Docker takes a conservative approach to cleaning up unused objects (often referred to as "garbage collection"), such as images, containers, volumes, networks, and build cache. These objects are generally not removed unless you explicitly ask Docker to do so. This can cause Docker to use extra disk space. For each type of object, Docker provides a prune command. In addition, you can use docker system prune to clean up multiple types of objects at once (including unused build cache). This topic shows how to use these prune commands.

The docker image prune command allows you to clean up unused images. By default, docker image prune only cleans up dangling images. A dangling image is one that isn't tagged, and isn't referenced by any container. To remove dangling images:

To remove all images which aren't used by existing containers, use the -a flag:

By default, you are prompted to continue. To bypass the prompt, use the -f or --force flag.

You can limit which images are pruned using filtering expressions with the --filter flag. For example, to only consider images created more than 24 hours ago:

Other filtering expressions are available. See the docker image prune reference for more examples.

When you stop a container, it isn't automatically removed unless you started it with the --rm flag. To see all containers on the Docker host, including stopped containers, use docker ps -a. You may be surprised how many containers exist, especially on a development system! A stopped container's writable layers still take up disk space. To clean this up, you can use the docker container prune command.

By default, you're prompted to continue. To bypass the prompt, use the -f or --force flag.

By default, all stopped containers are removed. You can limit the scope using the --filter flag. For instance, the following command only removes stopped containers older than 24 hours:

Other filtering expressions are available. See the docker container prune reference for more examples.

Volumes can be used by one or more containers, and take up space on the Docker host. Volumes are never removed automatically, because to do so could destroy data.

By default, you are prompted to continue. To bypass the prompt, use the -f or --force flag.

By default, only anonymous unused volumes are removed. Named volumes that aren't attached to a container are left alone unless you pass --all / -a. You can also limit the scope with the --filter flag. For instance, the following command only removes volumes which aren't labelled with the keep label:

Other filtering expressions are available. See the docker volume prune reference for more examples.

Docker networks don't take up much disk space, but they do create iptables rules, bridge network devices, and routing table entries. To clean these things up, you can use docker network prune to clean up networks which aren't used by any containers.

By default, you're prompted to continue. To bypass the prompt, use the -f or --force flag.

By default, all unused networks are removed. You can limit the scope using the --filter flag. For instance, the following command only removes networks older than 24 hours:

Other filtering expressions are available. See the docker network prune reference for more examples.

docker buildx prune removes the build cache for the currently selected builder. If you use multiple builders, each builder maintains its own cache — use the --builder flag to target a specific builder instance.

By default, you're prompted to continue. To bypass the prompt, use the -f or --force flag.

See the docker buildx prune reference for all options, including --all to also remove internal and frontend images.

The docker system prune command is a shortcut that prunes images, containers, networks, and unused build cache (including BuildKit cache mounts). Volumes aren't pruned by default. Add --volumes to also remove unused anonymous volumes. Named unused volumes are left alone; use docker volume prune --all if you intend to delete those too.

To also prune unused anonymous volumes, add the --volumes flag:

By default, you're prompted to continue. To bypass the prompt, use the -f or --force flag.

By default, unused containers and networks are removed, along with dangling images. Unused tagged images are kept unless you also pass -a / --all. You can further limit the scope with the --filter flag. For instance, the following command removes items older than 24 hours:

Other filtering expressions are available. See the docker system prune reference for more examples.