Networks

dockmesh lists and manages Docker networks per host. Most users don’t think about networks — Compose creates them automatically per stack. But when you need cross-stack communication or explicit network isolation, this is where it happens.

Default networks

Every Docker host has three built-in networks:

Network	Scope	Use
`bridge`	Host-local	Default for `docker run` without `--network`
`host`	Host-local	Shares the host’s network namespace — no isolation
`none`	Host-local	No network at all

dockmesh shows them for completeness but you rarely touch them directly.

Compose-created networks

When you deploy a stack, Compose creates a network named <project>_default unless you declare networks explicitly. Containers in the same stack can reach each other by service name (postgres, redis, etc.) via built-in DNS.

Custom networks

Declared in compose.yaml:

networks:
  frontend:
    driver: bridge
  backend:
    driver: bridge
    internal: true  # no internet access

Use cases:

internal: true — database networks with no outbound internet
Shared networks across stacks — use external: true to reference a network defined elsewhere
IPAM — custom subnets, gateways (ipam.config)

Cross-stack communication

Two stacks that need to talk to each other:

Create a shared network first:

# One-time setup stack or via UI
networks:
  shared-bus:
    driver: bridge

Both stacks reference it:

services:
  api:
    networks: [default, shared-bus]
networks:
  shared-bus:
    external: true

Containers on shared-bus reach each other by service name across stacks.

Creating networks in the UI

Networks → New network:

Name
Host
Driver (bridge, overlay for Swarm, macvlan, ipvlan, or third-party plugin)
Subnet / Gateway / IP range (advanced)
Options: internal, attachable, ingress
Labels

Pruning

Actions → Prune removes networks with no connected containers. Safe — doesn’t touch data.

Why no topology graph?

Earlier dockmesh versions had an interactive network topology view. It was removed because:

It was slow on fleets with many containers
It didn’t tell users anything actionable
The list view with filters is faster for real work

If you want a visualization, point any standard network-scanning tool at your host.