In my Q1 2026 Docker Read List, I dropped a little hint that I was involved in reviewing an exciting upcoming book for Q2. Well, the secret is finally out! I had the absolute honor of being a technical reviewer for Operational AI with Docker, written by my friends and fellow experts Ajeet Singh Raina and Harsh Manvar.

I love a good narrative in my technical books. The authors definitely brought some drama to the text, which I absolutely loved about this book. I had the chance to review the last four chapters of the book, and would love to share some exclusive behind-the-scenes insights about the book, as well as my thoughts on it.

Authors

Well, the authors need no introduction, but I'll still give you one.

Ajeet Singh Raina was a Docker Captain for six years until he was hired by Docker as a Developer Advocate. He was my first point of contact when I started my journey in the Docker community, and we published three blog posts together on the Docker blog. He is an absolute legend, the man behind the Collabnix Community, and a great mentor to many in the container ecosystem.

Harsh Manvar is a Senior Software Engineer at Oracle, a Docker Captain, and a CNCF Ambassador. Similarly, he is also an absolute star in the Indian container ecosystem, and has been a great mentor to many in the community. I had the pleasure of meeting him in person at the Docker Captains Summit in 2025, when he shared with me his plans for the book, and I was immediately excited about it.

The Book's Final Act: From MCP to KAgent

• Chapter 6. The authors introduced the Docker MCP Gateway flawlessly. Before getting into the details, they did a great job of setting the stage by showing exactly why we need a gateway, and why it is painful to connect different MCP servers directly. It's great that the authors let you feel the pain, instead of just telling you about it.
• Chapters 7 and 8. These chapters dive heavily into using AI agents and orchestrating multiple AI agents using Python. The chapters are packed with multiple examples and Docker Compose projects. The chapters might feel a bit overwhelming or tedious for readers, but it perfectly shows how one can use AI agents in a real-world scenario, and create a complex system that can solve a problem end-to-end. These two chapters are practically every Hollywood movie 70 minutes in, when it feels we're at impossible odds, and there is no way out.
• Chapter 9. The grand finale covers Docker Sandboxes, Docker Agent, and KAgent. Let me tell you, this is an awesome way to end the book. It suddenly becomes clear that any pain we had to endure in Chapter 8 was entirely intentional: it was just to make the out-of-the-box experience of Docker Agent and KAgent shine! Suddenly eagles come and Frodo is on his way to Valinor!

Final Thoughts

The book is purely practical, impossibly fresh, and skillfully dramatic. It teaches you the basics and the advanced features of Docker MCP, Docker Agent, and KAgent. It lets you feel the pain and the joy of better tools. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the future of AI and how it can be operationalized using Docker. It's a great read, sometimes a bit overwhelming, but always rewarding. You need it in your library, and you need to read it.