Docker is a set of platform as a service (PaaS) products that use OS-level virtualization to deliver software in packages called containers.

[8] Because all of the containers share the services of a single operating system kernel, they use fewer resources than virtual machines.

[6] Docker can package an application and its dependencies in a virtual container that can run on any Linux, Windows, or macOS computer.

An example of a Dockerfile:[28][clarification needed]dotCloud Inc. was founded by Kamel Founadi, Solomon Hykes, and Sebastien Pahl[43] during the Y Combinator Summer 2010 startup incubator group and launched in 2011, and renamed to Docker Inc in 2013.

One year later, with the release of version 0.9, Docker replaced LXC with its own component, libcontainer, which was written in the Go programming language.