docker-archive

classicswarm

Go2014–2026

docker-archive / classicswarm · Archived

classicswarm

Swarm Classic: a container clustering system. Not to be confused with Docker Swarm which is at https://github.com/docker/swarmkit

Systems & Infrastructure DevOps & Cloud

Explore on GitHub Read Hacker News discussions

28Distinct people

30Mentions

1Explicit recommenders

5.7KGitHub stars

REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

Swarm Classic: a container clustering system. Not to be confused with Docker Swarm which is at https://github.com/docker/swarmkit

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use was verified in the last source check.

What people are saying

I would definitely check out a number of docker related technologies. To answer your question, we don't have our software out in Docker yet, but it's coming, and it will make a…

InTheArena used a recommendation phrase. One indexed comment matches. This is a phrase match, not a verdict.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

moby/swarmkit · linked in 6 of the same discussions
docker-archive-public/docker.machine · linked in 4 of the same discussions
moby/moby · linked in 2 of the same discussions

Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 1:49:46 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by year30 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2014-12-04 16:09:08 UTC to 2026-01-24 19:38:42 UTC.

* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges

UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
Period	Start (UTC)	End (exclusive, UTC)	Mentions	Submissions	Comments
2014	2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	7	2	5
2015	2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	6	0	6
2016	2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	3	0	3
2017	2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	4	0	4
2018	2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0	0
2019	2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	1	0	1
2020	2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	5	0	5
2021	2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0	0
2022	2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0	0
2023	2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0	0
2024	2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2	1	1
2025	2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	1	0	1
2026 (partial)	2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	1	0	1

What Hacker News says

30 sources

MetaMonk·Jan 24, 2026

The first pre-release for Docker Swarm came out a decade ago, the first release of OpenAI swarm came out only a year ago, I guess I'm not sure what you're trying to say. https://github.com/docker-archive/classicswarm/releases/tag/... https://github.com/openai/swarm/commit/e5eabc6f0bdc5193d8342...

In Claude Code's new hidden feature: Swarms

horsawlarway·Jun 17, 2025

Eh, it's not quite that simple. What the person above you is thinking of is almost certainly "swarm classic" which is actually dead (see: https://github.com/docker-archive/classicswarm) Docker does support a different "Swarm mode" style deployment configuration, which is functionally https://github.com/moby/swarmkit, and really feels much more like Kubernetes to me than the original docker swarm. I'm... honestly not sure why you'd pick it as a solution over all the k8s tooling they've been doing instead. It feels like the same level of complexity and then only benefit is that it's easier to configure than bare metal k8s, but things like k3s and microk8s tackle that same space. If anyone is really using the swarm mode for a production service, I'd love to hear different opinions, though!

In Show HN: Canine – A Heroku alternative built on Kubernetes

r4victor·Nov 25, 2024Submission

Ask HN: Why did K8s win against Docker Swarm?

Docker Swarm Classic (https://github.com/docker-archive/classicswarm) is dead. Docker Swarm Mode is alive, and I know some people use it, but it's very niche compared to k8s. As someone who interacts with k8s regularly, I often feel like there is a place for a simpler k8s alternative. But looking at history I see the attempts like Swarm fail. What do you think played the decisive role in the k8s victory? Features, openness, extensibility, something else? And do you think if there is a demand for a simper k8s alternative or is it destined to repeat k8s complexity to be useful? If there is such a demand, where did Swarm fail in particular?

15 points · Open discussion

3np·Sep 19, 2024

I thought docker-swarm had been considered neglected to the point of dead and without a future for a few years now. Is this impression incorrect/outdated? EDIT: So apparently what used to be known as "Docker Swarm" has been posthumously renamed to "Swarm Classic"/"Classic Swarm" and is indeed dead, abandoned, and deprecated. The project currently known as "Docker Swarm" is a younger completely different project which appears actively maintained. "Classic" still has roughly twice the GH stars and forks compared to the new one. I can't be the only one who's dismissed the latter, assuming it to be the former. Very confusing naming and branding, they would probably have more way more users if they had not repurposed the name like this. https://github.com/docker-archive/classicswarm > Swarm Classic: a container clustering system. Not to be con

Read the rest

fused with Docker Swarm which is at https://github.com/docker/swarmkit

In Show HN: A CLI tool I made to self-host any app with two commands on a VPS

devopsmagician·Aug 1, 2020

Swarm was interesting, but it seems that both SwarmKit and "Classic Swarm" are dead[1][2], with no real activity since 2018. Kubernetes, for better or for worse, has clearly completely won. Not that this article isn't interesting for it's own sake, but it's just something to consider. 1. https://github.com/docker/swarmkit/graphs/contributors 2. https://github.com/docker/classicswarm/graphs/contributors

In [dead]

januszex·Jul 30, 2020

In [dead]

orf·May 3, 2020

In Docker Swarm Cluster Complete Guide

jve·Mar 5, 2020

Anyway, it fills the gap between single node docker-compose and k8s. Because you can use docker-compose against swarm instance (so your app is running across multiple hosts) Swarm is so simple. Few commands and you can start scaling, routing, load balancing, desired state reconciliation https://docs.docker.com/compose/production/#running-compose-... Yeah, there is a concern about the docker swarm future: https://github.com/docker/swarm/issues/2965 But mirantis just last week announced they will support and INVEST in docker swarm: https://www.mirantis.com/blog/mirantis-will-continue-to-supp...

In “Let’s use Kubernetes.” Now you have eight problems

ablekh·Jan 19, 2020

I would recommend you to consider the following "simpler-than-Kubernetes" containerized workload orchestrators: Swarm (https://github.com/docker/swarm) and somewhat more complex Nomad (https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad). Perhaps, even simpler orchestrators exist. If you're OK with having some vendor lock-in, you could also consider Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) or AWS Fargate or Azure Container Instances (ACI).

In Ask HN: Simple cluster self-healing system?

omn1·Mar 22, 2019

I like swarm. Seems like Docker is moving away from it however. At least, that's what the commit numbers say [1]. The fact that Docker integrated Kubernetes into their desktop solutions is also telling. At this point, I would rather have a closer look at either Nomad or k3s for smaller clusters. [1]: https://github.com/docker/swarm/graphs/contributors

In Maybe You Don't Need Kubernetes

pacala·Oct 17, 2017

> You should expect a lot of bleeding edge features to ship in Swarm first The development of those bleeding edge features is well hidden. The contributions graphs seem to indicate that Swarm is at best a ghost town. Perhaps the action is happening somewhere else and/or Docker will start investing in Swarm once more. https://github.com/docker/swarm/graphs/contributors

In Adding Kubernetes support to the Docker platform

rrdharan·Aug 18, 2017

I see the backspaces (as per that issue) but where's the ASCII art? EDIT: nevermind, found it via one of the linked issues: https://github.com/docker/swarm/issues/1237

In Docker Is Raising Funding at $1.3B Valuation

squeed·Aug 18, 2017

Indeed, especially as a company that has a reputation for producing unstable APIs that break between minor versions. This is a team that seems to think it is acceptable to return ASCII art and backspaces in their container management APIs: https://github.com/docker/swarm/issues/1214 So, you're right, but they have a tainted reputation. I wish them all the best, but I don't have high hopes.

In Docker Is Raising Funding at $1.3B Valuation

hefeweizen·Mar 23, 2017

Slight nitpick, but this articles deals with "Docker Swarm mode" [1], which is different from Docker Swarm [2]. [1] https://docs.docker.com/engine/swarm/ [2] https://github.com/docker/swarm [3] Difference between Docker Swarm and Swarm mode: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/40039031/what-is-the-diff...

In Running 1000 containers in Docker Swarm

dominotw·Aug 28, 2016

>https://github.com/docker/swarm is going away. Their readme says "Docker does not currently have a plan to deprecate Docker Swarm." Do you know if they officially say otherwise elsewhere?

In What I found wrong in Docker 1.12

Showing the 15 most recent of 30 sources. Enable JavaScript to search and browse every indexed mention.