DOCKER(1)

💖 DOCKER(1) — the docker user manual, but make it a group chat 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the Docker User Manuals ✨ this page is the whole docker(1) family vibe, and the specific little icon we're talking about today is docker swarm init — yes, the one that spins up a whole swarm like it's nothing. no cap. 🐝

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🌸 NAME 🌸

docker-swarm-init — Initialize a swarm 👑

like. that's the whole job. you say init, it inits. main character energy fr fr.

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

docker swarm init [OPTIONS]

that's it, that's the summoning spell 🪄 nothing but the command and whatever options you feel like sprinkling on top.

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

Initialize a swarm.

literally the entire description. short, sweet, iconic. it's giving "I said what I said" 💅 you run it, and boom — you got yourself a swarm. go off.

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

bestie there are fifteen of these and we're going through every single one because we don't skip. periodt. 🍓

• --advertise-addr="" — the address you're advertising. format is "[:port]" 💌
• --autolock[=false] — turn on manager autolocking. and what does that mean? it means you'll need an unlock key to start a stopped manager. so don't lose that key, I'm literally begging 🙈
• --availability="active" — how available this node is being. the options are "active", "pause", and "drain" 🌈
• --cert-expiry=2160h0m0s — how long node certificates stay valid. units: ns|us|ms|s|m|h ⏳
• --data-path-addr="" — address or interface used for data path traffic. format: "" 🛣️
• --data-path-port=0 — port number for data path traffic, and it has to be in the range 1024 - 49151. if you don't set a value, or you set it to 0, then the default port 4789 gets used instead. so like, no stress 🫶
• --default-addr-pool=[] — the default address pool, in CIDR format 🏊
• --default-addr-pool-mask-length=24 — the subnet mask length for that default address pool 🎭
• --dispatcher-heartbeat=5s — dispatcher heartbeat period. units: ns|us|ms|s|m|h 💓 (see, heartbeat, cute)
• --external-ca= — specifications of one or more certificate signing endpoints 🔐
• --force-new-cluster[=false] — force create a brand new cluster from the current state. it's giving fresh start, rebrand, glow up 💫
• --listen-addr=0.0.0.0:2377 — the listen address. format: "[:port]" 👂
• --max-snapshots=0 — how many additional Raft snapshots to retain 📸
• --snapshot-interval=10000 — how many log entries go by between Raft snapshots 🔢
• --task-history-limit=5 — task history retention limit. the past, but limited 🗂️

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

docker-swarm(1) — go read that one next bestie, it's the parent page and it ate 💅

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mwah 💜 that's the whole page. every flag, every default, every unit, every format — all accounted for, nothing skipped, nothing invented. iykyk.

this lil manual is from the Docker Community, version Oct 2026, and it lives in the Docker User Manuals section of the DOCKER(1) page. take care of it, she's doing her best ✨🎀🦋💖