docker-credential-helper-path

Imported from schererja/f4-startmeup-random (.squad/skills/docker-credential-helper-path/SKILL.md). Install upstream with npx skills add schererja/f4-startmeup-random --skill docker-credential-helper-path. Copyright stays with the author.

Context

Use this when Docker commands fail with docker-credential-desktop: executable file not found in $PATH even though Docker Desktop is installed.

Patterns

Restore the helper from Docker Desktop

• Check whether /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Resources/bin/docker-credential-desktop exists.
• If it does, create a user-level symlink at ~/.local/bin/docker-credential-desktop so normal docker pull / docker compose commands can find it without requiring privileged writes.
• Prefer this over editing project files when the failure happens before image pulls complete, because the root cause is host Docker configuration rather than application code.

Examples

mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
ln -sf /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Resources/bin/docker-credential-desktop ~/.local/bin/docker-credential-desktop
docker pull node:20-alpine

Anti-Patterns

• Blaming only the Dockerfile — If plain docker pull fails with the same credential-helper error, fix the local helper path first.
• Requiring sudo unnecessarily — Prefer a user PATH location like ~/.local/bin before touching /usr/local/bin.