registrator

README

Registrator

Docker service registry bridge.

Overview

Registrator watches Docker events and keeps a service registry in sync by automatically registering containers when they start and deregistering them when they stop.

Configuration is driven through SERVICE_ environment variables and labels, so application containers do not need custom registration logic.

Why this fork exists

This project is a maintained fork of gliderlabs/registrator, a tool that is still useful in many Docker-based environments.

The original project established a simple and effective model for automatic service registration. This fork exists to keep that model practical on current tooling and service-discovery stacks without changing its core behavior unnecessarily.

The goal is to stay close to upstream Registrator in spirit while continuing to maintain the parts that are still valuable in production.

In practice, this fork focuses on:

• keeping the project buildable and releasable on current tooling
• maintaining commonly used registry backends
• documenting supported behavior more clearly
• carrying fixes that are useful in real deployments

Supported backends

• consul://
• consulkv://
• etcd:// for etcd v3 deployments (gRPC, recommended)
• etcd-legacy:// for legacy etcd v2 setups (HTTP API)
• zookeeper://
• coredns://

Multi-architecture images are available for linux/amd64 and linux/arm64.

• etcd:// is the recommended etcd backend for modern deployments.
• -cleanup support depends on the backend; see the cleanup support matrix.
• The old SkyDNS2 backend was removed in v8.0.4. Use coredns:// instead.
• For linux/arm/v7, linux/arm/v6, and linux/386, use v8.0.1.

Quick start

Pull the latest image:

docker pull fayrus/registrator:latest

Run Registrator against Consul:

docker run -d \
  --name=registrator \
  --net=host \
  --volume=/var/run/docker.sock:/tmp/docker.sock \
  fayrus/registrator:latest \
    consul://localhost:8500

Start a sample container:

docker run -d --name=redis -p 6379:6379 redis

Registrator will register redis automatically in the configured backend.

For a complete walkthrough, see Getting Started.

Documentation

Project documentation is available at registrator.fayr.us.

Useful starting points:

• Getting Started
• Configuration
• Consul backend
• etcd backends
• CoreDNS backend
• ZooKeeper backend

Scope

This fork stays close to the original Registrator model:

• watch Docker events
• derive service metadata from container labels and environment variables
• publish service registrations to external backends

If your use case needs a full service mesh, sidecar-based discovery, or orchestrator-native service registration, this project is probably not the right abstraction.

If you want a small Docker-native bridge that keeps existing service-discovery workflows working, that is exactly what this project is for.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.