When running docker-compose build, if you encounter the error — ERROR: Couldn't connect to Docker daemon at http+docker://localunixsocket - is it running? or ERROR: Error processing tar file(exit status 1): unexpected EOF — ensure the following:

  • Current user can access the docker daemon
    • Run docker ps.
      If it lists your containers, the docker daemon is running fine and the current user has required access
  • Ensure there is no file or folder in the project directory that has permissions out of place
    • For e.g. basically any file or folder that the current user doesn't have permissions to delete
    • Most commonly, this involves files owned by root user that the current user isn't able to delete during docker-compose build
    • In case you use git for your projects, you can spot files that have changed using git status