How to Fix a Docker Container That Keeps Restarting

A container that exits immediately after start indicates a startup or runtime failure rather than a slow shutdown.

Problem

Containers restart continuously when their main process exits, the entrypoint fails, or the container crashes during initialization.

Symptoms

• docker ps shows Restarting (1) ...
• Logs show the process exiting with a non-zero code.
• No service responds inside the container.

Investigation

Check logs with docker logs <container>. Look at the exit code. Inspect the entrypoint script. Verify that required environment variables and volumes are mounted correctly.

Working approach

1. Inspect logs (docker logs --tail 50).
2. Check the container health (docker inspect --format='{{.State}}').
3. Verify the image builds without errors.
4. Confirm the entrypoint runs correctly in an interactive session (docker run --entrypoint sh ...).
5. Apply the fix and restart.

Verification

Run docker ps after the change. Confirm the container has been running for more than a minute without restarts.