docker-minecraft-server/docs/versions/minecraft.md

To use a different Minecraft version, pass the VERSION environment variable (case sensitive), which can have the value

• LATEST for latest release (the default)
• SNAPSHOT for latest snapshot
• a specific legacy version, such as 1.7.9, 25w35a, 1.15.2-pre2 or 1.21.11-rc1
• a specific new version numbering system version like 26.1, 26.1-snapshot-1, 26.1-pre-1, or 26.1-rc-1
• or an alpha and beta version, such as "b1.7.3" (server download might not exist)

For example, to use the latest snapshot:

docker run -d -e VERSION=SNAPSHOT ...

or a specific version:

docker run -d -e VERSION=1.7.9 ...

When using "LATEST" or "SNAPSHOT" an upgrade can be performed by simply restarting the container. During the next startup, if a newer version is available from the respective release channel, then the new server jar file is downloaded and used.

!!! note

Over time you might see older versions of the server jar remain in the `/data` directory. It is safe to remove those.