Oops, I messed up everything, How do I reset my Docker?

We have all been there. Working on a new platform and trying out some random github that looks cool, and you installed too many things and make a whole mess. Sometimes you just need to nuke it all and start over.

This is my notes transcribed into a guide on how to reset docker and start fresh.

To completely remove all Docker containers, networks, volumes, and images, effectively resetting your Docker environment to a clean slate, you can use the following commands:

1. Stop and remove all containers:

First, stop all running containers:

docker stop $(docker ps -aq)

Then, remove all containers (stopped and running):

docker rm $(docker ps -aq)

2. Remove all Docker networks:

Docker usually doesn’t remove the default networks (bridge, none, host). You can remove all user-defined networks with:

docker network rm $(docker network ls -q)

3. Remove all volumes:

Volumes store persistent data for containers, so removing them will delete that data. To remove all volumes:

docker volume rm $(docker volume ls -q)

4. Remove all images:

If you also want to remove all Docker images (including both dangling and unused images):

docker rmi $(docker images -q)

5. Prune everything (Optional):

For an even more aggressive cleanup, you can use the prune commands. This will remove unused containers, networks, volumes, and images that are not associated with a running container.

Remove all stopped containers, unused networks, volumes, and dangling images:

docker system prune -a --volumes

This set of commands will effectively clean up everything in your Docker environment, allowing you to start fresh.