For an existing standalone container, run docker update --restart=<policy> <container>. The change takes effect immediately. Use no, on-failure[:max-retries], always, or unless-stopped according to how the process should behave after exits, manual stops, and Docker daemon restarts.
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Change the policy on an existing container
The --restart setting belongs to the container, so you can change it without deleting and recreating a container created with docker run. Replace the example name with a container name or ID.
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List running and stopped containers so you can identify the target:
docker ps -aThe NAMES and CONTAINER ID columns provide the values accepted by docker update. Include -a; a stopped container will not appear in the default docker ps output.
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2. Apply the new policy
Run the update command with the policy you want:
docker update --restart=on-failure:3 my-appThe equivalent long command is:
docker container update --restart=on-failure:3 my-appDocker documents that the new policy takes effect instantly after docker update runs. You do not need to recreate the container merely to change this setting.
3. Verify the setting and runtime state
Inspect the container and review its process state:
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docker ps -aIn the inspection output, the restart-policy configuration is recorded with the container. The state section includes RestartCount, which records attempted automatic restarts, and StartedAt, which records the most recent start time. The second command shows whether the container is currently running or exited.
A policy change does not guarantee that a container stopped manually will start at that moment. Docker suppresses policy-driven restarting after a manual stop until the daemon restarts or you start the container yourself. If you intentionally stopped it, use:
docker start my-appChoose the right restart policy
Docker’s standalone-container policies differ in which exits trigger a restart, whether attempts can be bounded, and how a manual stop interacts with a later daemon restart.
| Policy | Restart trigger | Retry limit | Manual stop | Docker daemon restart |
|---|---|---|---|---|
no |
No automatic restart, including after a process exits. | None. | The container remains stopped. | It is not configured for automatic restarting. |
on-failure |
Restarts when the container process exits with a non-zero status. | Unlimited unless written as on-failure:<max-retries>. |
A manually stopped container is not immediately restarted. | Daemon-restart behavior is not stated in the cited Docker guidance. |
always |
Restarts whenever the container stops, regardless of whether the process returned zero or non-zero. | Unlimited. | Docker suppresses the policy after a manual stop until the daemon restarts or the container is manually started. | A container stopped manually can be started when the daemon restarts, according to Docker’s documented behavior. |
unless-stopped |
Restarts whenever the container stops, regardless of exit status. | Unlimited. | The manual-stop state is retained. | A manually stopped container remains stopped after the daemon restarts. |
no: leave recovery to an operator
no is Docker’s default. It is appropriate when an exit should remain visible for investigation, when another supervisor owns the lifecycle, or when the container is intentionally short-lived. Set it explicitly on an existing container with:
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docker update --restart=no my-appWith this policy, an exited process stays exited until someone runs docker start or another tool starts the container.
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on-failure: recover from errors, not clean exits
Use on-failure when a non-zero exit indicates a fault and a clean zero exit should be treated as complete. Without a suffix, Docker can keep attempting restarts:
docker update --restart=on-failure my-workerAdd a positive retry count when repeated failures should stop:
docker update --restart=on-failure:3 my-workerThat example permits up to three policy-driven restart attempts after failure. It does not turn a normal zero exit into a restart. A bounded policy is useful for a job that may recover from a transient fault but should eventually remain stopped for diagnosis.
always: keep the container running
always tells Docker to restart the container whenever it stops, including after a successful zero exit. Configure it with:
docker update --restart=always my-appThere is an important exception to the simple “always” wording: Docker recognizes a deliberate docker stop. The policy does not immediately undo that action. If the daemon later restarts, Docker’s documented behavior allows an always-managed container to start again.
unless-stopped: persist an intentional shutdown
unless-stopped behaves like always for unexpected exits but remembers that an operator stopped the container:
docker update --restart=unless-stopped my-appAfter a manual stop, the container remains stopped even when the Docker daemon restarts. This is often the safer choice for services that should recover from crashes but must stay down after an administrator has deliberately taken them offline.
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How Docker spaces out restart attempts
Automatic restarting is not a tight, zero-delay loop. Docker documents an increasing backoff between attempts. The initial delay is 100 milliseconds; each subsequent failure doubles the delay until it reaches a maximum of one minute. These are Docker-documented runtime values, not an independent benchmark.
If the container runs successfully for at least 10 seconds, Docker considers that run successful and resets the backoff. A later failure therefore starts again at the initial delay rather than inheriting the previous long pause.
These timings matter when diagnosing a service that appears to be starting and stopping. Check docker ps -a repeatedly, then inspect RestartCount and StartedAt to distinguish a slow backoff from a container that never received the new policy.
Set a policy when creating a container
For a new standalone container, put the policy on the docker run command:
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Do not combine --rm with the expectation of a persistent restart policy. A container created with --rm is automatically removed when it exits, while a restart policy requires a persistent container to start again. Docker does not allow the restart policy to be updated on a --rm container.
Change the policy for a Docker Compose service
Compose stores the policy in the service definition rather than as a one-off command on an individual container. Add a service-level restart key to compose.yml:
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services:
app:
image: example/app:latest
restart: unless-stoppedThe service-level key accepts no, always, on-failure[:max-retries], and unless-stopped. For example, a bounded failure policy is written as:
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services:
worker:
image: example/worker:latest
restart: "on-failure:3"Quoting the value makes the colon unambiguous in YAML.
Apply an edited Compose file
After changing compose.yml, use a configuration operation such as:
docker compose up -dCompose compares the declared configuration with the project and applies the change. Do not use docker compose restart as a way to load an edited YAML file. Docker explicitly notes that compose restart does not reflect configuration changes, including environment changes. It restarts containers with the configuration already applied to them rather than reconciling the edited file.
Once up -d has completed, inspect the resulting container if you need to confirm the effective policy, and use docker compose ps or docker ps -a to check whether the service is running.
Compose deployments that use deploy.restart_policy
Some Compose deployments use the deploy specification. In that model, restart controls are expressed under deploy.restart_policy, not the ordinary service-level restart key:
services:
app:
image: example/app:latest
deploy:
restart_policy:
condition: on-failure
delay: 5s
max_attempts: 3
window: 60sThe deploy form can express a condition (none, on-failure, or any), a delay between attempts, a maximum attempt count, and an evaluation window. Its effect depends on the deployment target supporting the deploy specification. Treat it as a separate control from the service-level restart setting; do not assume that changing one changes the other.
Change restart behavior for a Swarm service
A Swarm service is managed by the service scheduler, so the standalone-container command is not the right interface. Use docker service update and its Swarm-specific restart flags:
docker service update
--restart-condition on-failure
--restart-max-attempts 3
my-serviceSwarm exposes four relevant controls:
--restart-conditionselectsnone,on-failure, orany.--restart-delaysets the delay between restart attempts.--restart-max-attemptsbounds the number of attempts.--restart-windowdefines the evaluation window used by the scheduler.
Use the standalone workflow for a container launched with docker run, the service-level Compose workflow for a Compose project, and the service-update workflow for a Swarm service. Mixing these command families is a common reason a policy appears not to change.
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Troubleshoot a policy that appears not to work
The container was stopped manually
A manual stop is treated differently from a crash. Docker does not immediately restart a manually stopped container just because its policy is always or unless-stopped. Start it explicitly with docker start my-app. After a daemon restart, always may start it again, while unless-stopped preserves the stopped state.
The container was created with --rm
Check how the container was created. Automatic removal and a persistent restart policy are mutually exclusive, so Docker will not let you add a restart policy to a --rm container. Recreate it without --rm if it must be restarted automatically.
You edited Compose YAML and ran the wrong command
If the file contains the new restart value but behavior is unchanged, run docker compose up -d for the project. docker compose restart does not apply edited configuration. Confirm the service name and project directory before running the command.
You cannot tell whether attempts are occurring
Use docker inspect and look at RestartCount and State.StartedAt. A growing restart count indicates that Docker is attempting policy-driven restarts. The start timestamp helps show whether a new attempt occurred recently. Compare these values with docker ps -a, which reports the current lifecycle state.
The process exits successfully but you expected a restart
Review the policy. on-failure reacts only to a non-zero exit status. A process that exits with status zero will remain stopped under that policy. Choose always or unless-stopped when every stop, including a clean exit, should lead to another start.
The process fails forever and consumes repeated attempts
Use a bounded form such as on-failure:3 when automatic recovery should have a limit. Remember that Docker’s backoff still applies: attempts begin after 100 milliseconds, increase by doubling, and are capped at one minute. A run lasting at least 10 seconds resets that delay before a later failure.
A practical decision sequence
- Decide whether a zero exit should trigger another start. If yes, use
alwaysorunless-stopped; if no, consideron-failure. - Decide whether a deliberate stop must survive a Docker daemon restart. Choose
unless-stoppedwhen it must stay down. - Decide whether failure attempts need a ceiling. Add
:<max-retries>toon-failurewhen they do. - Identify the management layer: standalone container, Compose service, deploy specification, or Swarm service.
- Apply the matching command or configuration key, then verify with inspection and container-status output.
For a standalone container, the essential command remains:
docker update --restart=<policy> <container>It changes the existing container immediately; the policy semantics determine what happens on the next exit, manual stop, or daemon restart.
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