Pull a specific image version
Low risk
What do risk levels mean?
- Read-only
- Inspects state without changing anything.
- Low risk
- Reversible with a routine follow-up command.
- Medium risk
- Changes state; undo path documented.
- Destructive
- Deletes or overwrites; confirmation required.
Downloads an exact image tag from a registry so the version running locally is explicit and reproducible, instead of whatever latest points to.
dockerpullimageregistry
Parameters
Fully qualified image and tag to pull, such as postgres:16.4.
Commands
Download the image layers for the exact tag from the registry
docker pull <image>Confirm the image is now available locally
docker image ls <image>Verification
docker image ls <image>The image is listed locally with the requested tag.
Undo
Remove the pulled image to reclaim disk space
docker rmi <image>Pitfalls
- Tags are mutable; for strict reproducibility pin the digest (image@sha256:...) shown by docker images --digests.
- Pulling the same tag again fetches updates if the registry's tag moved; local containers keep using the old image until recreated.
- Private registries require docker login first.