Docker - how can I copy a file from an image to a host?

To copy a file from an image, create a temporary container, copy the file from it and then delete it:

id=$(docker create image-name)
docker cp $id:path - > local-tar-file
docker rm -v $id

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to copy files directly from Docker images. You need to create a container first and then copy the file from the container.

However, if your image contains a cat command (and it will do in many cases), you can do it with a single command:

docker run --rm --entrypoint cat yourimage  /path/to/file > path/to/destination

If your image doesn't contain cat, simply create a container and use the docker cp command as suggested in Igor's answer.