I Used Docker Before I Understood It

The useful part

My first encounter with it was back in March 2026, when I was exploring different automations and customizations. I wanted a local AI model with a nice interface, and Docker happened to be part of the setup. At the time, I wasn't very well versed with AI/LLM terminology or what was actually happening underneath.

How it works

• I was frustrated with how many hackathon alerts I was missing because of chaotic WhatsApp groups.
• So I wanted to build a workflow that could filter the messages I cared about and send useful information to a Telegram node.
• At the time, though, Docker was basically just another command I had to run to make the thing work.
• Hyperledger Then Docker showed up again while I was experimenting with Hyperledger and blockchain.
• During my internship, I had to work with an observability stack involving tools like Grafana, Prom...

What to take from it

I had storage and RAM issues, so I ended up removing Docker and later switched to running n8n using a.bat script. Once again, I was using Docker because the setup instructions told me to. The idea was to use the blockchain infrastructure to store logs for a demonstration.

Details worth keeping

One of the things I wanted to try was running Ollama with WebUI locally. n8n My next encounter was when I was trying out an n8n automation. Eventually, running all of this started taking a toll on my poor laptop.