As per the Docker post-install documentation:

The docker daemon binds to a Unix socket instead of a TCP port. By default that Unix socket is owned by the user root and other users can only access it using sudo. The docker daemon always runs as the root user.

Having to continuously prepend your docker commands with sudo can be tedius, but thankfully there is an alternative.

Become a Docker groupie

Again from the Docker post-install documentation:

If you don’t want to use sudo when you use the docker command, create a Unix group called docker and add users to it. When the docker daemon starts, it makes the ownership of the Unix socket read/writable by the docker group.

Thus, run the following commands:

1. Create the docker group:

    sudo groupadd docker
   

2. Add users to the newly created docker group:

    sudo usermod -aG docker <username>
   

   Make sure to use an uppercase G (to add Docker as a supplementary group for the user), rather than a lowercase g (which will change the user’s primary group to Docker)

3. Log out and log back in to re-evaluate your group membership

4. Verify that docker commands can be run without sudo. Running a new instances of the hello-world container would be one way to test this:

    docker run hello-world
   

Stay safe

Returning to the Docker post-install documentation one last time:

Warning: The docker group grants privileges equivalent to the root user.

Docker provides details on how this impacts security in your system here.