[Bug] Critical Installation Bug: App Store Fails Due to Docker API Incompatibility (Client 1.43 vs. Server 1.44+)

[leandrofraile]

Problem Description

After performing a clean installation of Linux Mint (Ubuntu 22.04 base) and installing the latest Docker Engine via official repositories, the CasaOS App Store fails to load applications.

The issue is highly persistent, reproducing even after complete disk re-formatting and OS reinstallation.

Error Logs

The casaos-app-management service logs consistently show the following error, indicating an incompatibility between the bundled CasaOS component and the modern Docker Engine API:

Error response from daemon: client version 1.43 is too old. Minimum supported API version is 1.44, please upgrade your client to a newer version

Environment Details

Host OS: Linux Mint XFCE (Based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS / Jammy)

Docker Engine Version: Latest version available (e.g., 28.x or 29.x), requiring API 1.44+.

CasaOS Version: Latest official release installed via curl -fsSL https://get.casaos.io/ | sudo bash.

Root Cause

The core issue is that the casaos-app-management binary currently distributed by the installer is compiled to use Docker API 1.43, while modern Docker Engine releases (starting from Docker 23.0.0) default to requiring API 1.44.

Temporary Workaround (Successful Solution)

The only successful method to resolve this was to force a downgrade of Docker Engine to a version that supports API 1.43:

Purge the incompatible Docker version.

Install a specific, older version (e.g., 20.10.24) from the Ubuntu repository:
Bash

sudo apt install docker-ce=5:20.10.24~3-0~ubuntu-jammy docker-ce-cli=5:20.10.24~3-0~ubuntu-jammy ...

Hold the version: sudo apt-mark hold docker-ce docker-ce-cli.

Reinstall CasaOS.

Request: Please update the casaos-app-management component to use a minimum of Docker API 1.44 (or higher) to ensure compatibility with modern Docker Engine versions and prevent this critical failure on clean installations.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

[Dev01-D]

Reported, being investigated and workaround posted in another ticket - https://github.com/IceWhaleTech/CasaOS/issues/2390#issuecomment-3518676511

[onefish2]

A workaround without the need to downgrade docker version or portainer, which is to manually lower the minimum API version of docker:

systemctl edit docker.service

Add this part above the line ### Lines below this comment will be discarded:

[Service] Environment=DOCKER_MIN_API_VERSION=1.24

Save and exit systemctl restart docker

[Sonni4154]

I recently encountered this on a brand-new ZimaBlade running CasaOS, and it appears to be the root cause of App Store failure. (The issue also reproduces on other Debian/Ubuntu + Docker 29.x systems.)

Environment

• Hardware: ZimaBlade (factory fresh)
• OS: Debian-based (CasaOS default image)
• Docker Engine: 29.x (API version 1.52)
• CasaOS WebUI: v0.4.15
• casaos-cli: v0.4.4

Symptoms

• App Store shows no apps / empty screen.
• Logs in journalctl show repeated:

Error: Error response from daemon: client version 1.43 is too old. Minimum supported API version is 1.44

• App-Management service loops.
• Container list retrieval fails.
• WebUI returns 500 errors.

Running the CasaOS installer from the WebUI terminal crashes the interface and breaks services. This MUST be done over SSH.

Root Cause

CasaOS App-Management is compiled with Docker API client version 1.43. Docker Engine 29.x requires minimum API 1.44. This causes immediate failure when CasaOS queries Docker for container/app info.

Working Fix (SSH only)

1. Ensure time sync: sudo apt update sudo apt install -y ntp sudo systemctl enable ntp sudo systemctl restart ntp ntpq -p timedatectl

2. Reinstall CasaOS (SSH only, NOT WebUI terminal): curl -fsSL https://get.casaos.io | sudo bash

3. Reboot: sudo reboot

Full Write-Up

https://www.reddit.com/r/CasaOS/comments/1oxjrui/casaos_app_store_broken_after_docker_update_full/

Disclaimer

• I am not affiliated with IceWhale, ZimaBlade, or CasaOS.
• This was tested on a factory-fresh ZimaBlade but likely applies to other setups.

— sonny [email protected] GitHub: https://github.com/sonni4154

[Tomblin]

Thanks for the detailed instruction @Sonni4154 Unfortunately it did not fix the issue with the version on my machine, I still get "Error response from daemon: client version 1.43 is too old. Minimum supported API version is 1.44, please upgrade your client to a newer version" in the logs casa os 0.4.15 on debian 12.12

I used the workaround provided by @onefish2 for now

Waiting for an official fix then

[andreikarpenko]

As a temporary fix, for me it helped to lower the minimum API version for Docker. On CasaOS host I went to /etc/docker and created daemon.json file. File contents should be:

{ 
  "min-api-version": "1.43"
}

If you already have this file, then just add that line to the existing JSON. Restarted docker by running commands on CasaOS host:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart docker

And the CasaOS is now functioning like a charm again.

This is actually one of the two official methods Docker suggests here: https://www.docker.com/blog/docker-engine-version-29/

I also had a similar issue with the Portainer, and it helped to just upgrade it to the latest version.

[EDayEll]

has this seriously not been fixed yet!!

[Dev01-D]

Hi all! Sorry for the long wait, with the help of Sabitech, the installation script has been fixed 🙂 , now you can just do a clean install or use the current installation script to fix the previous docker app not loading. The new script has the following features:

Install the latest available Docker engine instead of Docker 24.0.7
Apply a Docker API compatibility override for newer Docker versions
Allow CasaOS services and baked-in apps to work with modern Docker

Please rest assured that we will continue to improve user experience and working hard to ensure compatibility across multiple platforms.

[EDayEll]

to late ive ditched casaOS now you took to long to sort this what a joke

[kiekan88]

Hi all! Sorry for the long wait, with the help of Sabitech, the installation script has been fixed 🙂 , now you can just do a clean install or use the current installation script to fix the previous docker app not loading. The new script has the following features:

Install the latest available Docker engine instead of Docker 24.0.7
Apply a Docker API compatibility override for newer Docker versions
Allow CasaOS services and baked-in apps to work with modern Docker

Please rest assured that we will continue to improve user experience and working hard to ensure compatibility across multiple platforms.

Is there going to be an Docker API update for CasaOS at some point? As I understand, the compatibility override is only a temporary fix to Docker, as they will be phasing out the old API versions in a future update.

[Dev01-D]

Is there going to be an Docker API update for CasaOS at some point? As I understand, the compatibility override is only a temporary fix to Docker, as they will be phasing out the old API versions in a future update.

I can confirm the Developers are working hard to ensure compatibility going forward, what this looks like from a technical stand, im not 100% sure.