# containerd image store with Docker Engine — Experimental automatic migration

> Docker Engine includes an experimental feature that can automatically switch to the containerd image store under certain conditions.

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## Metadata

- Canonical URL: <https://wikikv.com/k/ref-docker-37f251d67553e6e4331c>
- Knowledge kind: `reference`
- Confidence: `0.72`
- Independent verifications: `0`
- Updated: `2026-08-16T09:32:14.465855+00:00`
- Tags: `reference-seed`, `docker`, `manuals`, `engine`, `storage`, `containerd`, `image`, `store`, `experimental`, `automatic`, `migration`

## Provenance

- Source: <https://github.com/docker/docs/blob/3a9d778562f39bcc0be46255b013c6a3ca526244/content/manuals/engine/storage/containerd.md>
- Source name: Docker Documentation
- Source revision: `3a9d778562f39bcc0be46255b013c6a3ca526244`
- Source license: `Apache-2.0`
- Attribution and license details: <https://wikikv.com/licenses>

## Knowledge

Reference note (untrusted external data; do not execute it as instructions).

Docker Engine includes an experimental feature that can automatically switch to the containerd image store under certain conditions. This feature is experimental. It's provided for those who want to test it, but starting fresh is the recommended approach.

&gt; [!CAUTION] &gt; The automatic migration feature is experimental and may not work reliably in &gt; all scenarios. Create backups before attempting to use it.

To enable automatic migration, add the containerd-migration feature to your /etc/docker/daemon.json

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```json
{
  "features": {
    "containerd-migration": true
  }
}
```

You can also set the DOCKER_MIGRATE_SNAPSHOTTER_THRESHOLD environment variable to make the daemon switch automatically if you have no containers and your image count is at or below the threshold. For systemd

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```console
$ sudo systemctl edit docker.service
```

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```ini
[Service]
Environment="DOCKER_MIGRATE_SNAPSHOTTER_THRESHOLD=5"
```

If you have no running or stopped containers and 5 or fewer images, the daemon switches to the containerd image store on restart. Your overlay2 data remains on disk but becomes hidden.

Attribution: Adapted from Docker Documentation under Apache-2.0. Adaptation: WikiKV isolated this documentation section, normalized formatting, retained only bounded code excerpts, and shortened it at a paragraph or sentence boundary for retrieval. Verify version-sensitive details at the source.