diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 996e06faa..bed5e2002 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -20,6 +20,23 @@ RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
     gosu \
     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
+# Docker CLI (client only — daemon stays on the host via the
+# /var/run/docker.sock mount). The Debian `docker.io` package ships
+# dockerd but not the client binary on slim, so grab the static client
+# tarball from download.docker.com instead.
+ARG DOCKER_CLI_VERSION=27.5.1
+RUN ARCH="$(dpkg --print-architecture)" \
+    && case "$ARCH" in \
+         amd64) DARCH=x86_64 ;; \
+         arm64) DARCH=aarch64 ;; \
+         *) echo "unsupported arch $ARCH"; exit 1 ;; \
+       esac \
+    && curl -fsSL "https://download.docker.com/linux/static/stable/${DARCH}/docker-${DOCKER_CLI_VERSION}.tgz" \
+       -o /tmp/docker.tgz \
+    && tar -xzf /tmp/docker.tgz -C /tmp \
+    && install -m 0755 /tmp/docker/docker /usr/local/bin/docker \
+    && rm -rf /tmp/docker /tmp/docker.tgz
+
 WORKDIR /app
 
 # Install Python deps first (layer cache). Optional extras (PyMuPDF AGPL, etc.)
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 0b350c2e1..dd708303f 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -16,6 +16,16 @@ services:
       # land under /app/.local for the odysseus user. Persist them so a
       # container recreate does not silently remove installed serve engines.
       - ${APP_DATA_DIR:-./data}/local:/app/.local:z
+      # Docker socket — lets Cookbook launch commands like
+      # `docker exec ollama-rocm ollama show <tag>` reach the host's
+      # Docker daemon (and sibling containers like ollama-rocm /
+      # ollama-test). The in-container user needs to be in the
+      # socket's owning group — see `group_add` below; the GID
+      # there must match the host's `docker` group (defaults to 963
+      # on Debian, 999 on Ubuntu — override via env if yours differs).
+      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
+    group_add:
+      - "${DOCKER_GID:-963}"
     extra_hosts:
       # Lets the container reach local services on the Docker host, including
       # Ollama at http://host.docker.internal:11434.
diff --git a/docker/entrypoint.sh b/docker/entrypoint.sh
index 668018ac1..7d796d9ff 100644
--- a/docker/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/docker/entrypoint.sh
@@ -24,6 +24,31 @@ if ! getent passwd "$PUID" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
     useradd -u "$PUID" -g "$PGID" -M -s /bin/sh -d /app odysseus
 fi
 
+# Docker-socket group plumbing. When /var/run/docker.sock is bind-
+# mounted (cookbook uses `docker exec` to reach sibling containers
+# like ollama-rocm), the socket is owned by root:docker on the host.
+# We need the in-container odysseus user to be in the matching group
+# so `gosu PUID:PGID` doesn't strip it. compose's `group_add` only
+# applies to the initial root process — gosu drop resets supplementary
+# groups — so detect the socket's GID here and add the user via the
+# username form `gosu odysseus` below.
+DOCKER_SOCK="${DOCKER_SOCK:-/var/run/docker.sock}"
+if [ -S "$DOCKER_SOCK" ]; then
+    SOCK_GID="$(stat -c '%g' "$DOCKER_SOCK" 2>/dev/null || echo '')"
+    if [ -n "$SOCK_GID" ] && [ "$SOCK_GID" != "0" ]; then
+        # Create the group locally if missing, then add odysseus to it.
+        if ! getent group "$SOCK_GID" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            groupadd -g "$SOCK_GID" docker_host || true
+        fi
+        SOCK_GROUP="$(getent group "$SOCK_GID" | cut -d: -f1)"
+        if [ -n "$SOCK_GROUP" ]; then
+            ODY_USER="$(getent passwd "$PUID" | cut -d: -f1)"
+            [ -z "$ODY_USER" ] && ODY_USER=odysseus
+            usermod -aG "$SOCK_GROUP" "$ODY_USER" 2>/dev/null || true
+        fi
+    fi
+fi
+
 # Repair ownership on every writable path the app touches at runtime.
 #
 # Bind-mounted dirs (/app/data, /app/logs) are the obvious ones, but
@@ -83,9 +108,13 @@ export PATH="/app/.local/bin:$PATH"
 # Run first-time setup as the app user so data/ files get the right ownership.
 # setup.py is idempotent — skips auth.json / .env if they already exist.
 # || true so a setup failure never prevents the container from starting.
-gosu "$PUID:$PGID" python /app/setup.py || true
+# Use the username form (no :GID) so supplementary groups from /etc/group
+# (including the docker-socket group set above) flow through to the child.
+ODY_USER="$(getent passwd "$PUID" | cut -d: -f1)"
+[ -z "$ODY_USER" ] && ODY_USER="$PUID:$PGID"
+gosu "$ODY_USER" python /app/setup.py || true
 
 # Drop root and run the actual app. `gosu` is preferred over `su` /
 # `sudo` because it cleans up the process tree (no extra shell layer)
 # so signals (SIGTERM from `docker stop`) reach uvicorn directly.
-exec gosu "$PUID:$PGID" "$@"
+exec gosu "$ODY_USER" "$@"