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Improve Docker validation error messages to be actionable #20350

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Merged
pelikhan merged 3 commits into from
Mar 10, 2026
Merged

Improve Docker validation error messages to be actionable #20350

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32c70e5
Initial plan
Copilot Mar 10, 2026
a3032ef
Improve Docker validation error messages for clarity
Copilot Mar 10, 2026
f363827
Remove suggestion to remove container entries from Docker error messages
Copilot Mar 10, 2026
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4 changes: 2 additions & 2 deletions pkg/workflow/docker_validation.go
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -93,15 +93,15 @@ func validateDockerImage(image string, verbose bool) error {
_, err := exec.LookPath("docker")
if err != nil {
dockerValidationLog.Print("Docker not installed, cannot validate image")
return fmt.Errorf("docker not installed - could not validate container image '%s'. Install Docker or remove container-based tools", image)
return fmt.Errorf("docker not installed - could not validate container image '%s'. To use container-based MCP servers, install Docker (https://docs.docker.com/get-started/get-docker)", image)
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Copilot AI Mar 10, 2026

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The Docker install URL is hardcoded inside this error string and formatted differently than other user-facing validation errors (which usually end with a "See: ..." link and centralize URLs in constants, e.g., this file’s other errors use constants.DocsToolsURL). Consider extracting the Docker install link into a shared constant (e.g., in pkg/constants) and using the same "See:" style for consistency and easier future updates.

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return fmt.Errorf("docker not installed - could not validate container image '%s'. To use container-based MCP servers, install Docker (https://docs.docker.com/get-started/get-docker)", image)
return fmt.Errorf("docker not installed - could not validate container image '%s'. To use container-based MCP servers, install Docker. See: %s", image, constants.DocsToolsURL)

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}

// Check if Docker daemon is actually running (cached check with short timeout).
// This prevents multi-minute hangs when Docker Desktop is installed but not running,
// which is common on macOS development machines.
if !isDockerDaemonRunning() {
dockerValidationLog.Print("Docker daemon not running, cannot validate image")
return fmt.Errorf("docker daemon not running - could not validate container image '%s'. Start Docker Desktop or remove container-based tools", image)
return fmt.Errorf("docker daemon not running - could not validate container image '%s'. Start Docker Desktop or the Docker daemon", image)
}

// Try to inspect the image (will succeed if image exists locally)
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