# Portainer Agent

Portainer Agent is a companion service for Portainer that lets a central Portainer Server manage a remote Docker host. It is open source and self-hosted, installable on Docker Hub, Unraid and ZimaOS.

Canonical page: https://ourlocalhost.com/app/9/portainer-agent

## Description

Portainer Agent is a companion service for Portainer that lets a central Portainer Server manage a remote Docker host. It runs as a lightweight container on the target Docker engine and communicates with the server to expose the node's containers, images, volumes, and networks. It is for homelab and production administrators who manage multiple Docker hosts from one place. Use it to centralize container operations and access remote node resources from the Portainer dashboard.

## Platform availability

Available on 2 of 9 platforms: Unraid, ZimaOS.

## Health score

32/100 (Low), based on 3 of 4 factors.
- Maintained: 0 (GitHub repository no longer exists)
- Easy to install: 45 (2 install platforms, install notes, Docker image)
- Light to run: 100 (20 MB minimum RAM, runs on ARM)

## Links

- Docker Hub: https://hub.docker.com/r/portainer/agent/
- Unraid: https://ca.unraid.net/apps/portainer-agent-1o8u2hb0uwkk97?q=Portainer-Agent
- Official website: https://portainer.io
- GitHub: https://github.com/BigBearTechWorld/portainer-agent
- ZimaOS: https://github.com/bigbeartechworld/big-bear-casaos/tree/master/Apps/portainer-agent

## Common questions

### When should a self-hoster run Portainer Agent?

It is useful when Docker is running on multiple machines and you want to manage all Docker instances from a single Portainer host.

### What basic settings are needed so the Portainer web UI can manage a local Docker host?

Expose port 9000 and mount /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock. The port makes the UI reachable and the socket lets Portainer see Docker containers.

### How can I hide service containers from the Portainer dashboard?

Add a label to the containers you do not want shown, then start Portainer with that same label. This hides them from the dashboard.

## Alternatives

- Arcane - Docker Management UI: Web-based Docker interface with real-time monitoring, container, image, network and volume management, resource visualization, and intuitiv…
- Cockpit Project: Makes it easy to administer Linux servers via a web browser.
- Coolify: Coolify is an open-source, self-hostable platform for deploying web applications, databases, and managed services as an alternative to Hero…
- Docker: Docker (Moby) is the open-source engine that builds and runs containerized applications, forming the foundation of the Docker ecosystem for…
- Docker Desktop: Docker Desktop is a one-click-install application that lets you to build, share, and run containerized applications and microservices.
- Dockhand: Dockhand is a self-hosted, web-based Docker management platform that gives you a single dashboard to deploy containers, manage stacks, trac…
- Komo.do: A tool to build and deploy software on many servers.
- Rancher Desktop: Rancher Desktop is an open-source desktop application for Mac, Windows and Linux.
- dockpeek: Dockpeek is a lightweight, self-hosted Docker port dashboard.
- dokemon: Dokémon is a friendly, web-based GUI for managing Docker containers across multiple servers from a single instance.
- isaiah: Self-hostable clone of lazydocker for the web.
- stackgres-operator

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Source: Our Local Host (https://ourlocalhost.com/app/9/portainer-agent), the self-hosted and open-source app directory.