Skip to content

feat: add exec command for interactive container terminal access #37

@vuongquocphong

Description

@vuongquocphong

Summary

Add an exec command that allows users to open interactive terminal sessions in running Dokploy containers directly from the CLI — similar to heroku run.

Motivation

Currently, the only way to get terminal access to a running container is through the Dokploy web panel's Terminal tab. There's no CLI equivalent, which makes it difficult to:

  • Run one-off commands like rails c, python manage.py shell, or database migrations
  • Integrate with local development workflows and scripts
  • Provide quick terminal access without opening a browser

This is a commonly expected feature for PaaS CLI tools (Heroku, Fly.io, Railway all support it).

Proposed solution

A new hand-authored command (src/commands/exec.ts) that:

  1. Resolves the service name to a running container via the existing Dokploy API (project.allapplication.onedocker.getContainersByAppLabel)
  2. Connects via WebSocket to the /docker-container-terminal endpoint (the same protocol the web panel uses)
  3. Pipes raw stdin/stdout for an interactive terminal session

Usage

# Interactive shell
dokploy exec --app Web

# Run a command
dokploy exec --app Web rails c

# Disambiguate across projects/environments
dokploy exec --project "My Project" --env staging --app Web rails c

Supported service types

Works with all Dokploy service types: applications, redis, postgres, mongo, mysql, mariadb, and compose.

Authentication

Uses the existing x-api-key authentication — no SSH access to the server required. Teammates only need a Dokploy API key.

Implementation

I have a working implementation ready to submit as a PR. It adds:

  • src/commands/exec.ts — the new command
  • ws dependency — for WebSocket client
  • Updated README with usage docs

Happy to adjust the implementation based on feedback.

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

No one assigned

    Labels

    No labels
    No labels

    Type

    No type

    Projects

    No projects

    Milestone

    No milestone

    Relationships

    None yet

    Development

    No branches or pull requests

    Issue actions