--- title: Why I Stopped Using Docker in Development | daily.dev description: A solo Rails developer argues that Docker in local development is unnecessary overhead for individual developers, citing Mac file system latency (0.5s vs 4s... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/why-i-stopped-using-docker-in-development-xci9zdu0z twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Why I Stopped Using Docker in Development | daily.dev og:description: A solo Rails developer argues that Docker in local development is unnecessary overhead for individual developers, citing Mac file system latency (0.5s vs 4s... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/why-i-stopped-using-docker-in-development-xci9zdu0z og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/XcI9zdU0Z.png og:image:alt: Why I Stopped Using Docker in Development og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Why I Stopped Using Docker in Development **[Ruby Flow](https://daily.dev/sources/rubyflow)** · 4 min read · 151 upvotes · 60 comments ## Summary A solo Rails developer argues that Docker in local development is unnecessary overhead for individual developers, citing Mac file system latency (0.5s vs 4s test startup), excessive RAM usage (2GB+ vs ~200MB), and the irrelevance of environment parity when you're the only developer. The proposed native alternative uses Mise for version management, Postgres.app, Redis via Homebrew, and Overmind for process management. Docker is still recommended for deployment via Kamal, treating containers as a packaging format rather than a development environment. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@fabianletsch** · 83 upvotes > Sometimes i just disagree. > > > Nothing beats downloading a docker-compose.yaml somewhere and having everything running in a few minutes. Especially if i already have experience with docker and its already installed. **@elevenbits** · 28 upvotes > This is just crap. > > All of it is wrong. > > Do not read this. > > Utter crap. **@andradei** · 20 upvotes > Author's first mistake: using MacOS. > > Move to linux, get docker almost native performance, problem solved. **@beachnerd** · 5 upvotes > You might give Orbstack a go for better docker performance on MacOS **@micheleiliescu** · 4 upvotes > I highly suggest uninstalling Docker Desktop and use Orbstack if you are on mac. You just can't beat the performance and Efficiency 🚀 ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Remote Dev Environments: Why Localhost is Dying](https://daily.dev/posts/remote-dev-environments-why-localhost-is-dying-okcwfgrur) · SitePoint · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [Working software runs locally](https://daily.dev/posts/working-software-runs-locally-acfymodik) · Lobsters · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#docker](https://daily.dev/tags/docker), [#kamal](https://daily.dev/tags/kamal), [#rails](https://daily.dev/tags/rails) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/why-i-stopped-using-docker-in-development-xci9zdu0z) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Why I Stopped Using Docker in Development","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/why-i-stopped-using-docker-in-development-xci9zdu0z","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/why-i-stopped-using-docker-in-development-xci9zdu0z"},"datePublished":"2026-03-03T06:51:55.599Z","dateModified":"2026-04-23T02:15:42.719Z","description":"A solo Rails developer argues that Docker in local development is unnecessary overhead for individual developers, citing Mac file system latency (0.5s vs 4s...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/5120b8302c133ddaf13773b933a9e911?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/5120b8302c133ddaf13773b933a9e911?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Ruby Flow","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Ruby Flow","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/a21aaa8bcbbf448193a016895c90a0e1","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/rubyflow"},"commentCount":60,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/why-i-stopped-using-docker-in-development-xci9zdu0z","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":151},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":60}],"keywords":"docker,kamal,rails","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ruby Flow","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/rubyflow"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Why I Stopped Using Docker in Development"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/why-i-stopped-using-docker-in-development-xci9zdu0z","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"Sometimes i just disagree.\nNothing beats downloading a docker-compose.yaml somewhere and having everything running in a few minutes. Especially if i already have experience with docker and its already installed.","datePublished":"2026-03-05T10:30:51.278Z","dateModified":"2026-03-06T12:25:28.144Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/XcI9zdU0Z#c-XIE8cQNRL","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Fabian Letsch","url":"https://daily.dev/fabianletsch","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocKR6BVy_wn23EoOKq7-BlszlcXcLmASlnb7l-GtS-q1bePnkaJf=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":83}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"This is just crap.\nAll of it is wrong.\nDo not read this.\nUtter crap.","datePublished":"2026-03-05T18:47:23.063Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/XcI9zdU0Z#c-bt2Nwefht","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Elevenbits","url":"https://daily.dev/elevenbits","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/19406?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":28}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Author’s first mistake: using MacOS.\nMove to linux, get docker almost native performance, problem solved.","datePublished":"2026-03-05T23:06:09.302Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/XcI9zdU0Z#c-fk2OrUGkS","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Isaac de Andrade","url":"https://daily.dev/andradei","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/2653546?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":20}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"You might give Orbstack a go for better docker performance on MacOS","datePublished":"2026-03-06T01:30:01.408Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/XcI9zdU0Z#c-Su1V7MTWb","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"BeachNerd","url":"https://daily.dev/beachnerd","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--O0TOmw4y--/f_auto/v1715772965/public/noProfile"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":5}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"I highly suggest uninstalling Docker Desktop and use Orbstack if you are on mac. You just can’t beat the performance and Efficiency 🚀","datePublished":"2026-03-06T09:57:08.919Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/XcI9zdU0Z#c-olhDTIdZa","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Michele Iliescu","url":"https://daily.dev/micheleiliescu","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--f9_DXugp--/f_auto/v1757413523/avatars/avatar_1guBfCzybVwvXUulOrwlS?_a=BAMClqZW0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":4}}]} ```