Cannot connect to the Docker daemon on macOS

On a supported Mac, run:

brew install --cask docker

Then launch the Docker app. Click next. It will ask for privileged access. Confirm. A whale icon should appear in the top bar. Click it and wait for "Docker is running" to appear.

You should be able to run docker commands now:

docker ps

Because docker is a system-level package, you cannot install it using brew install, and must use --cask instead.

Note: This solution only works for Macs whose CPUs support virtualization, which may not include old Macs.

Edit 2022 - It was brought up in the comments section that there has been a licensing change for Docker Desktop. Please consider alternatives below, and check the comments for details.

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On macOS the docker binary is only a client and you cannot use it to run the docker daemon, because Docker daemon uses Linux-specific kernel features, therefore you can’t run Docker natively in OS X. So you have to install docker-machine in order to create VM and attach to it.

Install docker-machine on macOS

If you don't have docker-machine command yet, install it by using one of the following methods:

Using Brew command: brew install docker-machine docker.

Manually from Releases page: $ curl -L https://github.com/docker/machine/releases/download/v0.16.1/docker-machine-`uname -s`-`uname -m` >/usr/local/bin/docker-machine $ chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-machine

See: Get started with Docker for Mac.

Install Virtualbox

docker-machine relies on VirtualBox being installed and will fail if this isn't the case. If you already have VirtualBox, you can skip this step.

Using Homebrew: brew install --cask virtualbox

Manually using the releases on Virtualbox.org

You will need to actively accept loading the Virtualbox kernel extension in the OS X Security panel and then proceed to restart the machine for the next commands not to fail with Error: VBoxNetAdpCtl: Error while adding new interface

Configure docker-machine on macOS

Create a default machine (if you don't have one, see: docker-machine ls):

docker-machine create --driver virtualbox default

Then set-up the environment for the Docker client:

eval "$(docker-machine env default)"

Then double-check by listing containers:

docker ps

See: Get started with Docker Machine and a local VM.

Related:

Brew install docker does not include docker engine?

For Linux, see: Docker can't connect to docker daemon

For Windows, see: Docker warning: failed to get default registry endpoint from daemon

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I had this same issue I solved it in the following steps:

docker-machine restart

Quit terminal (or iTerm2, etc, etc) and restart

eval $(docker-machine env default)

I also answered it here

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I have Mac OS and I open Launchpad and select docker application. from reset tab click on restart.

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Try this to create default.

docker-machine create default

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on OSX assure you have launched the Docker application before issuing

docker ps

or docker build ... etc ... yes it seems strange and somewhat misleading that issuing

docker --version

gives version even though the docker daemon is not running ... ditto for those other version cmds ... I just encountered exactly the same symptoms ... this behavior on OSX is different from on linux

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This problem:

$ brew install docker docker-machine
$ docker ps

Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///var/run/docker.sock. Is the docker daemon running?

This apparently meant do the following:

$ docker-machine create default # default driver is apparently vbox:
Running pre-create checks...
Error with pre-create check: "VBoxManage not found. Make sure VirtualBox is installed and VBoxManage is in the path"
$  brew cask install virtualbox
…
$ docker-machine create default 
# works this time
$ docker ps
Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///var/run/docker.sock. Is the docker daemon running?
$ eval "$(docker-machine env default)"
$ docker ps
CONTAINER ID        IMAGE               COMMAND             CREATED             STATUS              PORTS               NAMES

It finally works.

You can use the “xhyve” driver if you don’t want to install virtual box. Also you can install the “docker app” (then run it) which apparently makes it so you don’t have to run some of the above. brew cask install docker then run the app, see the other answers. But apparently isn't necessary per se.

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I had docker up to date, docker said it was running, and the diagnosis was good. I needed to unset some legacy environment variable (thanks https://docs.docker.com/docker-for-mac/troubleshoot/#workarounds-for-common-problems )

unset DOCKER_HOST
unset DOCKER_CERT_PATH
unset DOCKER_TLS_VERIFY

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Install minikube and come join the dark side.

https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/install-minikube/

$ bash --version
GNU bash, version 5.0.3(1)-release (x86_64-apple-darwin18.2.0)
Copyright (C) 2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>

eval $(minikube docker-env)

$ docker run --rm -v ${PWD}:/local swaggerapi/swagger-codegen-cli generate     -i /local/swagger.json     -l python     -o /local/test/
[main] INFO io.swagger.parser.Swagger20Parser - reading from /local/swagger.json
[main] WARN io.swagger.codegen.DefaultGenerator - 'host' not defined in the spec. Default to 'localhost'.

Works great on Macbook Pro 2018 with bash v5. No need to install all the other docker nonsense these days IMO. The VM and install script that comes with minikube can replace docker machine from my experience.

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I had the same problem. Docker running but couldn't access it through CLI.

For me the problem was solved by executing "Docker Quickstart Terminal.app". This is located in the "/Applications/Docker/" folder. As long as I work in this instance of the Terminal app Docker works perfectly. If a second window is needed I have to run the "Quickstart" app once more.

I have a Docker for Mac installation. Therefore I am not sure if my solution is valid for a Homebrew installation.

The "Docker Quickstart Terminal" app seems to be essentially some applescripts to launch the terminal app and a bash start script that initialise all the necessary environment variables.

Hope this helps someone else !

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You should execute script for install docker and launch it from command line:

brew install --cask docker
sudo -H pip3 install --upgrade pip3
open -a Docker
docker-compose ... 

after that docker-compose should work

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This did the trick for me:

open --background -a Docker

Takes some seconds until you can connect to docker.

I am on a Mac OS Big Sur.

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I was facing similar issue on my mac, and I found that docker wasn't running in my machine, I just went to applications and invoked whale and then it worked .

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Just opening Docker Desktop worked for me.

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I first tried docker and docker-compose via homebrew, but it had the problem listed here. I had to install docker's official install from https://docs.docker.com/docker-for-mac/install/ and then everything worked as expected.

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i simply had to run spotlight search and execute the Docker application under /Applications folder which brew cask install created. Once this was run it asked to complete installation. I was then able to run docker ps

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Tried the following and its working fine now

$ docker-machine create default

(default) Creating VirtualBox VM...
(default) Creating SSH key...
(default) Starting the VM...
(default) Check network to re-create if needed...
(default) Found a new host-only adapter: "vboxnet0"
(default) Waiting for an IP...
Waiting for machine to be running, this may take a few minutes...
Detecting operating system of created instance...
Waiting for SSH to be available...
Detecting the provisioner...
Provisioning with boot2docker...
Copying certs to the local machine directory...
Copying certs to the remote machine...
Setting Docker configuration on the remote daemon...
Checking connection to Docker...
Docker is up and running!

Then

$ docker-machine env default

Finally

$ eval $(docker-machine env default)
$ docker ps
CONTAINER ID   IMAGE     COMMAND   CREATED   STATUS    PORTS     NAMES

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Docker was designed to run on Linux. It can, however, run in a VM on macOS. To do so is a bit of a kludge and that's perhaps why Docker Desktop exists in the first place. But that doesn't mean you can't enjoy using Docker from the comfort of the command line on a Mac.

Some options to consider:

You could use lima and add an alias doocker='lima nerdctl' to your bash profile. You could install a Linux VM on your machine and use it instead (not recommended). Dual-boot Linux on Mac. Even machines with the T2 and M1 chips are supported now.

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With the updated version of VirtualBox (6.1.32r149290), the command docker-machine create --driver virtualbox default doesn't work, there is an error with auto-generated IP for the Virtual VM, explanation is here https://stackoverflow.com/a/69745931/2917630 .

This command helped me to resolve the issue: docker-machine create --driver virtualbox --virtualbox-hostonly-cidr "192.168.59.3/24" default.

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Try:

brew install --cask docker

Then launch the Docker app. Click next. It will ask for privileged access. Confirm. A whale icon should appear in the top bar. Click it and wait for "Docker is running" to appear.

You should be able to run docker commands now:

docker ps

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I run brew install docker-machine; then the problem is solved. The latest docker version does not have docker-machine included.

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Docker Toolbox and Docker Machine have both been deprecated. Docker Desktop is the officially recommended replacement.

Original Answer I found that Docker Toolbox is available via brew/cask

Install Homebrew

ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

Install Cask

brew install caskroom/cask/brew-cask

Install docker toolbox

brew cask install docker-toolbox

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installing docker-machine was enough for me to solve the problem.

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