Skrog serves the real Docker Engine API on the named pipe docker.exe already talks to, backed by upstream dockerd running in a WSL2 distro it owns. Compose, Dev Containers, Testcontainers, buildx and the Docker CLI work unmodified, because the thing answering is genuinely dockerd.
It is headless by design: no GUI, no Kubernetes, no tray ceremony, and no licence fee. A supervisor starts the engine at logon, survives crashes, wsl --shutdown and sleep/resume, and idle-stops the engine to return its RAM. skrog lock pins the exact dockerd, containerd, runc and BuildKit commits so a laptop and a CI runner install the same engine.
Installing this package places the skrog command on PATH. It does not provision anything: run skrog install next to set up the engine, then skrog start. Skrog does not install a docker CLI - use Docker Desktop's, or skrog cli install.
Yes. Skrog is free and open-source software released under the Apache-2.0 license.
What is the latest version of Skrog?
The latest version is 0.10.0, released on Oct 12, 2026.
Is it safe to download Skrog?
The download button links to the official installer published on github.com, the same file Windows Package Manager installs. You can verify the downloaded file by comparing its SHA-256 checksum with 7233cc5a2405ba926034baf90845333613aaa1842fe690c63f19a88fdd2034b6.
Which Windows versions does Skrog support?
Skrog runs on Windows and is available for 64-bit (x64), ARM64 systems.
How do I uninstall Skrog?
Open Settings › Apps › Installed apps, find Skrog and select Uninstall. From the command line, run winget uninstall --id=wslkit.skrog -e.
Is there a portable version of Skrog?
Yes. Skrog is available as a portable ZIP archive (skrog_0.10.0_windows_amd64.zip, 64-bit (x64)) that runs without installation. Copy it to any folder or USB drive and run it from there.
Alternatives to Skrog
Other Development kits programs for Windows from different developers.
