Remote Docker on NAS

Overview

Run Docker on a remote NAS/server controlled from your laptop via SSH — no local Docker daemon needed. Uses crane (~11MB) to pull images as tarballs and DOCKER_HOST=ssh:// to send commands to the remote daemon.

Architecture

Laptop (control plane)                NAS/Server (execution)
──────────────────────                ────────────────────────
docker-compose.yml (local)            Docker daemon
Makefile (local)              ──SSH──▶ Containers run here
source code (local)                   Data stored here
crane pull → .tar (local)             docker load → images here

Prerequisites