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View Database within a Docker Container

This guide provides an overview of how to view a Postgres or MySQL database running within a container via the CLI without exposing the port.

Postgres​

You will need four pieces of information before we start:

  1. The name of the container. In this example, the name is postgres-db.
  2. The name of the database user. In this it is username.
  3. The password of the database user. In this example, it's password.
  4. The name of the database. In this example, the name is db-name.

The easiest way to find the name of the container is by running docker ps once the containers are running.

The username and password can generally be found in the docker-compose.yml, Dockerfile, or .env file.

From the terminal, run:

docker exec -it postgres-db sh
psql -U username -d db-name

Enter the password if you are prompted.

To verify it worked, run \dt to view the tables.

MySQL​

You will need four pieces of information before we start:

  1. The name of the container. In this example, the name is mysql-db.
  2. The name of the database user. In this example, it's username.
  3. The password of the database user. In this example, it's password.
  4. The name of the database. In this example, the name is db-name.

The easiest way to find the name of the container is by running docker ps once the containers are running.

The username and password can generally be found in the docker-compose.yml, Dockerfile, or .env file.

From the terminal, run:

docker exec -it mysql-db sh
mysql -u username -p

Enter the password if you are prompted.

Next, enter the following to set the database.

USE db-name;

To verify it worked, run SHOW TABLES; to view the tables.