Prerequisites for GPU access in Docker Compose: install NVIDIA Container Toolkit and configure the Docker daemon

domain: docs.docker.com · 6 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
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Documented steps

  1. Install NVIDIA GPU drivers on the host and confirm `nvidia-smi` works.
  2. Install the NVIDIA Container Toolkit (nvidia-container-toolkit) using the distribution's package manager.
  3. Configure the Docker daemon for the nvidia runtime. With the toolkit use `sudo nvidia-ctk runtime configure --runtime=docker` (writes to /etc/docker/daemon.json), then restart the daemon (e.g. `sudo systemctl restart docker`).
  4. Verify the runtime works standalone: `docker run --rm --gpus all nvidia/cuda:12.9.0-base-ubuntu22.04 nvidia-smi`.
  5. Only after the daemon exposes GPUs do Compose `deploy.resources.reservations.devices` reservations work.
  6. Official docs: https://docs.docker.com/compose/how-tos/gpu-support/ and https://docs.docker.com/engine/containers/resource_constraints/#gpu

Known gotchas

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