What does it do?#

Docker DevTools ships a PowerShell (.ps1) implementation alongside the Bash/zsh version, so Windows users (and anyone who prefers PowerShell on macOS/Linux) can run the same containerised tools without WSL or a POSIX shell. This page pulls together everything PowerShell-specific: setup, how the core alias mechanism works, which tool groups are fully ported, and the known gaps versus Bash.

Requirements#

• PowerShell 5.1+ (Windows PowerShell, ships with Windows 10+) or PowerShell 7+ (pwsh, cross-platform).
• Docker installed and running, with docker available on PATH.
• Git, if you want to clone the aliases repo for easy updates (recommended).

Installing#

Clone the aliases repo so you can pull future updates with git pull:

git clone https://github.com/willhallonline/docker-devtools-aliases.git ~/.docker-devtools

Loading the core aliases#

Add the following line to your PowerShell profile ($PROFILE):

. "$HOME/.docker-devtools/docker-devtools.ps1"

Then reload your profile, or open a new session:

. $PROFILE

This sources the core Invoke-DockerAlias function and the fully-ported tool groups that are auto-loaded by the script itself (PHP, JavaScript/CSS, Python, Java). Optional tool groups (Images, AI tools, Internet tools, Go, Rust, Ruby, Linux tools) live in their own .ps1 files and must be dot-sourced separately — see Enabling optional groups below.

How aliases work#

Every Bash alias becomes a PowerShell function of the same name (e.g. node-docker, phpcs-drupal), so command-line usage is identical between the two shells. Under the hood, each function calls a shared Invoke-DockerAlias helper — the PowerShell equivalent of Bash’s docker_alias — which builds and runs the underlying docker run command.

# Bash                              # PowerShell
stylelint-docker bad.css            stylelint-docker bad.css
phpcs-drupal src/                   phpcs-drupal src/
node-docker script.js               node-docker script.js

Invoke-DockerAlias honours the same runtime configuration environment variables as Bash — DOCKER_DEVTOOLS_TTY, DOCKER_DEVTOOLS_MAP_HOST_USER and DOCKER_DEVTOOLS_EXTRA_ARGS — see Runtime Configuration for details on each. One difference: Invoke-DockerAlias has no --entrypoint support, unlike its Bash counterpart.

Enabling optional groups#

Images, AI tools, Internet tools, Go, Rust, Ruby and Linux tools are not sourced automatically — dot-source each group’s .ps1 file after the core script:

# Images (full parity)
. "$HOME/.docker-devtools/docker-devtools.ps1"
. "$HOME/.docker-devtools/images/docker-image-devtools.ps1"

# AI tools (full parity)
. "$HOME/.docker-devtools/docker-devtools.ps1"
. "$HOME/.docker-devtools/ai/docker-ai-devtools.ps1"

# Internet tools (full parity)
. "$HOME/.docker-devtools/docker-devtools.ps1"
. "$HOME/.docker-devtools/internet/docker-internet-devtools.ps1"

# Go, Rust, Ruby, Linux tools (full parity)
. "$HOME/.docker-devtools/docker-devtools.ps1"
. "$HOME/.docker-devtools/go/docker-go-devtools.ps1"
. "$HOME/.docker-devtools/rust/docker-rust-devtools.ps1"
. "$HOME/.docker-devtools/ruby/docker-ruby-devtools.ps1"
. "$HOME/.docker-devtools/linux/docker-linux-devtools.ps1"

Platform support#

Parity between the Bash/zsh and PowerShell implementations, by tool group:

If a group shows ❌ or ⚠️ above, use the Bash/zsh version of that group instead (e.g. via WSL) until the PowerShell port catches up.

Testing#

A PowerShell test harness (tests/run_tests.ps1) stubs out Docker and the alias sub-files so no containers are pulled, covering the same scenarios as the Bash harness:

pwsh tests/run_tests.ps1

Troubleshooting#

docker-devtools: docker is not installed or not in PATH. Docker is missing or the daemon is not running. Install Docker Desktop or ensure docker is on your PATH.

A function isn’t recognised (e.g. ruff-docker : The term ... is not recognized) Check the Platform support table above — the alias may not be ported to PowerShell yet, or you may need to dot-source the optional group’s .ps1 file first.

--entrypoint-style behaviour is needed Not supported by Invoke-DockerAlias. Use the Bash/zsh version for aliases that rely on --entrypoint.

Profile changes don’t take effect Make sure you’re editing the right profile file — run $PROFILE to see its path — and reload with . $PROFILE or open a new PowerShell session.

The Sources#

GitHub: https://github.com/willhallonline/docker-devtools-aliases

Find out more#