Is it possible to install only the docker cli and not the daemon

Question

I want to have docker CLI to connect to remote daemon but do I need to install the whole engine including daemon on the local machine?

Answer 1

If you are on Windows, you can download an up-to-date build of Docker CLI from here:

StefanScherer/docker-cli-builder

And point to a remote Docker Daemon by setting DOCKER_HOST environment variable:

$env:DOCKER_HOST = 'tcp://X.X.X.X:2375'

Please note that, in order for this to work, the Docker Daemon must be configured to expose its API over TCP. This can be done in daemon.json file:

{
    "hosts": ["unix:///var/run/docker.sock", "tcp://0.0.0.0:2375"]
}