docker/cli · error

this node is not a swarm manager. Use "docker swarm init"…

Error message

this node is not a swarm manager. Use "docker swarm init" or "docker swarm join" to connect this node to swarm and try again

What it means

Thrown by checkDaemonIsSwarmManager (cli/command/stack/deploy.go:107) after an Info API call. Stack deploy must create swarm-scoped networks and services, which only a manager can do; if `res.Info.Swarm.ControlAvailable` is false (worker or non-swarm node), the operation is aborted before any resource is created.

Solutions

1. Run the deploy from a manager node.
2. Initialize a new swarm: `docker swarm init`.
3. Join this node as a manager: `docker swarm join --token <manager-token> <manager-ip:2377>`.
4. Verify with `docker info` that `Swarm: active` and `Is Manager: true`.

Example fix

// before (on a worker)
docker stack deploy -c compose.yml mystack

// after
# on a manager node, or first:
docker swarm init   # or join as manager
docker stack deploy -c compose.yml mystack

// Verify manager status before stack operations.
res, err := apiClient.Info(ctx, client.InfoOptions{})
if err != nil { return err }
if !res.Info.Swarm.ControlAvailable {
	return errors.New("target node is not a swarm manager; aborting deploy")
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `docker stack deploy` on a swarm worker node, or on a standalone engine that is not part of any swarm. The Info call succeeds but ControlAvailable is false.

Common situations: SSH'd into the wrong host (a worker); CI targets a worker by misconfiguration; the swarm was dissolved/rotated and this node lost manager status; load-balancer routed the Docker socket to a worker.

Related errors

• failed to update service
• failed to create service
• %s: %w
• cannot get label com.docker.stack.namespace for service
• specify a Compose file (with --compose-file)

AI-assisted analysis of docker/cli@4f84911bfe (2026-08-07). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8d725274c1d09dbb. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at cli/command/stack/deploy.go:107

	if opts.detach && !flags.Changed("detach") {
		_, _ = fmt.Fprintln(dockerCLI.Err(), "Since --detach=false was not specified, tasks will be created in the background.\n"+
			"In a future release, --detach=false will become the default.")
	}

	return deployCompose(ctx, dockerCLI, opts, cfg)
}

// checkDaemonIsSwarmManager does an Info API call to verify that the daemon is
// a swarm manager. This is necessary because we must create networks before we
// create services, but the API call for creating a network does not return a
// proper status code when it can't create a network in the "global" scope.
func checkDaemonIsSwarmManager(ctx context.Context, dockerCli command.Cli) error {
	res, err := dockerCli.Client().Info(ctx, client.InfoOptions{})
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	if !res.Info.Swarm.ControlAvailable {
		return errors.New(`this node is not a swarm manager. Use "docker swarm init" or "docker swarm join" to connect this node to swarm and try again`)
	}
	return nil
}

// pruneServices removes services that are no longer referenced in the source
func pruneServices(ctx context.Context, dockerCLI command.Cli, namespace convert.Namespace, services map[string]struct{}) {
	apiClient := dockerCLI.Client()

	oldServices, err := getStackServices(ctx, apiClient, namespace.Name())
	if err != nil {
		_, _ = fmt.Fprintln(dockerCLI.Err(), "Failed to list services:", err)
	}

	toRemove := make([]swarm.Service, 0, len(oldServices.Items))
	for _, service := range oldServices.Items {
		if _, exists := services[namespace.Descope(service.Spec.Name)]; !exists {
			toRemove = append(toRemove, service)
		}

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