Restarting (1) 🐳 Docker

Docker container keeps restarting (Restarting (1) x seconds ago)

The container crashes on start and its restart policy (always/unless-stopped/on-failure) starts it again in a loop.

Seen on: Docker

Meaning

docker ps shows Restarting (exit code) and the restart count climbs. The cause is whatever makes the main process exit: missing env vars, DB not reachable yet, bad config, port conflict inside the container, or OOM.

Common causes

  • App crashes on startup (config, env, missing file)
  • Dependency (database) not ready
  • Out of memory (exit 137)
  • Wrong command/entrypoint

⚡ Quick fix

  1. Read logs: docker logs --tail 100 c
  2. Check exit code and OOMKilled in docker inspect
  3. Temporarily set restart: "no" and run interactively

Detailed fix by platform

Docker

  1. bash
    docker inspect -f '{{.State.ExitCode}} OOM={{.State.OOMKilled}} restarts={{.RestartCount}}' web
docker logs --tail 100 web

How to diagnose

  1. Exit code — 1 app error, 127 command, 137 OOM
  2. Logs — Error before each restart
  3. Dependencies — Is the DB up?

🔧 Still not fixed?

Many errors look alike. If the steps above didn’t solve it, one of these is probably what you’re facing:

🧠 Still stuck? Analyze your error

Paste the full message, response headers or stack trace — we'll detect the platform and point to the most likely cause.