Simply replace the :13.2 with a different version if you’re creating a new instance (e.g.

postgres:13.2 indicates that the official DockerHub Postgres version tag 13.2 is the one to install.

-e POSTGRES_PASSWORD= sets an environment variable (in this case, the PostgreSQL root password inside the container).

-d will run this container in detached mode so that it runs in the background.

This will make things easier in treating this container as a “localhost” in Postgres.

-p 5432:5432 will bind the Postgres port of the container (5432) to the same port on your Mac.

-v /Users//Develop/postgres_data/13.2: /var/lib/postgresql/data will bind that data folder inside the container volume ( /var/lib/postgresql) to the local folder you created on your laptop in the previous step, so that data will persist if the container gets shut down and restarted for any reason.

-network dev-network will join this container to your local Docker network that you created.

Adding the version number to the name is handy if you’re planning on running multiple versions in containers on your Mac.

This is the way it will appear in the Docker dashboard.

-name postgres13.2 assigns the name “postgres13.2” to your container instance.

Leave this parameter out if you want to start your own containers every time.

-restart always will restart this container any time Docker is started, such as for a laptop reboot or if Docker gets shut down and started again.

Here is what each parameter in that command means: docker run -restart always -name postgres13.2 -net dev-network -v /Users//Develop/postgres_data/13.2:/var/lib/postgresql/data -p 5432:5432 -d -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD= postgres:13.2 Make sure to copy and paste the whole thing. Note: The following is a single command that has wrapped to multiple lines due to its length. In the following command, remember to substitute your Mac username for and also substitute your favorite database root password for.

Now create an image and container from the official PostgreSQL 13.2 repository on DockerHub.

Running docker on mac m1