docs/build/buildx/multiple-builders.md

title	description	keywords
Using multiple builders	How to instantiate and work with multiple builders	build, buildx, buildkit, builders, build drivers

By default, Buildx uses the docker driver if it is supported, providing a user experience very similar to the native docker build. Note that you must use a local shared daemon to build your applications.

Buildx allows you to create new instances of isolated builders. You can use this to get a scoped environment for your CI builds that does not change the state of the shared daemon, or for isolating builds for different projects. You can create a new instance for a set of remote nodes, forming a build farm, and quickly switch between them.

You can create new instances using the docker buildx create command. This creates a new builder instance with a single node based on your current configuration.

To use a remote node you can specify the DOCKER_HOST or the remote context name while creating the new builder. After creating a new instance, you can manage its lifecycle using the docker buildx inspect, docker buildx stop, and docker buildx rm commands. To list all available builders, use docker buildx ls. After creating a new builder you can also append new nodes to it.

To switch between different builders, use docker buildx use <name>. After running this command, the build commands will automatically use this builder.

Docker also features a docker context command that you can use to provide names for remote Docker API endpoints. Buildx integrates with docker context to ensure all the contexts automatically get a default builder instance. You can also set the context name as the target when you create a new builder instance or when you add a node to it.