Configure Docker Offload

Table of contents
Availability: Early Access
Requires: Docker Desktop 4.50 and later

You can configure Docker Offload settings at different levels depending on your role. Organization owners can manage settings for all users in their organization, while individual developers can configure their own Docker Desktop settings when allowed by their organization.

Manage settings for your organization

For organization owners, you can manage Docker Offload settings for all users in your organization. For more details, see Manage Docker products. To view usage and configure billing for Docker Offload, see Docker Offload usage and billing.

Configure settings in Docker Desktop

For developers, you can manage Docker Offload settings in Docker Desktop. To manage settings:

  1. Open the Docker Desktop Dashboard and sign in.

  2. Select the settings icon in the Docker Desktop Dashboard header.

  3. In Settings, select Docker Offload.

    Here you can:

    • Toggle Enable Docker Offload. When enabled, you can start Offload sessions.
    • Select Idle timeout. This is the duration of time between no activity and Docker Offload entering idle mode. For details about idle timeout, see Understand active and idle states.

Understand active and idle states

Docker Offload automatically transitions between active and idle states to help you control costs while maintaining a seamless development experience.

When your session is active

Your Docker Offload environment is active when you're building images, running containers, or actively interacting with them, such as viewing logs or maintaining an open network connection. During active state:

  • Usage is charged
  • A remote Docker Engine is connected to your local machine
  • All container operations execute in the cloud environment

When your session is idle

When there's no activity, Docker Offload transitions to idle state. During idle state:

  • You are not charged for usage
  • The remote connection is suspended
  • No containers are running in the cloud

The idle transition delay can be configured in Docker Desktop settings, ranging from 10 seconds to 1 hour. This setting determines how long Docker Offload waits after detecting inactivity before transitioning to idle state.

How your session is preserved

If your session has been idle for less than 5 minutes and you resume activity, your previous containers and images are preserved and remain available. This allows you to pick up right where you left off.

However, if the idle period exceeds 5 minutes, a new session starts with a clean environment and any containers, images, or volumes from the previous session are deleted.

Note

Transitioning from active to idle and back to active within 5 minutes will be charged as continuous usage.