A Domino environment is an abstraction on top of a Docker image. When Domino starts your run or workspace, it creates an isolated Docker container based on the environment associated with your project. Domino environments are also referred to as compute environments.

You can create environments, use environments provided by Domino, or edit existing environments. Examples of when you might create or modify an environment are when:

You must install a package for Python, R, Octave, or some other software dependency.
You want to cache a package or library so that it’s immediately available when you start a run.
You manage an organization and want to create a default environment for all projects.

Domino environments are abstractions on top of Docker images. Users can create environments, use those provided by Domino, or edit existing ones. Domino’s Standard Compute environments are the Domino Standard Environment (DSE) and Domino Minimal Environment (DME). Domino Standard Environments are available with standard sets of libraries and packages. The DME has fewer packages and is lighter weight. Domino also has Cluster Environments that work like a DSE but support specific types of clusters with cluster-related tools. These are smaller, simpler environments and are only suitable for use in the worker nodes of the cluster. DSEs cannot be used for worker nodes in a cluster.