Hi, thanks for your contribution. Can you add a test, please?

@eddumelendez test is added

thanks! test is failing

@eddumelendez trying to figure out why it fails. It seems to be that annotations is properly added to hostconfig, and while creating container debug logs shows annotations are added to hosthostconfig.

12:32:39.416 DEBUG c.g.d.core.command.AbstrDockerCmd - Cmd: com.github.dockerjava.core.command.CreateContainerCmdImpl@113dcaf8[aliases=,argsEscaped=,attachStderr=,attachStdin=,attachStdout=,authConfig=AuthConfig(username=githubactions, email=null, registryAddress=https://index.docker.io/v1/, stackOrchestrator=null),cmd={sleep,9999},domainName=,entrypoint=,env=,exposedPorts=ExposedPorts(exposedPorts=[]),healthcheck=,hostConfig=HostConfig(binds=[], blkioWeight=null, blkioWeightDevice=null, blkioDeviceReadBps=null, blkioDeviceWriteBps=null, blkioDeviceReadIOps=null, blkioDeviceWriteIOps=null, memorySwappiness=null, nanoCPUs=null, annotations={com.example.key2=value2, com.example.key1=value1}, capAdd=null, capDrop=null, containerIDFile=null, cpuPeriod=null, cpuRealtimePeriod=null, cpuRealtimeRuntime=null, cpuShares=null, cpuQuota=null, cpusetCpus=null, cpusetMems=null, devices=null, deviceCgroupRules=null, deviceRequests=null, diskQuota=null, dns=null, dnsOptions=null, dnsSearch=null, extraHosts=null, groupAdd=null, ipcMode=null, cgroup=null, links=[], logConfig=LogConfig(type=null, config=null), lxcConf=null, memory=null, memorySwap=null, memoryReservation=null, kernelMemory=null, networkMode=null, oomKillDisable=null, init=null, autoRemove=null, oomScoreAdj=null, portBindings=null, privileged=null, publishAllPorts=null, readonlyRootfs=null, restartPolicy=null, ulimits=null, cpuCount=null, cpuPercent=null, ioMaximumIOps=null, ioMaximumBandwidth=null, volumesFrom=null, mounts=null, pidMode=null, isolation=null, securityOpts=null, storageOpt=null, cgroupParent=null, volumeDriver=null, shmSize=null, pidsLimit=null, runtime=null, tmpFs=null, utSMode=null, usernsMode=null, sysctls=null, consoleSize=null, cgroupnsMode=null),hostName=,image=busybox:latest,ipv4Address=,ipv6Address=,labels=,macAddress=,name=,networkDisabled=,networkingConfig=,onBuild=,platform=,portSpecs=,shell=,stdInOnce=,stdinOpen=,stopSignal=,stopTimeout=,tty=,user=,volumes=Volumes(volumes=[]),workingDir=]
12:32:39.429 INFO c.g.d.cmd.CreateContainerCmdIT - Created container CreateContainerResponse(id=6e67168a6d32b9e98feb7ddd07f2d1e2a576e1498ecbdd77c395ee96c50ac39e, warnings=[])

but container is not created with annotations on the host config therefore inspect response return annotations as null:

14:24:00.202 INFO c.g.d.cmd.CreateContainerCmdIT - Container inspection response: InspectContainerResponse(args=[9999], config=ContainerConfig(attachStderr=false, attachStdin=false, attachStdout=false, cmd=[sleep, 9999], domainName=, entrypoint=null, env=[PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin], exposedPorts=null, hostName=8ace52143836, image=busybox:latest, labels={}, macAddress=null, networkDisabled=null, onBuild=null, stdinOpen=false, portSpecs=null, stdInOnce=false, tty=false, user=, volumes=null, workingDir=, healthCheck=null), created=2025-05-13T14:24:00.187078736Z, driver=overlay2, execDriver=null, hostConfig=HostConfig(binds=[], blkioWeight=0, blkioWeightDevice=null, blkioDeviceReadBps=null, blkioDeviceWriteBps=null, blkioDeviceReadIOps=null, blkioDeviceWriteIOps=null, memorySwappiness=null, nanoCPUs=0, annotations=null, capAdd=null, capDrop=null, containerIDFile=, cpuPeriod=0, cpuRealtimePeriod=0, cpuRealtimeRuntime=0, cpuShares=0, cpuQuota=0, cpusetCpus=, cpusetMems=, dev
14:24:00.203 INFO c.g.d.cmd.CreateContainerCmdIT - HostConfig from inspection: HostConfig(binds=[], blkioWeight=0, blkioWeightDevice=null, blkioDeviceReadBps=null, blkioDeviceWriteBps=null, blkioDeviceReadIOps=null, blkioDeviceWriteIOps=null, memorySwappiness=null, nanoCPUs=0, annotations=null, capAdd=null, capDrop=null, containerIDFile=, cpuPeriod=0, cpuRealtimePeriod=0, cpuRealtimeRuntime=0, cpuShares=0, cpuQuota=0, cpusetCpus=, cpusetMems=, devices=null, deviceCgroupRules=null, deviceRequests=null, diskQuota=null, dns=null, dnsOptions=null, dnsSearch=null, extraHosts=null, groupAdd=null, ipcMode=shareable, cgroup=, links=[], logConfig=LogConfig(type=json-file, config={}), lxcConf=null, memory=0, memorySwap=0, memoryReservation=0, kernelMemory=null, networkMode=bridge, oomKillDisable=false, init=null, autoRemove=false, oomScoreAdj=0, portBindings=null, privileged=false, publishAllPorts=false, readonlyRootfs=false, restartPolicy=no, ulimits=null, cpuCount=0, cpuPercent=0, ioMaximumIOps=0, ioMaximumBandwidth

looks like annotations are set building images not containers. See https://docs.docker.com/build/metadata/annotations/

So, I think we can close this one

nope annotation are also added to hostconfig since api version 1.43.
https://docs.docker.com/reference/api/engine/version/v1.49/#tag/Container/operation/ContainerCreate
https://docs.docker.com/reference/api/engine/version/v1.49/#tag/Container/operation/ContainerInspect

curl -X POST
--unix-socket /var/run/docker.sock
"http://localhost/containers/create?name=test-annotations"
-H "Content-Type: application/json"
-d '{
"Image": "busybox",
"Cmd": ["sleep", "9999"],
"HostConfig": {
"Annotations": {
"com.example.key1": "value1"
}
}
}'
{"Id":"693e772829ff066df94bb91e292e75460b71f7214b2a5d86e8d6fc0b57317a79","Warnings":[]}

curl -X GET
--unix-socket /var/run/docker.sock
"http://localhost/containers/test-annotations/json"
{"Id":"13aff107b0c0053594906a8ef35c5bb825260e85f9ef017f0385bf91faddac6b","Created":"2025-05-13T16:28:15.495295845Z","Path":"sleep","Args":["9999"],"State":{"Status":"created","Running":false,"Paused":false,"Restarting":false,"OOMKilled":false,"Dead":false,"Pid":0,"ExitCode":0,"Error":"","StartedAt":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","FinishedAt":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z"},"Image":"sha256:37f7b378a29ceb4c551b1b5582e27747b855bbfaa73fa11914fe0df028dc581f","ResolvConfPath":"","HostnamePath":"","HostsPath":"","LogPath":"","Name":"/test-annotations","RestartCount":0,"Driver":"overlayfs","Platform":"linux","MountLabel":"","ProcessLabel":"","AppArmorProfile":"","ExecIDs":null,"HostConfig":{"Binds":null,"ContainerIDFile":"","LogConfig":{"Type":"json-file","Config":{}},"NetworkMode":"bridge","PortBindings":{},"RestartPolicy":{"Name":"no","MaximumRetryCount":0},"AutoRemove":false,"VolumeDriver":"","VolumesFrom":null,"ConsoleSize":[0,0],"Annotations":{"com.example.key1":"value1"},"CapAdd":null,"CapDrop":null,"CgroupnsMode":"private","Dns":null,"DnsOptions":null,"DnsSearch":null,"ExtraHosts":null,"GroupAdd":null,"IpcMode":"private","Cgroup":"","Links":null,"OomScoreAdj":0,"PidMode":"","Privileged":false,"PublishAllPorts":false,"ReadonlyRootfs":false,"SecurityOpt":null,"UTSMode":"","UsernsMode":"","ShmSize":67108864,"Runtime":"runc","Isolation":"","CpuShares":0,"Memory":0,"NanoCpus":0,"CgroupParent":"","BlkioWeight":0,"BlkioWeightDevice":null,"BlkioDeviceReadBps":null,"BlkioDeviceWriteBps":null,"BlkioDeviceReadIOps":null,"BlkioDeviceWriteIOps":null,"CpuPeriod":0,"CpuQuota":0,"CpuRealtimePeriod":0,"CpuRealtimeRuntime":0,"CpusetCpus":"","CpusetMems":"","Devices":null,"DeviceCgroupRules":null,"DeviceRequests":null,"MemoryReservation":0,"MemorySwap":0,"MemorySwappiness":null,"OomKillDisable":false,"PidsLimit":null,"Ulimits":null,"CpuCount":0,"CpuPercent":0,"IOMaximumIOps":0,"IOMaximumBandwidth":0,"MaskedPaths":["/proc/asound","/proc/acpi","/proc/kcore","/proc/keys","/proc/latency_stats","/proc/timer_list","/proc/timer_stats","/proc/sched_debug","/proc/scsi","/sys/firmware","/sys/devices/virtual/powercap"],"ReadonlyPaths":["/proc/bus","/proc/fs","/proc/irq","/proc/sys","/proc/sysrq-trigger"]},"GraphDriver":{"Data":null,"Name":"overlayfs"},"Mounts":[],"Config":{"Hostname":"13aff107b0c0","Domainname":"","User":"","AttachStdin":false,"AttachStdout":false,"AttachStderr":false,"Tty":false,"OpenStdin":false,"StdinOnce":false,"Env":["PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin"],"Cmd":["sleep","9999"],"Image":"busybox","Volumes":null,"WorkingDir":"","Entrypoint":null,"OnBuild":null,"Labels":{}},"NetworkSettings":{"Bridge":"","SandboxID":"","SandboxKey":"","Ports":{},"HairpinMode":false,"LinkLocalIPv6Address":"","LinkLocalIPv6PrefixLen":0,"SecondaryIPAddresses":null,"SecondaryIPv6Addresses":null,"EndpointID":"","Gateway":"","GlobalIPv6Address":"","GlobalIPv6PrefixLen":0,"IPAddress":"","IPPrefixLen":0,"IPv6Gateway":"","MacAddress":"","Networks":{"bridge":{"IPAMConfig":null,"Links":null,"Aliases":null,"MacAddress":"","DriverOpts":null,"GwPriority":0,"NetworkID":"","EndpointID":"","Gateway":"","IPAddress":"","IPPrefixLen":0,"IPv6Gateway":"","GlobalIPv6Address":"","GlobalIPv6PrefixLen":0,"DNSNames":null}}},"ImageManifestDescriptor":{"mediaType":"application/vnd.oci.image.manifest.v1+json","digest":"sha256:fa8dc70514f29471fe118446e3f84040b19791531ec197836a4f43baf13d744b","size":610,"annotations":{"com.docker.official-images.bashbrew.arch":"arm64v8","org.opencontainers.image.base.name":"scratch","org.opencontainers.image.created":"2025-03-18T16:21:15Z","org.opencontainers.image.revision":"498afd94774b792e7048ee644f310b2df83e9777","org.opencontainers.image.source":"https://github.com/docker-library/busybox.git","org.opencontainers.image.url":"https://hub.docker.com/_/busybox","org.opencontainers.image.version":"1.37.0-glibc"},"platform":{"architecture":"arm64","os":"linux","variant":"v8"}}}