docker healthcheck ai_generated true

container is unhealthy

ID: docker/container-unhealthy

Also available as: JSON · Markdown
88%Fix Rate
90%Confidence
50Evidence
2023-01-01First Seen

Version Compatibility

VersionStatusIntroducedDeprecatedNotes
24 active — — —

Root Cause

Docker container health check is failing. The application inside the container is not responding to health probes correctly.

generic

Workarounds

  1. 92% success Inspect the health check log to see exact failure reason 
    docker inspect --format='{{json .State.Health}}' <container_name> | jq '.Log[-1]'

This shows the last health check result including exit code and output.

    Sources: https://docs.docker.com/reference/dockerfile/#healthcheck

  2. 90% success Exec into the container to debug the health check 
    docker exec -it <container_name> sh
# Then run the health check command manually:
curl -f http://localhost:8080/health
# Or whatever command is in the HEALTHCHECK instruction.
# Check if the process is listening: netstat -tlnp || ss -tlnp
# Check logs: cat /var/log/app.log

    Sources: https://docs.docker.com/reference/cli/docker/container/exec/

Dead Ends

Common approaches that don't work:

  1. Remove the HEALTHCHECK from Dockerfile 80% fail

    Hides the real problem; orchestrators cannot detect failures

Error Chain

Frequently confused with: