docker exec on wslc
docker exec is identical on wslc 2.9.4.0: the command is wslc exec, same verb, same binary swap. That does not mean every flag or default carries over unchanged, though -- see the measured difference below before assuming a script ports without edits.
| Docker command | docker exec |
|---|---|
| Status on wslc 2.9.4.0 | Identical |
| wslc command | wslc exec |
| Verified against | wslc 2.9.4.0, windows-2025 runner |
Measured detail. Has -i, -t, -u, -w, -e, --env-file, -d. Also available as wslc container exec.
The wslc equivalent
# Docker
docker exec
# wslc
wslc execwslc exec [<options>] <container-id> <command> [<arguments>...]
Straight from wslc exec --help on wslc 2.9.4.0 .
| Argument | Meaning |
|---|---|
container-id | Container ID |
command | The command to run |
arguments | Arguments to pass to the command being executed inside the container |
| Flag | Meaning |
|---|---|
-d,--detach | Run container in detached mode |
-e,--env | Key=Value pairs for environment variables |
--env-file | File containing key=value pairs of env variables |
-i,--interactive | Attach to stdin and keep it open |
-t,--tty | Open a TTY with the container process. |
-u,--user | User ID for the process (name|uid|uid:gid) |
-w,--workdir | Working directory inside the container |
How we know
Confirmed by reading wslc --help output and, where the behaviour depends on execution rather than argument parsing, by running the command against wslc 2.9.4.0 on a Windows Server 2025 GitHub Actions runner. Unrecognized flags and subcommands fail loudly on wslc -- the parser answers Argument name was not recognized for the current command and exits non-zero -- so a typo is unlikely to be misread as support. The risk runs the other way: a Docker habit that happens to parse (like wslc ps still working) can mask a difference in what the flags underneath it do.
Claims on this site are re-checked by a scheduled workflow that runs the commands again on
a fresh Windows Server 2025 runner and fails when a documented behaviour stops matching
reality. wslc ships roughly every two weeks during the preview, so treat any page that
disagrees with your own machine as the page being stale, and check the version you are on
with wslc version.
Where this fits
This is one row of the full Docker to wslc cheat sheet,
which covers every command and every flag on a single page. If the workload you are
porting uses Docker Compose rather than bare docker invocations, start from
Compose key support instead -- docker exec rarely appears verbatim in a compose.yaml, and the key-level page maps YAML fields
directly to the flags shown above. For a whole script at once, paste it into the
command converter and get every line classified in the same pass.