerbotpress/solutionsmourner/icomesh
Stars686868
LanguageJavaScriptJavaScriptJavaScript
Last pushed2024-09-032019-09-27
MaintenanceStaleDormant
Setup difficultyeasymoderateeasy
Complexity2/52/52/5
Audienceops devopsdeveloperdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you spin it up?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Linux only, and Docker must already be running and reachable on the machine.

You can use and modify this freely, but if you distribute it or a modified version, you must also share the source code under the same license.

Wtf does this do

Container Explorer is a terminal tool for anyone who manages Docker containers and is tired of switching between separate commands to check what is running, how much memory something is using, and what its logs say. Normally you would run one command to list containers, another to see their stats, and another to tail their logs, then piece the results together in your head. This tool puts all of that into a single, constantly updating screen instead. Open it and you see a live table of every container running on the machine, showing its name, image, how long it has been up, and its current status. Selecting a container and pressing enter opens a detailed view with several sections: live charts of CPU, memory and network use, the container's attached networks and ports, its file mounts, the actual processes running inside it, and a log tail that follows new output as it happens. Because it matches host processes to the right container directly, you see the real running processes instead of a guess. To be efficient about it, only the container you currently have open on screen gets closely polled for detailed information. The rest of the containers in the list are refreshed with a much lighter, cheaper check every couple of seconds, so having many containers running does not slow things down or hammer the Docker daemon. Common situations this helps with include figuring out which container is using too much CPU or memory, checking what is actually running inside a container during a crash, and reviewing a container's network setup without running several separate inspect commands. Getting started is a single install command followed by one command to run the tool, and it works entirely with the keyboard and mouse with no configuration flags to learn. It currently only works on Linux and requires Docker to already be running on the machine. It is released under the GPL-2.0 license.

Yoink these prompts

Prompt 1
Show me how to install and run container-explorer using the yeet command.
Prompt 2
Explain what each pane in container-explorer's detail view (overview, networking, processes) shows.
Prompt 3
Help me use container-explorer to find which container is using the most CPU.
Prompt 4
Explain how container-explorer avoids polling containers that are not currently open.

Frequently asked questions

wtf is container-explorer?

Container Explorer is a terminal tool that shows a live, drill-down view of every running Docker container, its stats, processes, and logs in one screen.

What language is container-explorer written in?

Mainly JavaScript. The stack also includes JavaScript, Docker, GraphQL.

What license does container-explorer use?

You can use and modify this freely, but if you distribute it or a modified version, you must also share the source code under the same license.

How hard is container-explorer to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is container-explorer for?

Mainly ops devops.

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