Claude Code in Docker

How to run Claude Code inside Docker containers — for reproducible dev environments, remote servers, CI pipelines, and sandboxed agentic workloads. Full Dockerfile and docker-compose examples.

Running Claude Code inside Docker gives you a reproducible, sandboxed environment that works the same on any machine, CI system, or remote server. Here's the complete setup.

Minimal Dockerfile

FROM node:20-slim

# Install Claude Code globally
RUN npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

# Optional: install common dev tools Claude Code might invoke
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y     git     python3     python3-pip     curl     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

WORKDIR /workspace

# API key injected at runtime — never bake it in
ENV ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=""

# Default to headless mode
CMD ["claude", "--print", "Help available — pass a prompt as CMD"]

Build and run

# Build the image
docker build -t claude-code-env .

# Run against a local project (interactive)
docker run -it   -e ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=$ANTHROPIC_API_KEY   -v $(pwd):/workspace   claude-code-env   claude

# Run headless (non-interactive, for CI or scripting)
docker run --rm   -e ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=$ANTHROPIC_API_KEY   -v $(pwd):/workspace   claude-code-env   claude --print "Fix the type errors in src/api.ts"

docker-compose for dev teams

# docker-compose.yml
version: "3.9"
services:
  claude:
    build: .
    volumes:
      - .:/workspace          # mount current project
      - ~/.gitconfig:/root/.gitconfig:ro  # share git identity
    environment:
      - ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=${ANTHROPIC_API_KEY}
    stdin_open: true
    tty: true
    working_dir: /workspace

# Start an interactive Claude Code session in the container
docker-compose run --rm claude claude

# Run a one-shot command
docker-compose run --rm claude claude --print "Summarize the git log since yesterday"

Remote server setup (SSH + Docker)

For access to a powerful cloud VM from your laptop:

# On the remote server: install Docker, build the image, start a named container
ssh user@remote-server

docker build -t claude-code-env .
docker run -d --name claude-session   -e ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=$ANTHROPIC_API_KEY   -v /home/user/projects:/workspace   -it   claude-code-env   /bin/bash

# Reconnect to the running session any time
docker exec -it claude-session claude

Security sandboxing

Running Claude Code inside Docker restricts what it can access:

# Read-only source, writable output dir only
docker run --rm   -e ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=$ANTHROPIC_API_KEY   -v $(pwd)/src:/workspace/src:ro      # source read-only
  -v $(pwd)/output:/workspace/output   # Claude writes here only
  --network=none                       # no internet except via host proxy
  --memory=2g                          # memory cap
  --cpus=2                             # CPU cap
  claude-code-env   claude --print "Analyze the code in /workspace/src and write a report to /workspace/output/report.md"

CI/CD integration (GitHub Actions)

# .github/workflows/claude-review.yml
name: Claude Code PR Review
on:
  pull_request:

jobs:
  review:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Run Claude Code review
        env:
          ANTHROPIC_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY }}
        run: |
          docker run --rm \
            -e ANTHROPIC_API_KEY \
            -v ${{ github.workspace }}:/workspace \
            ghcr.io/myorg/claude-code-env:latest \
            claude --print "Review the diff against main. List: missing tests, security issues, breaking API changes."

Dockerfile for Python-heavy projects

FROM python:3.12-slim

RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y     curl gnupg nodejs npm git     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

RUN npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

# Project dependencies pre-installed for faster Claude Code iterations
COPY requirements.txt /tmp/
RUN pip install -r /tmp/requirements.txt

WORKDIR /workspace
ENV ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=""

For using AWS Bedrock as the model backend (keeps traffic in your VPC), see Claude Code on AWS Bedrock. For running automated agentic pipelines without Docker, see Claude Code headless mode.

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