How to Push and Pull a Docker Image with Docker Hub

Push and pull

• Push uploads an image to a registry, here Docker Hub.
• Pull downloads an image from it.

Docker Hub is the official public registry. A free account gives you public repositories and a limited number of private ones.

Step 1: Install Docker

Install Docker on your machine. On Ubuntu: sudo apt install docker.io.

Step 2: Create an account and log in

Create a free account on hub.docker.com.

Log in from the terminal:

docker login

Enter your username and password (or an access token, which is safer and can be created under Account Settings > Security).

Step 3: Tag the image

List your images and find the image ID:

docker images

Tag it with your Docker Hub username and a repository name:

docker tag <image_id> <username>/<repository_name>:<tag>

Example:

sudo docker tag d2c94e258dcb user864/myhello:latest

You can also tag by name instead of ID, for example docker tag myhello user864/myhello:latest.

Step 4: Push the image

docker push <username>/<repository_name>:<tag>

Example:

sudo docker push user864/myhello:latest

The image now appears in your repository on Docker Hub.

Step 5: Pull the image

On any machine with Docker:

docker pull <username>/<repository_name>:<tag>

Example:

docker pull user864/myhello:latest

Run it:

docker run user864/myhello:latest

Security considerations

• Do not put passwords, keys or secrets in an image. Anyone who pulls a public image can read them.
• Use access tokens instead of your password, and log out on shared machines with docker logout.
• Use private repositories for private code.
• Scan images for known problems and use trusted base images.
• Pin tags like 1.2.3 instead of latest for production.

Quick recap

• docker login, docker tag, docker push, docker pull.