Intermediate · Systems

Containerization

Visual diagram · (in preparation) · Math · (in preparation) · Worked example · 3 difficulty levels.

TL;DR. Packaging an application with all its dependencies so it runs consistently across environments.

Technical Definition

Packaging an application with all its dependencies so it runs consistently across environments.

How it works

Docker is the de-facto standard. For ML, containers bundle the model, runtime (PyTorch, vLLM), libraries, and configuration. Containers underpin reproducible training and reliable deployment, especially when combined with orchestrators like Kubernetes.

Related Concepts

• Deployment — The process of moving a trained model into a production environment where it serves real users.
• Kubernetes — An open-source platform for orchestrating containerized applications at scale.
• Microservices — An architectural style where applications are built as small, independently deployable services.