Docker Container Exits Immediately? Here's the Fix

Docker Container Exits Immediately? Here's the Fix You've just run docker run and—nothing. The container starts, runs for a split second, and exits with code 0. What happened? This is one of the most common Docker frustrations, especially for developers new to containerization. The good news? It's usually easy to fix once you understand what's happening. Why Your Container Keeps Stopping Here's the fundamental rule: A Docker container lives only as long as its primary process (PID 1). When that process completes or crashes, the container stops. This is by design—containers aren't virtual machines. They're isolated processes with their own filesystem. Common causes: Short-lived commands — Running a script that finishes immediately Background processes — Starting a daemon that daemonizes itself (like nginx or redis-server ) Crashes — The application encounters an error and exits Missing arguments — The container expects runtime arguments you didn't provide Let's walk through diagnosing a