mathworks/matlab

MATLAB Docker Container

Access MATLAB® in the cloud or in server environments by using the prebuilt MATLAB container. This container also allows you to interact with MATLAB using your browser and Virtual Network Computing (VNC).

Supported tags

Quick Launch Instructions

This section describes an example workflow to pull the R2026a MATLAB image and launch an interactive MATLAB session from the image.

To pull the R2026a MATLAB image to your machine, execute:

console
docker pull mathworks/matlab:r2026a

To launch the container with the -browser option, execute:

console
docker run -it --rm -p 8888:8888 --shm-size=512M mathworks/matlab:r2026a -browser

You will be provided with a URL for accessing MATLAB in a web browser.

For more information on running the container, see the section on How to use this image.

What is MATLAB?

https://www.mathworks.com/products/matlab.html is a programming platform designed for engineers and scientists. It combines a desktop environment tuned for iterative analysis and design processes with a programming language that expresses matrix and array mathematics directly. For more information, https://www.mathworks.com/discovery/what-is-matlab.html.

The MATLAB Container provides an Ubuntu based image with a MATLAB installation.

Configure your license

To run this container your license must be configured for cloud use. Individual and Campus-Wide licenses are already configured for cloud use. For other license types, contact your license administrator. You can identify your license type and administrator by viewing your https://www.mathworks.com/login. Administrators can consult https://www.mathworks.com/help/install/administer-network-licenses.html. If you don't have a MATLAB license, you can get a trial license at https://www.mathworks.com/campaigns/products/trials/targeted/dkr.html.

How to use this image

This section describes the different options you can use to run the container, depending on your use case. Some options allow you to interact with MATLAB via the command line interface while others let you interact with the MATLAB desktop.

Run MATLAB in an interactive command prompt

To start the container and run MATLAB in an interactive command prompt, execute:

console
$ docker run -it --rm --shm-size=512M mathworks/matlab:r2026a

Run MATLAB non-interactively in batch mode

To start the container and run the MATLAB command RAND, execute:

console
$ docker run --rm -e MLM_LICENSE_FILE=27000@MyLicenseServer mathworks/matlab:r2026a -batch rand

where you must replace 27000@MyLicenseServer with the correct port number and DNS address for your network license manager.

Alternatively, if your system administrator provides you with a license file, you can mount the license file to the container and point MLM_LICENSE_FILE to the license file path in the container. For example, to start the container and run the MATLAB command RAND with a license file, execute:

console
$ docker run --rm -v /path/to/local/license/file:/licenses/license.lic -e MLM_LICENSE_FILE=/licenses/license.lic mathworks/matlab:r2026a -batch rand

If a valid license file is provided, the container runs the command RAND in MATLAB and exits. For more information on using the network license manager, see https://github.com/mathworks-ref-arch/matlab-dockerfile#use-the-network-license-manager.

Run MATLAB and interact with it via a web browser

To start the container, execute:

console
$ docker run -it --rm -p 8888:8888 --shm-size=512M mathworks/matlab:r2026a -browser

Running the above command prints text to your terminal containing the URL to access MATLAB. For example:

console
MATLAB can be accessed at:
http://localhost:8888/index.html

Enter the provided URL into a web browser. If prompted to do so, enter credentials for a MathWorks® account associated with a MATLAB license. If you are using a network license manager, change to the Network License Manager tab and enter the license server address instead. After you provide your license information, a MATLAB session will start in the browser (this may take several minutes).

To modify the behaviour of MATLAB when launched with -browser flag, pass environment variables to the docker run command. For more information, see https://github.com/mathworks/matlab-proxy/blob/main/Advanced-Usage.md.

Some browsers may not support this workflow. For more information, see https://www.mathworks.com/support/requirements/browser-requirements.html.

NOTE: The -browser flag is supported by Docker® images starting from MATLAB R2022a. To access MATLAB in a web browser in custom Docker images or older MATLAB Docker images, for example R2021b, see https://github.com/mathworks/matlab-proxy/blob/main/examples/Dockerfile.

Run MATLAB in desktop mode and interact with it via VNC

To start the MATLAB desktop, execute:

console
$ docker run -it --rm -p 5901:5901 -p 6080:6080 --shm-size=512M mathworks/matlab:r2026a -vnc

To connect to the MATLAB desktop, either:

1. Point a browser to port 6080 of the Docker host machine running this container (http://hostname:6080)
2. Use a VNC client to connect to display 1 of the Docker host machine (hostname:1)

The VNC password is matlab by default. Use the PASSWORD environment variable to change it.

Run MATLAB desktop using X11

To start the container and run MATLAB desktop using X11, execute:

console
$ xhost +
$ docker run -it --rm -e DISPLAY=$DISPLAY -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix:ro --shm-size=512M mathworks/matlab:r2026a

The MATLAB desktop window will open on your machine. Note that the command above works only on a Linux® operating system with X11 and its dependencies installed.

Run MATLAB with startup options

To override the default behavior of the container and run MATLAB with any set of arguments, such as -logfile, execute:

console
$ docker run -it --rm --shm-size=512M mathworks/matlab:r2026a -logfile "logfilename.log"

Environment variables

When executing the command docker run you can specify environment variables using the option -e. This section describes all the environment variables that you can specify.

MLM_LICENSE_FILE

Use this environment variable when you want to use either a license file or a network license manager to license MATLAB.

Example:

docker run -it --rm -e MLM_LICENSE_FILE=27000@MyLicenseServer --shm-size=512M mathworks/matlab:r2026a

docker run -it --rm -e MLM_LICENSE_FILE=/license.dat --shm-size=512M mathworks/matlab:r2026a

PROXY_SETTINGS

Use this environment variable when you want to use a proxy server to connect to the MathWorks licensing servers.

Example:

docker run -it --rm -e PROXY_SETTINGS=<proxy-server-address> --shm-size=512M mathworks/matlab:r2026a

You can specify the proxy server address using any of the following forms:

• hostname:12345
• shorthostname:12345
• http://hostname:12345
• http://username:password@hostname:12345
• IPaddress:12345

where hostname is the fully qualified domain name, shorthostname is the relative domain name, and *** is the port number.

PASSWORD

Use this environment variable when you want to change the password used to access the VNC server.

Example:

docker run -it --rm -e PASSWORD=ILoveMATLAB -p 5901:5901 -p 6080:6080 --shm-size=512M mathworks/matlab:r2026a -vnc

Create a custom Docker image from the MATLAB container base image

Create a file named Dockerfile with the following content:

dockerfile
## Build from the MATLAB base image
FROM mathworks/matlab:r2026a

## Copy your script/function to be executed.
COPY myscript.m ./

## Start MATLAB in batch mode and execute your script/function.
CMD ["matlab","-batch","myscript"]

You can then build and run the Docker image:

console
$ docker build -t my-matlab-container .
$ docker run -it --rm --shm-size=512M my-matlab-container

Install updates, toolboxes, add-ons in the container and save changes

You can install the latest MATLAB updates or install additional toolboxes and add-ons in this container. For more information, see https://www.mathworks.com/help/cloudcenter/ug/install-updates-toolboxes-support-packages-and-add-ons-in-containers.html.

Security reporting

Follow these instructions to https://github.com/mathworks-ref-arch/container-images/blob/master/SECURITY.md.

Additional information

This container includes commercial software products of The MathWorks, Inc. ("MathWorks Programs") and related materials. MathWorks Programs are licensed under the MathWorks Software License Agreement, available in the MATLAB installation in this container. Related materials in this container are licensed under separate licenses which can be found in their respective folders.

To learn more about MATLAB containers, see https://www.mathworks.com/help/cloudcenter/ug/matlab-container-on-docker-hub.html.

To see the source files used to build this Docker image, see the https://github.com/mathworks-ref-arch/container-images/tree/main/matlab.

To provide suggestions for additional features or capabilities, https://www.mathworks.com/solutions/cloud.html.

Technical support

If you require assistance or have a request for additional features or capabilities, contact https://www.mathworks.com/support/contact_us.html.

Copyright 2020-2026 The MathWorks, Inc.