Using Docker

Any Docker client that speaks npipe:// works: the docker.exe from docker.com, scoop install docker, VS Code's Docker extension (set its host), and Compose.

No flags needed on most machines: while dockup runs, it also serves the default docker_engine pipe, so plain docker ps just works. (If Docker Desktop is running and holds that name, keep using -H / DOCKER_HOST below.)

Connection strings

Bridge	Address
Named pipe (always on)	npipe:////./pipe/dockup_engine
TCP (opt-in, see Configuration)	tcp://127.0.0.1:2375 (or your custom port)

Note

The pipe is dockup_engine, not docker_engine — that name belongs to Docker Desktop, and dockup deliberately avoids hijacking it.

Everyday commands

$env:DOCKER_HOST = 'npipe:////./pipe/dockup_engine'

docker run --rm hello-world
docker run -it --rm debian:bookworm bash
docker exec -it <container> sh
docker logs -f <container>

Compose

With the Compose plugin:

docker compose up --abort-on-container-exit
docker compose down

The classic docker-compose binary works too — just export DOCKER_HOST first so it finds the bridge.

What "native" means here

The bridge is a raw byte-copy per connection straight into the in-distro engine socket, so HTTP-hijacked streams (run -it, exec, logs -f, attach) behave exactly like a local daemon. There is no protocol parsing in the middle to break them — including terminal resize, which is just another API call multiplexed over the same stream.