kind (Kubernetes in Docker)
Accelerating cloud-native AI development with local multi-node Kubernetes clusters in Docker.

The industry-standard GUI for containerized development and local orchestration.
Docker Desktop is the essential local development environment for building, sharing, and running containerized applications. In 2026, it serves as the critical bridge between local AI model development and cloud-scale deployment, integrating deeply with Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL 2) and macOS's Virtualization.framework. Its architecture leverages a lightweight virtual machine to provide a consistent Linux kernel environment across OS platforms, ensuring that 'it works on my machine' translates perfectly to production. For the 2026 market, Docker Desktop has pivoted heavily toward AI/ML readiness, featuring pre-configured GPU passthrough for local LLM inference and deep integration with Docker Scout for software supply chain security. It includes Docker Engine, Docker CLI, Docker Compose, and a single-node Kubernetes cluster. The platform's strategic position in 2026 focuses on reducing the inner-loop development time for cloud-native applications while enforcing enterprise security standards through centralized management. Its extension marketplace allows for a modular experience, integrating with security scanners, cloud providers, and observability tools directly into the developer's local workflow.
A modular SDK allowing third-party tools (Snyk, New Relic, etc.) to integrate directly into the Docker Desktop dashboard.
Verified feedback from the global deployment network.
Post queries, share implementation strategies, and help other users.
Real-time supply chain security analysis that scans images for vulnerabilities and suggests remediation steps based on policy.
Next-generation build engine with parallel stage execution and sophisticated caching mechanisms.
High-performance file sharing for macOS that reduces overhead when syncing large source code volumes.
Native support for NVIDIA GPUs via WSL2/NVIDIA Container Toolkit within the GUI.
Enables sharing of running code and its dependencies with team members via Git integration.
Enterprise-grade security features including image signature verification and network proxy configuration.
Complex apps with 10+ services are hard to run locally.
Registry Updated:2/7/2026
Developers need to test AI models without incurring cloud costs.
Images often contain outdated libraries with CVEs.