https://labs.play-with-docker.com is down
/ is it only down for me
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Thanks for reporting it. It also has a GitHub repo for issues
but I see it is not very active, so I raised the issue internally. I canāt load it either. I know it happens from time to time.
Until it is up again, you can play with Docker on some alternatives like
It requires logging in, but it is free. The downside is that the trainings you probably want to access would use Play With Dockerās infrastructure.
Update:
Where did you find the link to Play With Docker? Docker has a new Get Started guide
It requires Docker Desktop
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It is available again. Thanks again for the report
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Just wanted to report that Iām having this issue as of 11:15 local time today. I confirmed that the service is non responsive.
ping labs.play-with-docker.com
PING labs.play-with-docker.com (52.170.92.73): 56 data bytes
Request timeout for icmp_seq 0
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1
Request timeout for icmp_seq 2
Request timeout for icmp_seq 3
Request timeout for icmp_seq 4
Request timeout for icmp_seq 5
Request timeout for icmp_seq 6
^C
--- labs.play-with-docker.com ping statistics ---
8 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100.0% packet loss
Just putting this out there in case anyone else is wondering if there is an outage ATM.
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Thank you @anthonyxwatson I forwarded the issue to Docker.
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Thank you for reporting this, also noticed play-with-docker.com not available for the last few days.
Used iximiuz as a temporary workaround, but itās less convenient.
It seems to be up and running again since today.
Though play-with-docker works now in general, a new issue occurred - couldnāt connect to the instance using the provided ssh command, tried from multiple different machines/locations.
Can someone also please try it? (need to open https://labs.play-with-docker.com/ ā Login / Start ā Add New Instance ā Copy ssh command ā Try it in your system terminal).
Unbelievableā¦ I was sure I sent this message and now I wanted to add something and I see the message is still a draft.:
I donāt know if it worked before, but it doesnāt work for me either. Since this is an old service and there is not much progress in its development today, I would not recommend it for more than just trying out some commands online when it is not down. There are some tutorials using it, but I assume most of those donāt require SSH connection. At least I hope not those on Dockerās website.
Docker now focuses on Docker Desktop and new tutorials are also based on Docker Desktop, so if you have a machine where you can install it, I recommend that. If you just want a command line, I often use āmultipassā to install a VM. Multipass has a VM template called ādockerā that already comes with Docker installed on it. If you need something online, I can recommend iximiuz which I linked in an earlier post:
https://forums.docker.com/t/labs-play-with-docker-com-is-down/150915/2?u=rimelek
I will still ask about the SSH connection, but it is better not to rely on it
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Of course, I forgot to ask about it, and in the meantime, Play With Docker became officially deprecated as you can see in the README on GitHub:
Hi all,
A quick update that may help set expectations:
- The upstream Play-with-Docker repo now has a deprecation notice stating the Play with Docker/Kubernetes systems will be unavailable starting March 1, 2026. So intermittent outages (and features like SSH access) may continue to be unreliable.
(Source: play-with-docker/play-with-docker README)
If youāre trying to confirm whether itās a local/network issue vs a service outage, a couple quick checks:
curl -I https://labs.play-with-docker.com(ping/ICMP can be blocked even when HTTPS works)- Try from a different network (e.g., mobile hotspot) or different DNS resolver to rule out local routing/DNS issues.
For supported learning paths, Dockerās current āGet startedā content is centered around Docker Desktop and the Docker Workshop. If you need an online sandbox while PWD is down, the thread already linked iximiuz Labs as an alternative (note it wonāt match PWD-based tutorials 1:1).
Hope that helps folks decide on a stable workaround.
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