cli/docs/reference/commandline/context_use.md

context use

Set the default docker context

Description

The docker context use command sets the default context for the Docker CLI.

The docker context use command sets the Docker CLI’s default context by updating your CLI config (~/.docker/config.json). This change is persistent, affecting all shells and sessions that share that config, not just the current terminal.

For one-off commands or per-shell usage, use --context or the DOCKER_CONTEXT environment variable instead.

Examples

Set the default (sticky) context

This updates the CLI configuration and applies to new terminal sessions:

$ docker context use my-context
my-context

$ docker context show
my-context

Use a context for a single command

Use the global --context flag to avoid changing the default:

$ docker --context my-context ps

Use a context for the current shell session

Set DOCKER_CONTEXT to override the configured default in the current shell:

$ export DOCKER_CONTEXT=my-context
$ docker context show
my-context

To stop overriding:

$ unset DOCKER_CONTEXT

Switch back to the default context

$ docker context use default
default